INTO THE FOREST

by Roderick Thorp ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A first novel, with college derivations, is focussed on three characters -- Charles Cumberland, who learns to face his stupidity and temper, Cal Torrenson, whose ""big, cruel ideas"" hurt others-and himself, and Elaine, a Jewish girl who has had a long period of ""emotional and psychological attrition"". Cal and Elaine's affair at Cornell has been broken off by her, and he is spoiling to inflict his destructive impulses on others; Charles, studying at CCNY and student-teaching, has had an unsatisfactory affair with a girl from his upstate New York home town; the meeting of Elaine and Charles is their chance to work out the basis of a sound marriage. When they are forced to be with Cal, at a Cornell party, the lines are drawn and it is Charles who finds he can rise above Cal's viciousness and Elaine is helped by Charles' strength. Laced with argument, discussion, some violence and sex, this reflects the young desire to be ""really alive"" -- a pursuit which is tempered by the hard earned knowledge that pity and compassion have their place.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1961

Categories: FICTION