This is a sensational, provocative read. This is one of the deepest, most profound, and insightful books I've ever read. Warren's glimpse into the soul of man is gripping and soul-stirring.

The book is the story of Jack Burden. His tale is his burden and telling it, much like the Mariner retelling his tale in Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." They both make a kind of penance in telling their tale of woe.

Burden's tale, though, is a tale not only of his own sin, but of the web of generational sin spun around him by his parents, and further developed by himself as a younger man. I cannot tell too much, for it would ruin the drama of the story to tell of how Warren weaves his story and makes it all come together in a breathtaking kind of way--where everything is connected and everything is loaded with significance.

Jack undergoes several transformations through his tale. He recounts much of his youth, even giving an thirty page interlude on a long-dead relative that is good enough to have been a novel of its own. The transformations alter the way Burden views the world around him and the people in his life.

The fates of both Jack Burden and Willie (The Boss) Stark are interwoven, and the story revolves around how everyone else in the story relates to these two characters.

I've hardly done justice to the book, to do so, would spoil it. This is a first-rate book and it is obvious why it was worthy of receiving the Pulitzer Prize. Warren is an amazingly gifted writer. It isn't just a good story, but Warren's way of telling it will take your breath away. This is simply one of the best of the best.

My second time through this book was via the audible format with a little bit of use of the e-book. At this point it is hard to remember for me what actually reading a book printed on a page was like. When I experience a book for the second time in a different format, I commonly find that I am not remembering much of the first experience. In the case of this book I had a fairly visceral recollection of one of the most important aspects of the book that occurs near the end that prove to me that I did actually read this book before. But the book is really a deep dive into the personality and life of a particular person, a person who I did not find to be particularly likable or notable. This book has the qualities of a superb writer in that it includes innumerable good paragraphs and bits of writing. On the other hand I did not find the story itself particularly captivating in spite of the high quality of the writing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I like politics. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that I have been involved with politics for a long time at a lot of different levels. Mostly my heart is with third party politics. This book has a special interest to me although I have never read it. The title is very familiar to me but I can’t say exactly why that is.

I have come to believe that anyone who is successful in politics and has been elected is probably someone who is intellectually dishonest. After all, can you imagine someone being elected if s/he was honest about her/his beliefs? Politics is about double talk and bull shit and cronies and money and deals with the devil. But a politician would never say any of that. The goal is to be elected and then to stay in office. Willie Stark is a master of dirty, power politics.

Call me a pessimist about politics. So I start All the King’s Men with a big chip on my shoulder and a “show me” attitude. Who is this Willie Stark, the Boss? And, who is Jack Burden, the man who is the “I” in the book, the narrator? Robert Penn Warren tells us but it takes over 500 pages. I enjoyed almost all of those pages. It has been a while since I have enjoyed reading a book as much as this one.

There are several different stories that go together to create this book. I enjoyed looking at the individual pieces of the puzzle and trying to find how they fit together. But this was a puzzle with a lot of pieces, more than I could always remember. So I used SparkNotes at the end of each chapter to help me look back at what I had already read: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/kingsmen/ . Yes, you may castigate me for cheating but there must be a reason ‘they’ made these notes and this might be one reason: to help my not-as-sharp-as-it-used-to-be brain out! Yes, that is it! I am implementing Willie’s philosophy: taking something bad and making something good out of it. Thanks Willie!

This book makes me think about my dislike of achieving a good end via a bad means. It’s not just what you do but how you do it that counts. I have told myself that all of my adult life. I am looking inside myself to see if All the King’s Men has changed my mind even a little bit about that principle. Does this work? Politics is evil but it can do good things. No, I still think that the end does not justify the means.

Here is a quiz after you have finished All the King’s Men. Actually the book asks you this one. Willie Stark was a great man. True or False?

I have a hard time thinking that this book was published the same year I was born: 1946. It seems much more current even with the references to the 1920s and 1930s. Well, yes there are the spittoons and the telegrams and no DNA but the characters seem very real and up to date.

This book gets an easy four stars from me. The book went slowly for me for a while at the start but it was not long before I was looking forward to reading more the next time. I liked all the building blocks that made up this book. Lots of good writing and things to think about.

