Welcome to Hard Times (novel)
 First edition | |
| Author | E. L. Doctorow |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | 1960 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
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]
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
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Merwe, P. van der (2007-07-30). "Hard Times as Bodie: the allegorical functionality in E.L. Doctorow's Welcome to Hard Times (1960)". Literator. 28 (2): 49–74. doi:10.4102/lit.v28i2.159. ISSN 2219-8237.
- ^ Abrams, David (July 22, 2015). "Welcome to Hard Times". The Quivering Pen. Retrieved 2015-07-29.
- ^ Williams, Wirt (September 25, 1960). "Welcome to Hard Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
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