Look Homeward, Angel

Look Homeward, Angel is an elaborate and moving coming-of-age story about Eugene Gant, a restless and energetic character whose passion to experience life takes him from his small, rural hometown in North Carolina to Harvard University and the city of Boston. The novel's pattern is artfully simple—a small town, a large family, high school and college—yet the characters are monumental in their graphic individuality and personality.

Through his rich, ornate prose, Wolfe evokes the extraordin...