All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
Release date: 1946 / 661 pages
First line: “Mason City. To get there you follow Highway 58, going northeast out of the city, and it is a good highway and new.”
Synopsis (from back cover): “Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men is generally considered the finest novel ever written on American politics. Set in the 1930′s, it traces the rise and fall of Willie Stark, who resembles the real-life Huey “Kingfish” Long of Louisiana. Stark begins his political career as an idealistic man of the people but soon becomes corrupted by success. All the King’s Men won the Pulitzer Prize in 1947…”
Review: I first read this novel in my freshman poli-sci course in college and loved it. Then, a few months ago, a client requested a custom kit on the novel, and I was thrilled to have the chance to reread it. Surprisingly, a few weeks ago another client requested a kit — so I can only wonder if the impending election has brought this timeless novel back in vogue.
The second time around, I was just as impressed by the timeless, relevant themes, and the characters were just as interesting and complex as I remembered. We can’t help but understand Willie’s utilitarian belief that the ends justify the means, since his ends are so well-intentioned. However, his means are immoral and reprehensible. And even if we understand his motives, we must judge him. These impressions are very similar to my original, 17 year old one.
What changed this time around is how unlikeable I found Jack Burden, the narrator. His self-pity and contempt for all around him really wore on me. As did his frequent, muddled philosophizing. But Warren’s stunning prose made up for the “burden” of the narrator. Check out the first half of this sentence:
A month from now, in early April, at the time when far away, outside the city, the water hyacinths would be covering every inch of bayou, lagoon, creek, and backwater with a spiritual-mauve to obscene-purple, violent, vulgar, fleshy, solid, throttling mass of bloom over the black water, and the first heartbreaking, misty green, like girlhood dreams, on the old cypresses would have settled down to be leaf and not a damned thing else, and the arm-thick, mud-colored, slime-slick mocassins would heave out of the swamp and try to cross the highway…
This sentence continues for quite a while further down the page, but at least this sample exhibits Warren’s beautiful use of imagery. Not surprisingly, he won two additional Pulitzers for poetry!
I really enjoyed All the King’s Men for all that I found it messy and dense, in many ways. There’s something really interesting about prose works by writers who are primarily poets.
I’m glad to hear you liked it as much the second-time around. This book has been on my Top 10 list for 20 years, but I haven’t read it in 20 years! I am always afraid to go back and read something that I loved as a college student, for fear that it’s magic will be gone. Silly, isn’t it? Especially when I have gone back and read many and still loved them–or loved them more–but this is one I haven’t. You’ve inspired me!
I’ve not heard of this book before, but I now feel I should definitely add it to the TBR pile. Thank you!
Great point about novels written by poets — and I love your description as “messy” — so true! Other novelists/poets I enjoy are Marisa de los Santos and Michael Ondaatje…
Any one else I should check out?
I completely understand your trepidation, SmallWorld! I actually think the few I have reread I have enjoyed more the second time around… Wuthering Heights comes to mind, but most classics improved with (my) age
It’s a shame that we read so many great works in high school, before we are truly seasoned enough to enjoy them…
You’re welcome, Clare! I recommend reading it before seeing the movie, which I didn’t enjoy very much…
Kristen: Was that the “old” movie with Broderick Crawford or the new one with Sean Penn? The old one with Broderick Crawford was pretty good, although the book still was better than the movie.
I read this one years ago and it still is one of my favorite books. Personally, I loved Burden’s character, but then I like those dark, cynical characters– like those in Nathanael West’s Miss Lonelyhearts and Day of the Locust, just to name a couple of others.
I haven’t seen the “old” movie yet, but I will soon. I really like Sean Penn, so I was surprised I didn’t enjoy the new version — seemed to miss the spirit of the book, I thought.
I, too, like dark, cynical characters so I’ll check out West’s work — new to me! Thanks for the recommendations!
Coming back late to the question. Dr. Zhivago springs to mind as another big messy book written by a poet. But I’m guessing that you’ve already read that.