WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
Booth Tarkington’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, The Magnificent Ambersons, chronicles the grandeur and downfall of a once-great family. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly transforming Midwest, Tarkington weaves a mesmerizing tale of pride, passion, and the decline of American aristocracy in the face of industrialization and social upheaval. George Amberson Minafer, the only child of Major Amberson and his wife Isabel, grows up in a lavish mansion, indulged by his doting mother and admired by many in the town. Over the years, his presupposed wealth and status begins to wane as the rise of the automobile industry threatens the family’s prominence. The story has inspired multiple adaptations for stage and screen, mostly famously, the 1942 film by Orson Welles starring Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, and Agnes Moorehead. Although heavily edited against Welles’s wishes, The Magnificent Ambersons is often considered among the best American films ever made. This edition includes insightful commentary about Tarkington’s work by James Woodress and a biographical timeline.
Inhoudsopgave
Contents
Chapter I1
Chapter II9
Chapter III17
Chapter IV22
Chapter V29
Chapter VI36
Chapter VII44
Chapter VIII51
Chapter IX58
Chapter X63
Chapter XI70
Chapter XII74
Chapter XIII82
Chapter XIV92
Chapter XV97
Chapter XVI102
Chapter XVII108
Chapter XVIII117
Chapter XIX123
Chapter XX128
Chapter XXI135
Chapter XXII142
Chapter XXIII146
Chapter XXIV151
Chapter XXV156
Chapter XXVI161
Chapter XXVII169
Chapter XXVIII174
Chapter XXIX184
Chapter XXX188
Chapter XXXI196
Chapter XXXII205
Chapter XXXIII212
Chapter XXXIV216
Chapter XXXV224
Booth Tarkington’s Attack on American Materialism by James Woodress234
Biographical Timeline240
Over de auteur
James Woodress (1916-2011) was a literary biographer and historian in the field of American literature. He was Chairman of the Department of English at California State University, Northridge, and Professor of English at the University of California, Davis.