Best of
Literary-Fiction

1941

The Journal of Albion Moonlight


Kenneth Patchen - 1941
    His is the tale of a disordered pilgrimage to H. Roivas (Heavenly Savior) in which the deranged responses of individuals point up the outer madness from which they derive in a more imaginative way that social protest generally allows.Like Camus, Kenneth Patchen is anti-cool, anti-hip, anti-beat.

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight


Vladimir Nabokov - 1941
    Many people knew things about Sebastian Knight as a distinguished novelist, but probably fewer than a dozen knew of the two love affairs that so profoundly influenced his career, the second one in such a disastrous way. After Knight's death, his half brother sets out to penetrate the enigma of his life, starting with a few scanty clues in the novelist's private papers. His search proves to be a story of mystery and intrigue as any of his subject's own novels, as baffling, and, in the end, as uniquely rewarding.

The Land of Spices


Kate O'Brien - 1941
    Now the formidable Mother Superior of an Irish convent, she has, for some time, been experiencing grave doubts about her vocation. But when she meets Anna Murphy, the youngest-ever boarder, the little girl's solemn, poetic nature captivates her and she feels 'a storm break in her hollow heart'. Between them an unspoken allegiance is formed that will sustain each through the years as the Reverend Mother seeks to combat her growing spiritual aridity and as Anna develops the strength to resist the conventional demands of her background.

Dimanche and Other Stories


Irène Némirovsky - 1941
    Moving from the drawing rooms of pre-war Paris to the lives of men and women in wartime France, here we find the beautiful work of a writer at the height of her tragically short career.Contents:Dimanche = Sunday --Les rivages heureux = Those happy shores --Liens du sang = Flesh and blood --Fraternité = Brotherhood --La femme de don Juan = Don Juan's wife --Le sortilège = The spell --Le spectateur = The spectator --Monsieur Rose = Mr. Rose --La confidente = The confidante --L'inconnu = The unknown soldier.

Reflections in a Golden Eye


Carson McCullers - 1941
    A powerful and passionate tale is set on a southern army post --a human hell inhabited by a sexually disturbed officer, his animalistic wife, her lover, and the driven young private who forces the drama to its climax...

The Mortal Storm


Phyllis Bottome - 1941
    The story pits the developing political and feminist consciousness of Freya Roth against the Nazi machine that will destroy the fabric of her family and nation. In its combination of adventure and love story, political analysis and history, The Mortal Storm remains a powerful reminder of the greatest crisis of the twentieth century, as well as a riveting personal saga.

The Hills Beyond


Thomas Wolfe - 1941
    The unfinished novel from which this collection of sketches, stories, and novellas takes its title was Wolfe's final effort. It tells the story of the Joyner family, George Webber's maternal ancestors, in pre-Civil War North Carolina and illustrates Wolfe's fine sense of family traits rooted in a traceable past. "Chickamauga" is the superb Civil War tale that Wolfe received from his great-uncle; "The Lost Boy" renders a second, more tender, treatment of the death of young Grover Gant; and "The Return of the Prodigal" describes Eugene Gant's imagined and then actual revisit to Altamont when he is a famous author. Together the eleven pieces of The Hills Beyond confirm the passion, energy, and sensitivity that made Wolfe the most promising American writer of his generation.

The Rich House


Stella Gibbons - 1941
    Encircling their lives is Archibald Early, a once-famous actor, his housekeeper and his grandson Ted. These three tip the balance, and relationships shift, but even war cannot halt the passions of the young.

Chance Acquaintances and Julie de Carneilhan


Colette - 1941
    While there, she befriends the handsome Gerard Haume and his invalid wife Antoinette, and is unwittingly caught up in the mysterious and disturbing events which befall them.Set in pre-war Paris, Julie de Carneilhan tells of the complex relationship between proud but impoverished Julie and her former husband, the Comte d'Espivant, who has remarried a wealthy widow. Julie de Carneilhan was the last full-length novel Colette was to write and was 'as close a reckoning with the elements of her second marriage as she ever allowed herself.'. In Chance Acquaintances Colette visits a health resort, accompanied only by her cat. While there, she befriends the handsome Gerard Haume and his invalid wife Antoinette, and is unwittingly caught up in the mysterious and disturbing events which befall them. Varying widely in mood and treatment, these two short novels demonstrate the versatility and sensitivity of Colette's writing.