Δεν έχω λόγια να περιγράψω το πόσο αγάπησα αυτό το βιβλίο και πόσο απολαυστική ήταν η ανάγνωσή του, απ'την αρχή ως το τέλος. O Robert Penn Warren κι ο Τζακ Μπέρντεν,ο χαρακτήρας, μέσω του οποίου επιλέγει να μας αφηγηθεί την ιστορία του Κυβερνήτη Willie Stark αποτελεί μια από τις πιο γοητευτικές μυθιστορηματικές φωνές, που έχω συναντήσει. Σ' αυτό συμβάλλει η πλοκή του έργου κι οι χαρακτήρες που εμπλέκονται στην ιστορία, χαρακτήρες τόσο σωστά δουλεμένοι και ολοκληρωμένοι, που αποκτούν σάρκα και οστά και νιώθεις την ανάσα τους, ενώ διατρέχεις τις σελίδες του βιβλίου. Όλοι αυτοί όμως, αποκαλύπτονται στον αναγνώστη μέσω ενός ευφυούς, ειρωνικού και διεισδυτικού παρατηρητή, ο οποίος παραθέτοντάς μας τα γεγονότα μιας ιστορίας, που θα μπορούσε να ειδωθεί ως μια ανατριχιαστικά ακριβής ανατομία της εξουσίας, ανακαλύπτει κι ο ίδιος τον εαυτό του, έναν εαυτό ανθρώπινο, πάρα πολύ ανθρώπινο.

"Όμως έπρεπε να μάθω. Ακόμα και τη στιγμή που μου περνούσε η σκέψη να σηκωθώ και να φύγω χωρίς να έχω μάθει, ακόμα και τότε ήξερα ότι έπρεπε να μάθω την αλήθεια. Γιατί είναι φοβερό πράγμα η αλήθεια. Τσαλαβουτάς λιγάκι μέσα της και δεν τρέχει τίποτα. Αν κάνεις όμως πως πας λίγο πιο μέσα, αρχίζει να σε τραβάει σαν αντιμάμαλο, σαν ρουφήχτρα. Το πρώτο τράβηγμα είναι αργό, τόσο σταθερό και βαθμιαίο, που καλά καλά δεν το παίρνεις είδηση, μετά αρχίζει η επιτάχυνση, μετά μια ιλιγγιώδης περιδίνηση και η καταβύθιση στο έρεβος. Γιατί υπάρχει και το έρεβος της αλήθειας. Λέγεται πως το να πέσεις στη Χάρη του Θεού είναι φριχτό. Δεν δυσκολεύομαι να το πιστέψω."
Κάτι που μου θύμησε τη γνωστή ρήση του David Foster Wallace: The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you, και που βρίσκει την τέλεια ενσάρκωσή της στην ιστορία που θα διαβάσετε.

The default edition is 439 pages. There is a "restored edition" with 656 pages and that must be the same as this Kindle edition. With research, I could probably learn why there is a 200 page difference. I suspect, however, that an editor wisely cut some of the large portions where Warren seems to go off on a philosophical tangent of internal dialog. These also contain extremely long sentences. I admit I could have done without them, but they weren't so bad as to deserve long sighs, eye-rolling or skimming.

It is said this is largely based on Huey Long. I remember references to that politician when I was a child but nothing more than his name. I skimmed his Wikipedia page and I think there can be no doubt that Warren lifted heavily from the life of that politician for his novel. In the novel, Willie Stark wants to build a hospital while Huey Long built the tallest state capitol building in the country (and it still is). In other ways, Huey Long and Willie Stark are hand in glove: free health care for everyone and raise taxes on the wealthy and the corporations (sound familiar?).

This is a first person narrative from the character Jack Burden and it is not just the story of Willie Stark.

But I must tell about the first excursion into the enchantments of the past. Not that the first excursion has anything directly to do with the story of Willie Stark, but it has a great deal to do with the story of Jack Burden, and the story of Willie Stark and the story of Jack Burden are, in one sense, one story.

Huey Long and Willie Stark's political careers were marked by bribery and corruption. No dirty politician achieves "greatness" without help and that is not just the stuff of novels.

As a whole, this was most definitely worth the Pulitzer it received. I think if I had read the 439 page version I would be giving it a 5-star rating. Instead, I read the longer version which at best is a middlin' 4-stars.

For my money, I think this is the greatest book in Southern Literature exceeding Faulkner. All the King's Men is much more than the usual purported centrality of Willie Stark's political motives and final demise, and the usual shallow analogies to Huey Long; if anything, the novel's narrator, Jack Bundren, is a cynical person whose life has unraveled. I think the one scene with Jack's father will always stay vivid as the epitome of Southern Grotesque. It is a multi-layer novel--with clarity and a moral revelation. The first paragraph is riveting, and last paragraph unforgettable.

