Where He Couldn't Go Home Again

June 19, 2009 5:50 PM

Its previous owner named it the Old Kentucky Home. For Thomas Wolfe, it was the home of his youth, a boarding house run by his mother, Julia Wolfe. Now it's known as the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, located in Altamont Asheville, North Carolina, and its website offers fair overview of Wolfe, and even his legendary editor, Maxwell Perkins. Wolfe, the author of Look Homeward, Angel (.txt file), Of Time and the River (.txt file), and You Can't Go Home Again (.txt file), among other works. Text file copies courtesy of Project Gutenberg Australia.
posted by Atreides (3 comments total)

The Memorial is a very well-run, very informative place that does a great job of placing Wolfe in his historical and literary context. They've bounced back nicely since the fire they had there a few years ago. Anyone who visits Asheville should definitely check it out.
posted by Rangeboy at 5:53 PM on June 19, 2009 [1 favorite]

Donaldson's definitive biography evokes a vivid sense of what a dismal place it was to grow up - and what an indomitable woman Julia Wolfe was.

Great post.

Though I almost wish it was a double just so cortex would have a once-in-a-lifetime deletion reason: You can't go home again.
posted by Joe Beese at 6:05 PM on June 19, 2009 [1 favorite]

Thomas Wolfe was the literary passion of my youth, and I was amazed at how smoothly he flowed right into Jack Kerouac, my next passion.
posted by Faze at 8:58 PM on June 19, 2009