October LightWinner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. New Directions is excited to reissue the Gardner classics, beginning with October Light, a complex relationship rendered in a down-to-earth narrative. October Light is one of John Gardner's masterworks. The penniless widow of a once-wealthy dentist, Sally Abbot now lives in the Vermont farmhouse of her older brother, 72-year-old James Page. Polar opposites in nearly every way, their clash of values turns a bitter corner when the exacting and resolute James takes a shotgun to his sister's color television set. After he locks Sally up in her room with the trashy "blockbuster" novel that has consumed her (and only apples to eat), the novel-within-the-novel becomes an echo chamber providing glimpses into the history of the family that spawned these bizarre, sad, and stubborn people. Gardner uses the turbulent siblings as a stepping-off point from which he expands upon the lives of their extended families, and the rural community that surrounds them. He also engages larger issues of how liberals and conservatives define themselves, and considers those moments when life transcends all their arguments. |
Contents
Section 1 | 1 |
Section 2 | 14 |
Section 3 | 21 |
Section 4 | 25 |
Section 5 | 41 |
Section 6 | 44 |
Section 7 | 49 |
Section 8 | 55 |
Section 17 | 161 |
Section 18 | 170 |
Section 19 | 171 |
Section 20 | 194 |
Section 21 | 199 |
Section 22 | 244 |
Section 23 | 244 |
Section 24 | 245 |
Section 9 | 71 |
Section 10 | 75 |
Section 11 | 94 |
Section 12 | 108 |
Section 13 | 131 |
Section 14 | 133 |
Section 15 | 148 |
Section 16 | 157 |
Section 25 | 263 |
Section 26 | 289 |
Section 27 | 303 |
Section 28 | 318 |
Section 29 | 341 |
Section 30 | 369 |
Section 31 | 370 |
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Common terms and phrases
Alkahest Ariah arms asked Aunt Sally bedroom believe Bennington called Captain Fist crazy damn Dancer dark dead Dickey door Ed Thomas Estelle Ethan Allen eyes face father feeling felt fingers French horn Gardner Ginny girl glanced glass gone Goodman grinned hair hand he'd heard heart Horace Horace Abbott instant James James Page Jane jerked kitchen knew Lane Walker laughed leaned Lewis Hicks light lips listening living looked Mexican mind mouth moved Narc never night nodded North Bennington novel October Light old woman once perhaps Peter Wagner Phelps pulled remembered Richard Ruth Thomas Sally Abbott Sally's Santisillia seemed she'd sitting smell smiled smoke stairs stared stood suddenly talk tell thing thought turned Uncle voice walked watching whispered who'd window Wong Chop yelled