Robert Penn Warren's, All the Kings Men won the 1947 Pulitzer prize, and could also have won that prize in the next three years.　

Is this 400 pages of poetic prose or a great epic prosaic poem? This work would make a great primer for college English lit majors, I think Warren used every literary device and may have made up some more.　

And like so many master performances of art or sport, he makes it look effortless, he makes it look easy. This was like watching Joe DiMaggio glide across the outfield or Ted Williams at the plate, or Led Zeppelin on stage, this was swaggering virtuosity.　

Telling the fictionalized account of Huey Long, Warren goes on to create the great American novel. Though the setting is politics, the book is not really about politics, the political stage is just a vehicle by which Warren explores a multi-layered, complicated series of thematic, interwoven observations on Western Civilization, and particularly our American chapter in that saga.

This is periodically correct and yet timeless. Beautifully written and absolutely brilliant.

From the bad, the good must come*

All The King's Men is a political drama that tells the story of Willie Stark, a populist governor of a Southern state in the 1930s, and Jack Burden, a journalist who becomes his right-hand man. The idealistic, popular lawyer Willie Stark becomes a charismatic and powerful governor in the 1930s who, once in power, leaves little of all the idealism he promised.

“Hang them up,” Willie shouts boldly at the beginning of his career against 'those in power', but at the end of the book that slogan only rings hollow in the long corridors of the Senate, where behind closed doors his puppets hang around. And yes, haven’t we heard the similar phrase “Lock her up” in our time? The echoes of these slogans across time reveal a persistent theme of disillusionment with those in authority.

Willie Stark remains an enigma that is never explained. He is driven by ambition and even could draw on my sympathy in the beginning. Initially, his ambition is evident as a builder of schools where his ideals shine through. But when he realizes that he is being manipulated by those in power, he suddenly changes in a modern-day Machiavelli, driven by his monstrous ego, power and domination. Stark engages in as much corruption as the industrialists he once railed against.

But in the end this is a novel about Jack Burden. Jack Burden is the witness to Stark’s rise and demise. Jack, who was a reporter for a newspaper, is fascinated by Willie's story, and joins his staff as his personal researcher and adviser. Jack possesses a keen intellect and an analytical mind, navigating the intricate web of political power with a certain finesse and helps Willie to expose the scandals and crimes of his enemies.

But beneath this lies a man grappling with his own moral dilemmas and personal demons. His estranged relationship with his father, his love for Anne Stanton, the daughter of a former governor, and his friendship with Adam Stanton, Anne's brother and a respected surgeon all form the backbone of this book. He tries to find the delicate balance between these personal connections and his political dirty work, in the end trying to retreat from the moral ambiguity inherent in his political work for Willie Stark.

* My translation / Read in Dutch

Α Ρ Ι Σ Τ Ο Υ Ρ Γ Η Μ Α!
TOP ΒΙΒΛΙΟ ΓΙΑ ΤΟ 2020!
Στον παρακάτω σύνδεσμο αναλυτική κριτική μου: https://monpetitcafedehumanite.com/20...

This Pulitzer Prize winner was not a disappointment. It is a beautifully written master class in plot, description and character development. Set in the late 1930s, this is the story of the rise and fall of the southern politician Willy Stark as told by Jack Burden, the former reporter who now works for Stark. Both Stark and Burden are rich, complex characters and the arcs of their lives are as compelling as Greek tragedy. It’s really a wonderful book .

Rapida ascesa al potere e rovinosa caduta, nell’America degli anni Trenta, del governatore Willie Talos, un bifolco eletto da bifolchi che appendono le sue gigantografie alle pareti dei bar con sotto la scritta “Il mio verbo è il cuore del Popolo”. Il tutto visto attraverso gli occhi del suo amico e stretto collaboratore Jack Burden, che intreccia la storia del governatore con il racconto della sua vita, della sua personale lotta contro i fantasmi del passato e i problemi del presente.

