George Mills Summary
The key themes of the novel concern history itself, as a determinant of human fate, and thus the larger issue of individual freedom to create oneself.
The problematic curse on the Mills family is to a degree their own acceptance of its inevitability, or of history's power to repress and determine our lives. The current George Mills, although overtly less promising than his ancestors, has come to his own way of dealing with history, and progresses to a state Elkin describes at the end of the sermon George gives as the novel concludes as, "relieved of history as an amnesiac."
The novel further associates the escape from history's trap with grace and with denial of life-creating forces.
In an elementary way, the current Mills escapes history's trap by refusing to pass on his flawed birthright.
All his ancestors wanted sons and heirs, who would also be auditors for...
(read more from the Short Guide)
Study Pack
The George Mills Study Pack contains:
George Mills Short Guide
Stanley Elkin Biographies (4)
2,272 words, approx. 8 pages
Stanly Elkin was born in New York City on 11 May 1930 and was raised in Chicago. His father, a traveling salesman with a gift for storytelling, probably exerted the single most important influence on ...
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Among American-Jewish writers, Stanley Elkin has a very special place. Like other writers of his American-born generation, he deals with a heritage rather than the personal experience of immigration o...
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When Stanley Elkin died in 1995, he had already fallen into the dreaded category of "a writer's writer." Although literary critics and fellow novelists continued to celebrate his daring, zany innovati...
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Fond of fracturing readers' expectations, Stanley Elkin made his most profound impact on his fellow writers. Toward the end of his life, his books were falling out of print, and only specialized editi...
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