What was this novel about homelessness during the great depression?
August 26, 2024 12:51 PM Subscribe
I am trying to remember the name of a novel I once read, about homelessness during the Great Depression in the US. Details inside.
The novel was full-length literary fiction. It was written perhaps around the 1950s, by an author who had lived through the Great Depression himself (but the book was not autobiographical). It seemingly had a very strong literary reputation at one point, and was considered by some a canonical work of fiction about poverty in America, but apparently has slipped into relative obscurity since then. It was its author's most successful work, by far.
I don't really remember much of the plot - as best I can recall, it was mostly about the homeless main character's rather formless wanderings between soup kitchens and flophouses and abandoned cars and the like. At times he experiences cruelty from the justice system. What I remember more clearly is that the main character has a girlfriend-of-sorts, also homeless, who repeatedly disappears for days at a time (I think on drinking sprees). The main character spends much of the book looking for her, or hoping to hear word of her. She has a huge visible abdominal tumor, and by the end of the book it kills her.
Ring any bells?
The novel was full-length literary fiction. It was written perhaps around the 1950s, by an author who had lived through the Great Depression himself (but the book was not autobiographical). It seemingly had a very strong literary reputation at one point, and was considered by some a canonical work of fiction about poverty in America, but apparently has slipped into relative obscurity since then. It was its author's most successful work, by far.
I don't really remember much of the plot - as best I can recall, it was mostly about the homeless main character's rather formless wanderings between soup kitchens and flophouses and abandoned cars and the like. At times he experiences cruelty from the justice system. What I remember more clearly is that the main character has a girlfriend-of-sorts, also homeless, who repeatedly disappears for days at a time (I think on drinking sprees). The main character spends much of the book looking for her, or hoping to hear word of her. She has a huge visible abdominal tumor, and by the end of the book it kills her.
Ring any bells?
Best answer: Ironweed, by William Kennedy. Reader's guide.
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:49 PM on August 26 [3 favorites]
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:49 PM on August 26 [3 favorites]
Yes, I withdraw from the race and endorse Iris Gambol's answer, didn't read part of question about the girlfriend with stomach tumor.
posted by ojocaliente at 2:12 PM on August 26 [1 favorite]
posted by ojocaliente at 2:12 PM on August 26 [1 favorite]
A more obscure book like that would be Somebody in Boots, by Nelson Algren.
posted by RedEmma at 3:10 PM on August 26
posted by RedEmma at 3:10 PM on August 26
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posted by ojocaliente at 1:42 PM on August 26