From the author: “Reconsideration of Thomas Wolfe is timely. It is now 25 years since his death, and 34 years since his greatest novel, Look Homeward Angel, appeared. Sine World War II, most readers who grew up with Wolfe have naturally moved on to other interests, and now associate Wolfe with the remote prewar past. A whole new generation has appeared to whom Wolfe is not a contemporary but part of the enormous literary inheritance which must be sorted out. There is some feeling that Wolfe can be dispensed with. By a fresh survey of Wolfe’s career and his achievement, this book seeks to establish a more just perspective on Wolfe’s qualities and defects. Wolfe’s material was autobiographical; but his method was far more selective than has been recognized. In treating each novel I have shown not only the parallels between Wolfe’s life and the fiction based upon it; but also the omissions and the shifts of emphasis.”