“Hai un meraviglioso senso dell’umorismo,” disse Anne.
“Dove andiamo?” le chiesi, senza badare al suo commento.
“Sei un saccentone strafottente.”
“Dove andiamo?”
“Non cresci mai, vero?”
“Dove andiamo?”
Vagavamo senza meta, oltrepassando le porte a vento di locali e oyster bar, i chioschi dei giornali e le vecchiette che vendevano fiori. Comprai delle gardenie e le regalai a Anne, poi le dissi: “Ammetto di essere un saccentone strafottente, ma è solo un modo per ammazzare il tempo”.

Non è un brutto romanzo, anzi, ma le mie aspettative erano alte. E’ un romanzo così così, con un inizio fulminante. Le prime cento pagine catturano l’attenzione, poi la lettura prosegue tra alti e bassi. Dialoghi serrati e situazioni descritte bene, ma spesso le riflessioni debordano, i ragionamenti si fanno contorti. Forse il problema è proprio la voce del narratore, Jack Burden, questo saccentone strafottente che a tratti diventa molto verboso, affidandosi a frasi che si ampliano a dismisura. Le similitudini ad effetto si sprecano, anche tre per pagina, tipo: All’interno si sentì una specie di rumore, come la nota profonda di un oboe soffocata da un barile di piume.
Oppure: La stagione somigliava quel giorno alla bella figlia prosperosa di un mezzadro sciancato, una ragazza con i seni debordanti e la vita mozzafiato, le guance rosse, gli occhi luminosi e un filo di sudore alla radice dei capelli color fieno (che da altre parti chiamerebbero biondo platino), ma che appena la guardate sapete già che nel giro di poco sarà solo un mucchio di ossa e cartilagini, con una faccia da strega come un vecchio falcetto arrugginito.

Un romanzo americano, molto americano, pure troppo. Vincitore del Pulitzer nel 1947, candidato a Delusione dell’Anno nel 2020.

ATKM’s "dead on" characterizations of political behavior are as relevant today as they were when it won a Pulitzer in 1947. Often described as the story of Willie Stark, a thinly disguised fictional stand-in for fabled Louisiana Governor Huey Long, it is really much more that of Jack Burden, Stark’s aide and friend, from whose first person POV the story is told.

Alternately attracted and repulsed by the tangy smells of commitment and corruption, Jack engages our sympathy and intellect as he personalizes the complex, unintended, and sometimes tragic consequences of his leader’s political decisions. How frustratingly difficult it is to achieve even admirable goals in the real world of a voter-driven governmental system. Sound familiar?

Complementing the intriguing story line is Warren’s magnificent writing which reflects the skills and emotions of the poet he indeed was.

An example ... “You meet someone at the seashore on a vacation and have a wonderful time together ... you talk with a stranger whose mind seems to whet and sharpen your own ... afterward you are sure that when you meet again, the gay companion will give you the old gaiety, the brilliant stranger will stir your mind from its torpor, the sympathetic friend will solace you with the old communion of spirit. But something happens, or almost always happens, to the gaiety, the brilliance, the communion. You remember the individual words from the old language you spoke together, but you have forgotten the grammar. You remember the steps of the dance, but the music isn’t playing anymore. So there you are.”

In this political season of 2012, ATKM provides an extended opportunity for reasoned reflection on what is and is not possible, in government and in our own lives.

OK, I gave up on this earlier, resumed it, and now I'm about to give up on it again, about 65% of the way through it. I just can't. Here are some random thoughts:

1) Willie Stark is a great character, in equal measure charming and appalling. If only the book were really about him, as it promises to be. All the stuff about him is fantastic.

2) The narrator, Jack Burden, is a pompous bore. I hate him. I hate his name. "Jack." I've always hated that name. (Apologies to anyone called that. It's me, not you.) And "Burden." Well, it's surely not by chance that his surname weighs so heavily, though what its significance is, I cannot tell. But the word "burden," besides naming something that is unpleasant, is also, like "Jack," a word I've never liked the sound of. And when Jack's 17-year-old girlfriend starts calling him "Jackie Bird," over and over again, in the section I am now in, I became literally nauseated. This nom d'amour, more than anything else, is what has made me give up reading this book. I hate it!

3) Stylistically, the book is an odd mixture. Most of it is written in an almost - but timidly, only almost - experimental way (not in a good, Oulipian sense, but in an earnest, mid-century sense, deliberately turgid and repetitious to capture the turgidity of the human soul and the heavy miasma of the Southern cultural and natural environment). But injected into this, every so often, like the splash of Bourbon over ice, there is spasm of wise-guy, Chandleresque humor. These bits were funny, but they always felt incongruous, out of place.