Welcome_to_Hard_Times_(novel)

<i>Welcome to Hard Times</i> (novel)

Welcome to Hard Times (novel)

1960 novel by E. L. Doctorow

Welcome to Hard Times is the debut novel of American author E. L. Doctorow,[1] published in 1960. It is set in a small settlement in the Dakota Territory named Hard Times. After a reckless drifter comes into Hard Times and terrorizes the town with rape, murder and arson, the survivors lead an effort to restore it. A theme throughout the novel is the nature of good and evil, represented by the townspeople's fear of "The Bad Man from Bodie".[2]

Quick Facts Author, Country ...

The New York Times relates the book to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness:

Perhaps the primary theme of the novel is that evil can only be resisted psychically: when the rational controls that order man's existence slacken, destruction comes. Conrad said it best in Heart of Darkness, but Mr. Doctorow has said it impressively. His book is taut and dramatic, exciting and successfully symbolic.[3]

Film adaptation

Main article: Welcome to Hard Times (film)

References

  1. [1]
    "Welcome to Hard Times". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  2. [2]
    Abrams, David (July 22, 2015). "Welcome to Hard Times". The Quivering Pen. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
  3. [3]
    Williams, Wirt (September 25, 1960). "Welcome to Hard Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
Stub icon

This article about a novel in the Western genre of the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Welcome_to_Hard_Times_(novel), and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.