The Damnation of Theron Ware (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)

by Harold Frederic, Clay Motley (Introduction)

Overview

One of the most riveting examples of American literary realism, The Damnation of Theron Ware insightfully captures the unsettling religious, scientific, philosophical, and sexual transitions American society underwent in the late nineteenth century. Theron Ware, a naïve Methodist minister, becomes sexually attracted to Celia Madden, daughter of the town's richest resident, and is intellectually seduced by her friends, including the town's Catholic priest and a reclusive scientist. Intoxicated by the strange ideas of his new friends, Theron Ware eagerly trades in his former innocence and faith for a conspicuously "modern" set of ideas and beliefs he only vaguely understands. What first appears to be illumination is ultimately "damnation" for Ware, as he abandons all beliefs for a shallow pursuit of power and financial success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781411430846
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Series:	Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	376,012
File size:	831 KB
Age Range:	3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

Harold Frederic was born in 1856 in Utica, New York. His birth five years before the Civil War began placed him in the position to observe the passing away of the antebellum generation as the twentieth century drew closer, which to Frederic came to symbolize the loss of a national innocence and a traditional set of values and beliefs. He worked as a newspaper reporter until the success of The Damnation of Theron Ware provided him the financial security to quit.