Details
Synopsis
SPECIAL PROVIDENCE, written in 1969, is the much-anticipated follow-up to Richard Yates's debut novel, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. Here, Yates once again tackles issues of thwarted dreams and aborted desire. Set in 1944, the novels shows the painfully complex relationship of Robert Prentice, a would-be war hero, and his alcoholic, aspiring-artist mother, Alice. The title of the novel is patently sarcastic--despite their beliefs, there is no "special providence" for these two characters. Yates's cool character study seemed dated and formally uninventive compared to the metafictions and psychedelic satires that were popular at the time, and as a result his reviews, with the exception of Joyce Carol Oates's review for the Nation, were tepid. Still, with its solid, unflinching prose, SPECIAL PROVIDENCE remains one of the best portraits of the dissolution of the American Dream, and belongs with the works of Arthur Miller and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
| Size | | Height: | 8.3 in | | Width: | 5.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 10.4 oz |
Industry Reviews
"The prose is clear--much of the war writing flinty and reminiscent of Hemingway's best work in A FAREWELL TO ARMS--and the scene-setting is swift, with brief bursts of summary narration moving the reader along."
(10/01/1999)
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