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1SanctiSpiritus
After performing some research on this author, it seems he was a big hit back in his era. F. Scott Fitzgerald even helped this guy to get published. His contemporaries where William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and the aforementioned Fitzgerald. A couple of his books, God's Little Acre, and Tobacco Road were quite critically acclaimed. Moreover, his novel, A House in the Uplands is listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.
I have purchased the three books of his mentioned above. I greatly anticipate reading them. I write all this to ask: Why is he so under read? Is there an elephant in the room I'm not seeing? Was he overrated, and oversold at the time? His works certainly don't seem to be withstanding the test of time. I've read of some social situations that happened with some of these books. However, hundreds of books over the centuries have caused the same stir.
I have purchased the three books of his mentioned above. I greatly anticipate reading them. I write all this to ask: Why is he so under read? Is there an elephant in the room I'm not seeing? Was he overrated, and oversold at the time? His works certainly don't seem to be withstanding the test of time. I've read of some social situations that happened with some of these books. However, hundreds of books over the centuries have caused the same stir.
2geneg
I read Tobacco Road last year as a group read and enjoyed it very much. I think his problem, if indeed he had a problem, was his characters were real red-necks. Unlike Faulkner and O'Çonnor who give many of their good ol' boys some psychological twist, or interesting characteristic, Caldwell's good ol' boys are just downright unpleasant people with no redeeming features. More like real life. While he wrote in the thirties and forties, Tobacco Road had more of a sixties or seventies early po-mo, surreal feeling to it.
I think he was ahead of his time.
I think he was ahead of his time.
3andyray
Why?
Why has the world's leading restaurant chain been MacDonald's for four decades, a restaurant which is very high in non-nutritional menus (with their standard fare).
Why do our young look like pin cushions and enjoy shocking the world with werid hairdos and sloppy clothes?
Why has music devolved into tribal dances and filthy lyrics said over and over?
Why does a third or so of the human race believe that a man known as Jesus Christ was a Nazarene, yet had blue eyes, blonde hair, and Nordic features?
Why did a nation elect a simpleton who smiles like Howdy Doody who promptly set up his countrymen for a bankrupting, terrible war against the wrong people, and did NOT elect an extremely smart man who would have LED US TO NEW POWER SOURCES in his presidency?
Why?
Because under all the descriptive natures of humanity, we essentially are STUPID.
That's why!!
Why has the world's leading restaurant chain been MacDonald's for four decades, a restaurant which is very high in non-nutritional menus (with their standard fare).
Why do our young look like pin cushions and enjoy shocking the world with werid hairdos and sloppy clothes?
Why has music devolved into tribal dances and filthy lyrics said over and over?
Why does a third or so of the human race believe that a man known as Jesus Christ was a Nazarene, yet had blue eyes, blonde hair, and Nordic features?
Why did a nation elect a simpleton who smiles like Howdy Doody who promptly set up his countrymen for a bankrupting, terrible war against the wrong people, and did NOT elect an extremely smart man who would have LED US TO NEW POWER SOURCES in his presidency?
Why?
Because under all the descriptive natures of humanity, we essentially are STUPID.
That's why!!
