The Magnificent Ambersons
Publisher: Standard Ebooks
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Subjects: Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Psychological fiction; Indiana -- Fiction; Domestic fiction; Children of the rich -- Fiction; Mothers and sons -- Fiction; Loss (Psychology) -- Fiction; Social change -- Fiction
Description: <p><i>The Magnificent Ambersons</i>, winner of the 1919 Pulitzer prize, is considered by many to be <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/booth-tarkington">Booth Tarkington’s</a> finest novel and an American classic. The story is set in the Midwest, where George, the spoiled and oblivious scion of an old-money family, must cope with their waning fortunes and the rise of industry barons in the automobile age.</p>
			<p>George’s antiheroic struggles with modernity encapsulate a greater theme of change and renewal—specifically, the very American notion of a small community exploding into a dark and dirty city virtually overnight by virtue of industrial “progress.” Tarkington’s nuanced portrayal of the often-unlikable Amberson family and his paradoxical framing of progress as a destroyer of family, community, and environment, make <i>The Magnificent Ambersons</i> a fascinating and forward-thinking novel—certainly one with a permanent place in the American social canon. Despite the often heavy themes, Tarkington’s prose remains uniquely witty, charming, and brisk.</p>
			<p>The novel is the second in Tarkington’s <a href="https://standardebooks.org/collections/growth-trilogy">Growth trilogy</a> of novels, and has been adapted several times for radio, film, and television, including a 1942 Orson Welles adaptation that many consider one of the finest American films ever made.</p>