This Pulitzer Prize–nominated classic is “one of the most authentic and moving depictions of a woman’s identity and experience” (Appalachian Journal). With her 1926 debut novel, Kentucky writer and poet Elizabeth Madox Roberts delivers a poignant look at a young girl’s coming of age on the farms where her family toils. Ellen Chesser is used to life on the rural roads of Kentucky, traveling from place to place with her family—led by her father, Henry, an itinerant farmer—to put money in their pockets and food in their mouths. But after their wagon breaks down, Henry is offered work on a tobacco farm and a house to stay in—a job that becomes permanent when he is offered the tenant’s place. Accustomed to the wandering life, at first Ellen does not want to settle down, especially with her best friend still on the road. But she soon comes to enjoy the daily rhythms of the farm, her bed, and a newfound feeling of security. And when her father gets an even better job at another farm, Ellen finds that her solitary days have come to end. In the small community, she begins to make friends—and even finds an opportunity to fall in love. But like the seasons, good and bad times come and go, and dark secrets threaten Ellen’s newfound happiness and peace . . . “This is a book that embraces life. . . . Written in a prose at once lucid and arresting, rhythmical, fresh in phrasing and construction, giving always the effect of effortless arrangement.” —The New York Times “This . . . epic novel of Americana is now considered a classic.” —Kentucky Living
Considered her finest work and an American classic, Roberts's novel traces the coming of age of Ellen Chesser, the daughter of a poor itinerant farmer. Against all privations and the forces that would subdue her, Ellen is sustained by a sense of wonder and by an awareness of her own being. Reduced to the bare elements of life, her world becomes a ceremony of daily duties that bind her to the natural world and her family. The Time of Man stands as a beautifully written tribute to the human spirit.
A neglected American classic, written in subtle, soaring prose for which this underrated Kentucky writer was known, this is the spectacular coming of age story of a young, independent pioneering woman Set at the turn of the century, this is the moving story of Ellen Chesser, a young woman with a mind of her own. She and her family travel from one small community to another in rural Kentucky, eking out a living as itinerant farmworkers. Initially she feels isolated and lonely, resenting the hardship of her life and longing to be with her childhood friends. Yet slowly she learns what it means to fall in love and forges lasting friendships with other young people at the local dances. She is left stunned, therefore, when the man she is to marry comes to her to confess a dark secret. His past is shameful to him and heartbreaking for her but Ellen's independent spirit and strength of character sustain her in the aftermath. When further accusations come to light, they threaten to disturb the tranquility of her life and that of the community where she lives forever. As she grows older, Ellen Chesser is forced to confront the darker side of human nature but ultimately manages to overcome the difficulties she faces with a resolute dignity.
Essays on music, art, pop culture, literature, and politics by the renowned essayist and observer of contemporary life, now collected together for the first time. The Uncollected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick is a companion collection to The Collected Essays, a book that proved a revelation of what, for many, had been an open secret: that Elizabeth Hardwick was one of the great American literary critics, and an extraordinary stylist in her own right. The thirty-five pieces that Alex Andriesse has gathered here—none previously featured in volumes of Hardwick’s work—make it clear that her powers extended far beyond literary criticism, encompassing a vast range of subjects, from New York City to Faye Dunaway, from Wagner’s Parsifal to Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions, and from the pleasures of summertime to grits soufflé. In these often surprising, always well-wrought essays, we see Hardwick’s passion for people and places, her politics, her thoughts on feminism, and her ability, especially from the 1970s on, to write well about seemingly anything.
From an early age, we are awestruck by the shining beacons in our sky: we know the brilliant sun, we gaze at the dreamy silver moon, we watch the countless stars twinkling as if saying hello. So far away yet so present here in our daily lives, the sun, moon, and the stars mark the passage of time, bringing light and life, warmth, hope, and wonder.
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