Affliction Banks, Russell

This is the story of my older brother's strange criminal behavior and his disappearance. No one urged me to reveal these things; no one asked me not to. We who loved him simply no longer speak of Wade, not among ourselves and not with anyone else, either. It is almost as if he never existed, or as if he were a member of some other family or from some other place and we barely knew him and never had occasion to speak of him. So that by telling his story like this, as his brother, I am separating myself from the family and from all those who ever loved him. (from the first line)

Wade Whitehouse, a gentle man and the victim of a violent father, is driven to sudden criminal acts by a fellow cop whom he suspects of murdering a local labor official and by an ex-wife who limits his contact with their daughter. Reprint. Movie tie-in. *Author: Banks, Russell *Publication Date: 1990/09/01 *Binding Type: Paperback *Language: English *Depth: 1.00 *Width: 5.50 *Height: 8.00

From the Publisher:
Wade Whitehouse is an improbable protagonist for a tragedy. A well-digger and policeman in a bleak New Hampshire town, he is a former high-school star gone to beer fat, a loner with a mean streak. It is a mark of Russell Banks artistry and understanding that Wade comes to loom in ones mind as a blue-collar American Everyman afflicted by the dark secret of the macho tradition. Told by his articulate, equally scarred younger brother, Wade's story becomes as spellbinding and inexorable as a fuse burning its way to the dynamite.A gentle man, the victim of a violent father, is made violent himself by a fellow cop whom he suspects of murdering a local labor official, and an ex-wife who limits contact with their daughter

Annotation:
This work of small-town realism is the story of Wade Whitehouse, a born-to-lose, middle-aged blue-collar resident of a bleak New Hampshire town. The story of Wade's obsession with the death in a hunting accident of a man he doesn't even know, followed by his almost willful downward slide and final disappearance, is told by his detached, educated younger brother as an American macho tragedy.This work of small-town realism is the story of Wade Whitehouse, a born-to-lose, middle-aged blue-collar resident of a bleak New Hampshire community like the one in which Russell Banks grew up. The story of Wade's abusive father, Wade's hopeless marriage and attempts to be a father to his daughter, and his obsession with the death in a hunting accident of a man he doesn't even know, followed by his almost willful downward slide, is told by his detached, educated younger brother as an American macho tragedy, steeped in pointless violence. AFFLICTION was made into a highly acclaimed film in 1998 by Paul Schrader, starring Nick Nolte.

Author Bio

Russell Banks

Russell Banks grew up in New Hampshire, the son of an alcoholic laborer who deserted the family when Banks was 12. He dropped out of Colgate University, where he went on a scholarship, after two months, uncomfortable with its image of wealth and privilege. Banks has four daughters and has been married four times; his second wife put him through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Banks has lived in and taught at Princeton, and also has shared with his fourth wife--Chase Twichell, a poet--a house in the upstate New York town of Keene Valley, a community not unlike those in which many of his novels are set. In additional to writing novels, Banks is a dedicated and prolific short-story writer. In all his fiction, he chooses to explore an essentially male, working class world comprised of men in crisis who have trouble understanding the uncomfortable situations in which they find themselves.

Product Attributes

Book Format:		Paperback
Number of Pages:		0368
Publisher:		Harper Perennial

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Affliction (Paperback)

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