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Loading... The Disenchantedby Budd Schulberg
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. 456. The Disenchanted, by Budd Schulberg (read 4 Jan 1953) When I finished this novel I noted that it had made a splash in 1950 when it came out because it fitted in with the Fitzgerald revival . Actually, I said, it is a little ridiculous--such patent "movie" and "slick" writing. It is so cliche-y, so false, with only at times being anything. Very cheap and poor writing, designed for a simpleton's consumption no reviews | add a review
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Considered by some to be Budd Schulberg's masterpiece, The Disenchanted tells the tragic story of Manley Halliday, a fabulously successful writer during the 1920s--a golden figure in a golden age--who by the late 1930s is forgotten by the literary establishment, living in Hollywood and writing for the film industry. Halliday is hired to work on a screenplay with a young writer in his twenties named Shep, who is desperate for success and idolizes Halliday. The two are sent to New York City, where a few drinks on the plane begin an epic disintegration on the part of Halliday due to the forces of alcoholism he is heroically fighting against and the powerful draw of memory and happier times. Based in part on a real-life and ill-fated writing assignment between the author and F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1939, Schulberg's novel is at its heart a masterful depiction of Manley Halliday--at times bitter, at others sympathetic and utterly sorrowful--and The Disenchanted stands as one of the most compelling and emotional evocations of generational disillusionment and fallen American stardom. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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"It must have been a fascinating period alright," Shep was saying. "I wish to hell I had seen it. But from the point of view of economic morality, it was bankrupt as hell, wasn't it? All that crazy speculation, people buying stuff they didn't need, with money they didn't have. And all the fat cats repeating 'Business is fundamentally sound.' That's what fell on us like a ton of bricks --and we're still trying to dig ourselves out from under."
I don't remember how this book found its way onto my to-read list. It pre-dates my time on goodreads, back when I only kept a little notebook to jot down interesting titles. It languished on my virtual shelf for so long. Shame. It's fucking amazing. ( )