Robert Penn Warren: All the King's Men
A truly "great American novel" offering fascinating insights into the populist streak which has always been prominent in American politics. Pulitzer winner 1947 and adapted for the big screen two times.
Willie Stark is a man of humble background who becomes governor in the United States' South during the 1930s. Stark's story is told through the eyes of Jack Burden, a journalist and former student of history who becomes Stark's personal aide. Burden's relationship with Stark begins when he is covering Stark's first, unsuccessful, run for governor, when Stark takes a populist turn. He is finally elected governor of his state four years later.
During his tenure as governor, Stark proves capable of mobilizing the masses, portraying himself as an outsider faced with a hostile political establishment. The "boss", as he is referred to by his allies, also does not refrain from blackmailing political rivals. He tasks Burden to dig up some dirt against the well-respected Judge Irwin. Irwin had been a mentor for Burden since his childhood and is later revealed to be Burden's father. Under the pressure of being confronted with a misdeed from decades ago, Irwin ultimately commits suicide. Stark's tenure is, however, not only marked by the dark arts of politics, but also by him introducing social welfare policies. His hallmark project is a hospital accessible to the general public free of charge.
Other narrative strands are dedicated to Stark's family and affairs. Willie Stark's son Tom becomes a prominent college football player, but also a political burden for his father due to his hard partying. He ends up paralyzed after a sports accident and dies soon afterwards. Willie Stark also has countless affairs. One is with his personal aide and political strategist Sadie Burke. Disfigured by the small pox disease she had contracted as a child, Sadie proves instrumental to Stark's rise and remains steadfastly loyal to him. Stark also begins a relationship with Anne Stanton, daughter of a former state governor. Anne and Jack Burden had been a couple in their youth and he continues to have feelings for her. When Burden figures out about the affair, he sets off for a journey across the U.S. to California. Later on, Anne Stanton's brother Adam is also informed about his sister's affair. Adam, an integer man who, against his original hesitation has agreed to lead Willie Stark's hospital, kills Stark and gets himself killed in the process.
I was absolutely captivated by the book. This is all the more astonishing, given that I am not necessarily a fan of some of the narrative techniques and mythological themes featured. The story-telling, all from Jack Burden's perspective, occasionally borders on stream of consciousness techniques. Also, in a clear nod to the Odipus myth, Jack Burden inadvertently kills Judge Irwin who later turns out to be his father. Still, I loved the description of the mechanics of politics in a U.S state in the 1930s. They reminded me of, say Boardwalk Empire, House of Cards and some other favorite TV-series of mine. The way Willie Stark politically uses anti-elite sentiments, especially among the rural masses, also conveys a lesson or two about current U.S. politics. Stark himself, based on Louisiana Governor and U.S. Senator Huey Long, is an absolutely fascinating character. Darren convincingly portrays Stark in all his ambiguity, his populism and dirty political tricks, but also his almost touching commitment to improving the lot of the poor.
Random pop-cultural reference:
Bain. And Trump. And Bain.
Favorite quotes:
"What you don't know ain't hurt you, for it ain't real. They called that Idealism in that book I had when I was in college, and after I got hold of that principle I became an idealist. I was a brass-bound Idealist in those days. If you are an Idealist it does not matter what you do or what goes on around you because it isn't real anyway." (Jack Burden)
"I have a speech here ... It is a speech about what this state needs. But there is no use telling you what this state needs. You are the state. You know what you need. Look at your pants. Have they got holes in the knee. Listen to your belly. Did it ever rumble for emptiness?" (Willie Stark turning to populism)
"I would ... get to town about midnight and go up to my hotel room where nothing was mine and nothing knew my name and nothing had a thing to say to me about anything that had ever happened."
"a person who you could tell had a deep inner certitude of self which comes from all of being one piece, of not being shreds and patches and old cogwheels held together with pieces of rusty barbed wire and spit and bits of string, like most of us." (Jack Burden about Anne Stanton)
"For nothing is lost, nothing is ever lost. There is always the clue, the cancelled check, the smear of lipstick, the footprint in the canna bed, the condom on the park path, the baby shoes dipped in bronze, the taint in the blood stream. And all times are one time, and all those dead in the past never lived before our definition gives them life, and out of the shadow their lives implore us. This is what all of us historical researchers believe." (Jack Burden about his work)
"Well, I'm not going to buy him, I'm going to bust him. I have bought too many sons of bitches already. Bust'em and they will stay busted, but buy them and you can't tell how long they will stay bought." (Willie Stark about a political rival)
"That was why I had got into my car and headed west, because when you don't like it where you are, you always go west. We have always gone west." (Jack Burden about his trip to the West)
"For it is a tradition that a man, when he has received a great shock, heads for a bar, puts his foot on the rail, orders five straight whiskeys in a row, downs them one after another while he stares with white uncomprehending eyes at the white, tortured face in the mirror opposite him, and then engages the bartender in a sardonic conversation about life."
"Then afterward you are sure that when you meet again, the gay companion will give you the old gaiety, the brilliant stranger will stir your mind from its torpor, the sympathetic friend will solace you with teh old communion of spirit. But something happens, or almost always happens, to the gaiety, the brilliance, the communion. You remember the individual words from the old language you spoke together, but you have forgotten the grammar. You remember the steps of the dance, but the music isn't playing anymore. So there you are." (Jack Burden about his last encounter with Anne Stanton)
"Maybe that is the only way you can tell that a certain piece of knowledge is worth anything: it has cost some blood."
