SONS OF THE FATHERS

by N. Martin Kramer ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 30, 1959

Six assorted and unadjusted young men meet at the University of California in the '20's, share a common interest- art, and less recognizably, some various vitiating relationships- pere et fils. The most talented- Terrence Colin-, is the most hostile towards his drinking father whom he kills, accidentally, after an ugly scene; the stigma of Robb Nixon's paternity is self-evident- he is an albino; George Morley's casual cameraderie with his millionaire father is deceptive- Morley has no use for him, or his money, and becomes a Communist, goes off to fight in Spain; there is the Negro, Johnny Rue; the elegant, effete Virgil Benthwick; the objectionable, precious, perverse Marion McNaughton. These six keep in touch now and again through the years:- McNaughton, from his life alone with a reproachful mother, is the victim of another devouring older woman; Benthwick's talents are put to forged paintings and take him to San Quentin; Terrence Collin becomes a second son to the wealthy, dying Morley before World War II lends another direction to his life- along with Johnny Rue's..... None of this is, popularly speaking, prepossessing material- and as in the case of an earlier novel- The Hearth and the Strangeness, the writer brings to it an uncompromising and unremitting realism.

Pub Date: June 30, 1959

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1959

Categories: FICTION