Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe

Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel is a masterpiece of American literature, blending lush, poetic prose with the raw, deeply personal story of Eugene Gant, a restless young man growing up in a fictionalized Asheville, North Carolina. Part coming-of-age saga, part family drama, the novel explores themes of ambition, isolation, and the longing to break free from small-town confines.

Wolfe’s semi-autobiographical novel is often compared to the works of William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald for its depth and evocative storytelling.

This vintage, hardcover edition of Look Homeward, Angel, was published by Grosset & Dunlap under special arrangement with Charles Scribner’s Sons.  

When Thomas Wolfe published Look Homeward, Angel in 1929, many people in his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, were furious because they recognized themselves in his characters—often in unflattering portrayals. Wolfe barely disguised their identities, changing names but keeping their personalities, quirks, and scandals intact. His mother, Julia Wolfe, who inspired the novel’s overbearing matriarch Eliza Gant, was particularly upset. Other locals were angered by his depictions of their social status, behavior, and secrets. Some refused to speak to him again, and he became somewhat of an outcast when he visited Asheville. It serms Wolfe was an epic legend that did not GAF if he depicted people exactly how they were and exactly how they treated him. Good!

-Used 

-Copyright 1929

-Hardcover