A truly "great American novel" offering fascinating insights into the populist streak which has always been prominent in American politics. Pulitzer winner 1947 and adapted for the big screen two times.
Willie Stark is a man of humble background who becomes governor in the United States' South during the 1930s. Stark's story is told through the eyes of Jack Burden, a journalist and former student of history who becomes Stark's personal aide. Burden's relationship with Stark begins when he is covering Stark's first, unsuccessful, run for governor, when Stark takes a populist turn. He is finally elected governor of his state four years later.
During his tenure as governor, Stark proves capable of mobilizing the masses, portraying himself as an outsider faced with a hostile political establishment. The "boss", as he is referred to by his allies, also does not refrain from blackmailing political rivals. He tasks Burden to dig up some dirt against the well-respected Judge Irwin. Irwin had been a mentor for Burden since his childhood and is later revealed to be Burden's father. Under the pressure of being confronted with a misdeed from decades ago, Irwin ultimately commits suicide. Stark's tenure is, however, not only marked by the dark arts of politics, but also by him introducing social welfare policies. His hallmark project is a hospital accessible to the general public free of charge.
Other narrative strands are dedicated to Stark's family and affairs. Willie Stark's son Tom becomes a prominent college football player, but also a political burden for his father due to his hard partying. He ends up paralyzed after a sports accident and dies soon afterwards. Willie Stark also has countless affairs. One is with his personal aide and political strategist Sadie Burke. Disfigured by the small pox disease she had contracted as a child, Sadie proves instrumental to Stark's rise and remains steadfastly loyal to him. Stark also begins a relationship with Anne Stanton, daughter of a former state governor. Anne and Jack Burden had been a couple in their youth and he continues to have feelings for her. When Burden figures out about the affair, he sets off for a journey across the U.S. to California. Later on, Anne Stanton's brother Adam is also informed about his sister's affair. Adam, an integer man who, against his original hesitation has agreed to lead Willie Stark's hospital, kills Stark and gets himself killed in the process.
I was absolutely captivated by the book. This is all the more astonishing, given that I am not necessarily a fan of some of the narrative techniques and mythological themes featured. The story-telling, all from Jack Burden's perspective, occasionally borders on stream of consciousness techniques. Also, in a clear nod to the Odipus myth, Jack Burden inadvertently kills Judge Irwin who later turns out to be his father. Still, I loved the description of the mechanics of politics in a U.S state in the 1930s. They reminded me of, say Boardwalk Empire, House of Cards and some other favorite TV-series of mine. The way Willie Stark politically uses anti-elite sentiments, especially among the rural masses, also conveys a lesson or two about current U.S. politics. Stark himself, based on Louisiana Governor and U.S. Senator Huey Long, is an absolutely fascinating character. Darren convincingly portrays Stark in all his ambiguity, his populism and dirty political tricks, but also his almost touching commitment to improving the lot of the poor.
Random pop-cultural reference:
Bain. And Trump. And Bain.
Favorite quotes:
"What you don't know ain't hurt you, for it ain't real. They called that Idealism in that book I had when I was in college, and after I got hold of that principle I became an idealist. I was a brass-bound Idealist in those days. If you are an Idealist it does not matter what you do or what goes on around you because it isn't real anyway." (Jack Burden)
"I have a speech here ... It is a speech about what this state needs. But there is no use telling you what this state needs. You are the state. You know what you need. Look at your pants. Have they got holes in the knee. Listen to your belly. Did it ever rumble for emptiness?" (Willie Stark turning to populism)
"I would ... get to town about midnight and go up to my hotel room where nothing was mine and nothing knew my name and nothing had a thing to say to me about anything that had ever happened."
"a person who you could tell had a deep inner certitude of self which comes from all of being one piece, of not being shreds and patches and old cogwheels held together with pieces of rusty barbed wire and spit and bits of string, like most of us." (Jack Burden about Anne Stanton)
"For nothing is lost, nothing is ever lost. There is always the clue, the cancelled check, the smear of lipstick, the footprint in the canna bed, the condom on the park path, the baby shoes dipped in bronze, the taint in the blood stream. And all times are one time, and all those dead in the past never lived before our definition gives them life, and out of the shadow their lives implore us. This is what all of us historical researchers believe." (Jack Burden about his work)
"Well, I'm not going to buy him, I'm going to bust him. I have bought too many sons of bitches already. Bust'em and they will stay busted, but buy them and you can't tell how long they will stay bought." (Willie Stark about a political rival)
"That was why I had got into my car and headed west, because when you don't like it where you are, you always go west. We have always gone west." (Jack Burden about his trip to the West)
"For it is a tradition that a man, when he has received a great shock, heads for a bar, puts his foot on the rail, orders five straight whiskeys in a row, downs them one after another while he stares with white uncomprehending eyes at the white, tortured face in the mirror opposite him, and then engages the bartender in a sardonic conversation about life."
"Then afterward you are sure that when you meet again, the gay companion will give you the old gaiety, the brilliant stranger will stir your mind from its torpor, the sympathetic friend will solace you with teh old communion of spirit. But something happens, or almost always happens, to the gaiety, the brilliance, the communion. You remember the individual words from the old language you spoke together, but you have forgotten the grammar. You remember the steps of the dance, but the music isn't playing anymore. So there you are." (Jack Burden about his last encounter with Anne Stanton)
"Maybe that is the only way you can tell that a certain piece of knowledge is worth anything: it has cost some blood."
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