Happy 4th of July. Last week ‘Talking Books’ looked at the history of the 19th century novel in Britain. A massive development in literature, the effects of this movement can still be felt today. While authors like Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens were penning their modern cannons of English literature, across the Atlantic Herman Melville and Mark Twain were giving birth to the Great American Novel. Since ‘Moby Dick’ and ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ countless authors have tried to similarly capture the spirit of the United States during a given time in words.
Though most have failed, some authors have been immortalised as authors of their own Great American Novel. For some Philip Meyer is the latest author to join the likes of Melville, Faulkner, Salinger, and Steinbeck with his first novel, ‘American Rust’, and its depiction of the modern collapse of the American Dream. Leaving a well paying job to become a writer Philipp used his own experiences of life as a struggling artist as well as his observations on the world around him to construct the world of ‘American Rust’ and the dying Pennsylvanian steel town of Buell.
Published in 2009 ‘American Rust’ won that year’s Las Angeles Times Book Prize and was listed in numerous lists of best books of the year. The following year the New Yorker named Philipp as one of its 20 writers under the age of 40 who were expected to do great things in the future. Last year saw Philipp begin to deliver on that promise with his second novel, ‘The Son’. For this story Philipp cast his eye back to the early days of America and its quest to discover its identity on the great Frontier.
Cover image of 'The Son'
Beginning in the short lived Republic of Texas this epic novel starts with the life of Colonel Eli McCullough as he is brought up by the Comanche nation after one of their raids orphans him. The story follows his brutal coming of age as he witnesses the United State’s appropriation of Texas and the Texas-Indian Wars. Tied to the land Eli sets the roots of what will become a Texan dynasty and the foundation for ‘The Son’. We see America change and evolve through Eli’s story as he is changed by war, violence, and the hard job of running a cattle ranch.
‘The Son’ is not simply the tale of Eli, however, but rather that of the whole McCullough family and the history of Texas. Philipp uses Eli’s son, Peter, and great-granddaughter, Jeanne Anne, as the engine to tell the rest of the story. Through their tales we see the fortunes of the family and Texas fall and rise as ranching dies away only to be replaced with oil. ‘The Son’ is a tale of the McCullough family, life in Texas through history, and the human experiences of finding a way through life.
Susan talks with Philipp about ‘The Son’ and his experiences as a writer. Join us as we travel back to the plains of Texas in the 19th century. Hear about the fighting between the Comanche and the incoming settlers, the rise and fall of the great ranches, the explosion of wealth that Texas’ black gold brought, and what it was like for Philip to try and make his life as a writer.
'Spirit of the Frontier' by John Gast, 1872
We continue celebrating the 4th of July with a look at the great men and women who made the United States of America the great nation it is today. With an area of more than 3.75 million square miles the United States touches two great oceans and contains all manner of environments from rainforests to prairie, desert to tundra. Made up of 50 different states the people of the US are as diverse as the weather found there, yet there is something that inextricably holds this giant federation together and gives the people of this federation a common sense of identity.
Simon Winchester attempts to track down this unifying factor as he traces the history of the United States and the great people who made it in his latest book 'The Men Who United the States'. Starting on the boarders of the Great Plains Winchester follows the inventors, adventurers, scientists, explorers, and all manner of other individuals as they ‘discover’ the rest of America and help make it what it is today. Divided into chapters based on the classical elements of wood, earth, water, fire and metal Simon’s book shows us how these people and the work that they did helped to create the United States of America.
On this 4th of July ‘Talking Books’ special Susan talks with David McConnell, professor of genetics at Trinity College Dublin, about Simon Winchester’s latest book and the history of the United States. Join us as we hear about America’s first geographer, the inventor of the steam locomotive, the pioneer of telegraph communications, and the first man to explore the Grand Canyon—despite missing his right arm—and how they have all helped to create and cement the United States of America.
