From the time of its first publication in 1960, Conrad Richter's The Waters of Kronos sparked lively debate about the extent to which its story of a belated return to childhood scenes mirrored key events of Richter's own life. As was well known at the time, Richter had spent several years in the Southwest, where he collected the material for his first successful book, Early Americans and Other Stories , but by 1933, he had returned to live in his hometown, Pine Grove, Pennsylvania. John Donner, the main protagonist in ...
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From the time of its first publication in 1960, Conrad Richter's The Waters of Kronos sparked lively debate about the extent to which its story of a belated return to childhood scenes mirrored key events of Richter's own life. As was well known at the time, Richter had spent several years in the Southwest, where he collected the material for his first successful book, Early Americans and Other Stories , but by 1933, he had returned to live in his hometown, Pine Grove, Pennsylvania. John Donner, the main protagonist in The Waters of Kronos , traces a similar route from west to east, although he finds that his family home and native town have been submerged under the deep waters of a lake formed by the construction of a hydroelectric dam. As Richter narrates his alter ego's efforts to salvage his past, he moves beyond "semi-autobiography" to offer what are widely recognized as his most haunting reflections upon the power of family history, the fragility of human memory, and art's role in structuring the communal ethos. David McCullough, a fellow Pulitzer Prize winner, met and befriended Richter in the 1960s and has called him "an American master," praising The Waters of Kronos as "his most beautiful book."
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Good. Stated first edition, 1960. Binding is unblemished, text block is clean, boards straight, without highlights or markings. Mild rubbing/chipping to dust wrapper edges. Very nice example. Well packaged and promptly shipped from California. Partnered with Friends of the Library since 2010.
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Fine. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 192 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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Like New. First published in 1960 and thought to be semi-autobiographical. John Donner returns to his childhood town to find it submerged under the deep waters of a lake formed by the construction of a hydroelectric dam. 178 pp. Nice copy. Full refund if not satisfied.
Conrad Richter (1890 -- 1968) won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award during his literary career, but his works are too little read today. His novel "The Waters of Kronos" received the National Book Award in 1961. I found this short novel beautiful and moving. Richter writes lyrically and poetically, and with reflection and melancholy.
The book consists of eight brief chapters and is told by an omniscient third person narrator. The story is about a successful novelist, aging and unwell, named John Donner. Donner has driven for seven days from the West Coast to the small coal mining town called Unionville where he grew up in central Pennsylvania. He has a feeling of unease as he doesn't fully understand the purposes of his journey. He is aware from the beginning that the town of Unionville is no more. Donner reflects as he nears what remains of his destination.
"Of course, he knew that he had not been well. But why, he wondered, did he suppose he would be better at his destination? It was true that the sailor came home from the sea, the hunter from the hill and the prodigal son to his father's house. But for him there was no longer any father's house to come to. And still he went on, even now when, less that twenty miles from his native valley, fresh misgivings seized him."
Donner learns that the entire town of Unionville has been submerged by a lake to form a dam and power project. He is able to visit the cemetery, which had been relocated, where his family is buried.
Up to this point, the story has been realistic enough in tone. But then Donner meets a strange man driving a coal wagon who takes him on a brief ride down a hill to Unionville as it was when Donner was a boy, just after the death of his grandfather who had been a beloved minister.
In the remainder of the book, Donner, as an old man, visits and interacts for three days with the people and places of his boyhood. (The book leaves ambiguous whether this travel back in time is a hallucination on Donner's part or whether it is a supernatural event.) As a boy, Donner had been introspective and a loner and harbored doubts about the value of the religiosity of his family -- most of the men in the family had been ministers. The book describes in fond detail the people and places of old Unionville. Donner meets many of the people of his boyhood, including his father, uncles, brothers, and aunts. In a climactic scene, he meets himself as a young boy. With one possible exception, none of these people recognize Donner. They see him only as a strange old man. They are generally courteous to him but troubled by his presence. They would all be happier if he were gone.
The book seems influenced by Freudian psychology. Donner loves his mother but during his visit only sees her from a distance and doesn't have a conversation with her. The reader thus doesn't learn whether she would recognize her aged son. Donner also has mixed feelings towards his father, with whom he does speak briefly during the book. In the climactic scene of the story, the old Donner has a conversation with himself as a boy about the father. This conversation proves understandably uncomfortable for both of the apparent participants. The reader is left with the impression that the elderly Donner has learned something important about familial relationships and comes in old age to understand and appreciate his father more than he had been able to do during most of his life.
Although this book is beautifully written, it is slow moving and almost static. It tells its story with indirection and needs to be read carefully. (The novel is short and came clearer on a second reading.) The book resists an easy summation such as "you can't go home again". Donner learns a great deal from his real or imagined visit in terms of effecting a reconciliation in his mind with his hometown, his family, and himself. The book encourages reflection and thinking about oneself with the passage of time. I think older readers may appreciate this book more than younger people.
"The Waters of Kronos" merited the high literary award it received even though the book remains obscure. It is a beautifully written story about coming to terms with oneself.
