Look Homeward, Angel is Thomas Wolfe's first novel. Published in 1929, it is heavily autobiographical, and Wolfe uses the main character, Eugene Gant, as a stand-in for himself. It shows his maturing from birth to the age of nineteen in the fictional town and state of Altamont, Catawba, which many believe to be a not-so-subtle mirror of his hometown, Asheville, North Carolina. Many of the characters of Look Homeward, Angel were also strongly based on real people from Asheville, and were often not portrayed in a pleasing manner. This resulted in a certain estrangement between Wolfe and his hometown, and it is speculated that this formed some of the basis for his later work, You Can't Go Home Again. It is believed that a stone statue of an angel, found in a Hendersonville, North Carolina cemetery, looking to the east was part of the inspiration for this work. A plaque is found on Highway 64, or 6th Avenue West in Hendersonville, at an entrance to Oakdale Cemetery contains this information. The title comes from the poem "Lycidas" by John Milton.
- Look homeward Angel now, and melt with ruth:
- And, O ye Dolphins, waft the hapless youth. (163-164)
Inspirations
"Look Homeward, Angel" was a top-40 hit song for Johnnie Ray in 1957. "Pogledaj dom svoj, anđele", one of the most popular songs by Serbian rock band Riblja Čorba, released on their 1985 album Istina (The Truth), is named by the novel.
References
EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006, Janjatović Petar; ISBN 978-86-905317-1-4
