 First edition | |
| Author | William Kennedy |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Tragedy[1] |
| Publisher | Viking Press, NY |
Publication date | 1983 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 227 pp |
| ISBN | 0-670-40176-5 |
| OCLC | 8709244 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3561.E428 I7 1983 |
| Preceded by | Billy Phelan's Greatest Game |
| Followed by | Quinn's Book |
Ironweed is a 1983 novel by American authorWilliam Kennedy.[2]Ironweed received the 1984Pulitzer Prize for Fiction[3] and is the third book in Kennedy's Albany Cycle.[4] It is included in the Western Canon of the criticHarold Bloom.[5] The novel was adapted into a 1987film of the same name.
Set during theGreat Depression,Ironweed tells the story of a bum namedFrancis Phelan. Phelan is a native ofAlbany, New York who left his family after accidentally killing his infant son. The novel focuses on Phelan's return (after being gone twenty-two years) to Albany over the triduum ofAll Hallows Eve,All Saints' Day, andAll Souls' Day. Moreover, a surreal element is added to the narrative, as Phelan sees and tries to interact with dead people from his troubled past. The novel features characters that are present in some of Kennedy's other Albany Cycle books.
The structure of the novel resembles the structure of Dante'sDivine Comedy.[6] The novel's epigraph is a quotation fromPurgatorio:
To course o’er better waters
now hoists sail the little bark of my wit,
leaving behind her a sea so cruel.[6]
Ironweed received positive reviews fromThe New York Times[7] and theWashington Post.[8] It won Kennedy a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Critics Circle Award.[9]
Kennedy wrote the screenplay for the 1987film version ofIronweed, which was directed byHéctor Babenco and starredJack Nicholson andMeryl Streep.[10] Major portions of the film were shot on location in Albany.[11] The film was nominated for twoAcademy Awards: TheBest Actor in a Leading Role (for Nicholson) and theBest Actress in a Leading Role (for Streep).[12]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
 | This article about ahistorical novel of the 1980s is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article'stalk page. |
