{"product_id":"robert-penn-warrens-all-the-kings-men-9789042034969","title":"Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men","description":"The twelve essayists in this critical collection examine anew two fundamental concerns of Penn Warren’s landmark work, which has as valid a claim to being “The Great American Novel” as any in the literary canon.  The first challenging conundrum these critics examine is narrator Jack Burden’s adequacy as a historiographer and the impact of his reliability upon his alter-ego-persona-narrative: does Jack succeed in becoming an able historian of his family and of Willie Stark’s political career, or does he become self-delusive and resort to a “selectively culled” history to justify himself to his audience as a trustworthy chronicler of the Willie Stark era of Jack’s life.  The second major thematic motif these essays explore is Penn Warren’s implicit positing of a spiritual dimension to Jack Burden’s quest for a viable identity to sustain him in his ultimate decision to join humanity and finally live in the history he’s so long lived outside of, as a cynically un-involved observer.  \u003cbr\u003eThe provocative efforts of these twelve scholars, fifty-six years after the publication of \u003ci\u003eAll the King’s Men\u003c\/i\u003e, testifies to the novel’s great philosophical and psychological depths, riches that continue to induce new readers and returning readers to shadow Jack Burden in his quest of the examined life: the quest to fully engage ourselves in becoming ever more human despite our being flawed, ever-plagued by our social shortcomings, as are “all the king’s men.”","brand":"Michael J. Meyer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48274110710011,"sku":"9789042034969","price":124.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0779\/3917\/9771\/files\/CoreSourceHub_32518ba3-06e7-461e-9b62-3f2d2218379c.jpg?v=1778022981","url":"https:\/\/indiepubs.com\/products\/robert-penn-warrens-all-the-kings-men-9789042034969","provider":"IndiePubs","version":"1.0","type":"link"}