A critical analysis of the short fiction of Thomas Wolfe

Joseph M Bentz, Purdue University

Abstract

Over the last fifty years the short fiction of Thomas Wolfe has not received the critical attention it deserves, in part because his short stories were not collected in a complete edition until 1987. Until Francis Skipp published The Complete Short Stories of Thomas Wolfe, thirty-five of Wolfe's fifty-eight short stories had never been collected in book form, and one had never been published anywhere. An examination of these short stories sheds new light on the critical controversies that have plagued Wolfe's fiction from the beginning. Focusing mainly on Wolfe's novels, many critics over the years have accused Wolfe's work of lacking any artistic form. They argue that he may have written some fascinating scenes and memorable character sketches, but he was incapable of producing a controlled, unified work. An analysis of the short stories shows this critical stereotype to be unfair. Wolfe wrote many unified, artistically controlled short stories. In addition to his stories written in a more traditional form, some of his stories that might appear "formless" actually conform to a "modernist" style popular among the writers of his generation. These stories reject a traditional plot structure in favor of an emphasis on an "epiphany," or climactic lyrical insight. One of the critical controversies that has surrounded Wolfe's work is his use (or abuse) of autobiography in his fiction. Some critics have accused Wolfe of being incapable of writing anything but self-indulgent, autobiographical stories. Some of his short stories, however, reveal a more experimental approach that makes use of female narrators and other narrators whose lives are very different from the author's. Thomas Wolfe's short stories show that he is an important part of the Southern tradition of American literature. He approached his native region in a variety of ways, from short stories describing Civil War battles to stories that satirize the greedy capitalism of the pre-Depression South. Wolfe made a solid achievement in the genre of the American short story, and his accomplishment deserves serious critical attention.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Field, Purdue University.

Subject Area

American literature

COinS