Imatge de l'autor

Evan S. Connell (1924–2013)

Autor/a de Son of the Morning Star

30+ obres 4,756 Membres 93 Ressenyes 6 preferits

Sobre l'autor

Evan S. Connell was born August 17, 1924 in Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1947. His first work, The Anatomy Lesson and Other Stories, was published in 1957. His first novel, Mrs. Bridge, was published in 1959. The sequel, Mr. Bridge, was published ten years mostra'n més later. In 1990, both novels were adapted into the film Mr. and Mrs. Bridge starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. He wrote more than 15 books during his lifetime including Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn, The Patriot, The Diary of a Rapist, The Connoisseur, Deus Lo Volt!, and Lost in Uttar Pradesh. He died on January 10, 2013 at the age of 88. (Bowker Author Biography) mostra'n menys

Sèrie

Obres de Evan S. Connell

Son of the Morning Star (1984) 1,310 exemplars
Mrs. Bridge (1959) 1,067 exemplars
Mr. Bridge (1969) 634 exemplars
Croada a Terra Santa (2000) 343 exemplars
The Diary of a Rapist (1966) 191 exemplars
The Alchymist's Journal (1991) 173 exemplars
Francisco Goya: A Life (2003) 125 exemplars
The White Lantern (1980) 111 exemplars
A Long Desire (1722) 94 exemplars
The Connoisseur (1974) 77 exemplars
Points for a Compass Rose (1973) 73 exemplars
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1959) 72 exemplars

Obres associades

The Sea and the Jungle (1912) — Pròleg, algunes edicions416 exemplars
Wonders: Writings and Drawings for the Child in Us All (1980) — Col·laborador — 18 exemplars
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge [1990 film] (1990) — Writer — 17 exemplars
The Best American Short Stories 1955 (1955) — Col·laborador — 13 exemplars
Best modern short stories (1965) — Col·laborador — 8 exemplars

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Coneixement comú

Membres

Converses

August 2013: Mr. Bridge a Missouri Readers (setembre 2013)

Ressenyes

This very skilled rendering of the modern wife in early to mid-century America pulls out a lot of the continuing themes of modernism: the power of conformity, the elimination of God, alienation, communities built out of exclusivity, the broken family. Consumerism is one of the many dead ends in this novel. It's heroine,India Bridges, seems forever on the edge of screaming "I give in!" without knowing exactly who is pulling the strings around her. She is a great mirror and that, I think, is why we cannot put the book down.… (més)
 
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MylesKesten | Hi ha 35 ressenyes més | Jan 23, 2024 |
This is the only book in my memory that made me feel both sad (unsettled? upset?) and elated simultaneously, from the first page to the last, throughout. I was quite heartbroken to return the book.

It is funny, certainly, and thoroughly engaging. It is, however, profoundly unsettling in many ways. The chilly skittering along my spine has been my loyal companion for the whole ride.

I adored this little gem!
 
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QuirkyCat_13 | Hi ha 35 ressenyes més | Jun 20, 2022 |
Too few historians focus on honing the craft of writing. Too often, it is the novelists and journalists who know how to tell the story. Sadly, these good writers often over-estimate their historical research skills. Fortunately, the novelist Evan S. Connell was no slouch when it came to writing history. Son of the Morning Star is a rambling, dry-wit recount of the horrific Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876 – "Custer’s last stand".

This fantastic book tells the story through anecdotes, half-heard rumours, and malicious lies. It is by no means chronological in the usual sense. In fact, negative reviewers of the book accuse it of being a hodge-podge, all over the place, lacking in clear chronology, etc. It absolutely is those things, but successfully. I knew next to nothing about Custer, the battle, the campaign, or America in the 1870s. Yet I learnt a lot despite the lack of the usual historical guideposts in this book.

The reality that Connell was trying to get across to us is that this battle and everything associated with it had been mythologised out of all perspective in the century preceding this book’s publication. In such an atmosphere, perhaps the best way of approaching the history was to report on the myths, the rumours, the colourful characters, and the ways it has all been retold over time.

By repeating the tall tales, and reporting the rumours, rehashing the lies, and so on (but always with a skeptical eye), Connell brings to us the complexities of the past. A pessimist might say that Son of the Morning Star shows the utter futility of historical research.

You don’t know what the 1870s were like. Nor do I. Nor did Evan S. Connell. And, truthfully, we can’t know. However, I don’t read this as a pessimistic book. The myths, the lies, the self-aggrandisement (not just Custer’s), and the uncertainty are the story. And Connell’s method of relating them to us is precisely what is needed.

Connell’s book is often described as a masterpiece. It means nothing for me to add my voice to the crowds of people acclaiming his work. On a personal level, though, reading this book was mind-expanding. It helped me see what history could be.
… (més)
 
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crow-onion | Hi ha 17 ressenyes més | Apr 15, 2022 |

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Estadístiques

Obres
30
També de
15
Membres
4,756
Popularitat
#5,276
Valoració
3.9
Ressenyes
93
ISBN
170
Llengües
10
Preferit
6

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