New Releases by Erskine Caldwell

Originally published in 1932, Caldwell's novel told the story of the Lester family, poor Georgia sharecroppers who no longer farmed the land, but lived by whatever means possible. Caldwell's picture of the rural South challenged notions of the dignified and polite Antebellum South and depicted an image that was grotesque, violent, and morally bankrupt. Southern readers immediately found Caldwell's novel needlessly exaggerated and offensive, while Northern critics read his story as an indictment upon a failed Southern economic system in dire need of reform.

Martha Stroup y su hijo William casi han terminado la colada cuando un ruido como de una explosión amenaza con derribar la casa. Es "Pa" con su última adquisición: una máquina de embalar papel que los sacará de pobres de la noche a la mañana. En pos del sueño americano que nunca llega, "Pa" puede endeudarse hasta el cuello. O hurtar a los vecinos toda la chatarra que venderá en una feria. O maltratar a Handsome, el huérfano negro que ayuda en las tareas de la casa. Y como "Pa", además de simpático y holgazán, es un mujeriego, dejará que una troupe de circo desvalije la casa con tal de pasar media hora con la Reina de los Gitanos en el cobertizo, sometido a sus encantos y encantaciones. Y entrará en el juego de una vendedora ambulante de corbatas, que le sacará sus últimos cinco dólares con falsas promesas amorosas.Hasta que Martha Stroup, harta de él y sus andanzas, le sirve una cena... inolvidable.

A Georgia dirt farmer believes there is gold on his land, leading him and his sons to spend fifteen years digging holes all over the family farm.

Unsentimentally realistic, this classic novel is a reflection of the effects of poverty on tenant farmers in the South during the Great Depression. It focuses on the Lester family, former cotton farmers who continue to live on their ancestors’ plantation even though it has long ceased to be prosperous. Jeeter and Ada Lester have 17 children, two of whom still live at home: Ellie May, their only unmarried daughter who has a cleft lip, and Dude, their youngest son who is mentally handicapped. The family’s antics, while at times vile and perverse, depict the racism and moral ambiguity that existed among some impoverished Southerners at that time and represent Erskine Caldwell’s critique of the failed economic system and its consequences. Realista sin ser sentimental, esta novela clásica es una reflexión de los efectos de la pobreza en los aparceros en el sur durante la Gran Depresión. Se enfoca en la familia Lester, antiguos agricultores de algodón que siguen viviendo en la plantación de sus antepasados, a pesar de que ésta desde hace tiempo dejó de ser próspera. Jeeter y Ada Lester tienen 17 hijos, dos de los cuales todavía viven en casa: Ellie May, su única hija soltera que tiene un labio leporino, y Dude, su hijo menor que tiene deficiencia mental. Las travesuras de la familia, aunque a veces viles y perversas, muestran el racismo y la ambigüedad moral que existía entre algunos sureños empobrecidos en ese momento y representan la crítica de Erskine Caldwell del sistema económico reprobado y sus consecuencias.

Short stories about the twentieth-century South by the national bestselling author of Tobacco Road. Author of some of the most widely banned fiction of the twentieth century, Erskine Caldwell had a talent for striking a nerve. In this collection of nearly one hundred stories, the full depth and scope of his talent is on display, including his trademark biting satire as well as his skill at rendering deeply moving portraits of his native South. In a career that spanned over six decades, Caldwell produced stories that serve to document a changing society, from the dehumanizing trials of the Great Depression through the transformative battle to desegregate the South. Taken together, his short fiction reveals a voice that remains essential for readers hoping to understand the American experience. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erskine Caldwell including rare photos and never-before-seen documents courtesy of the Dartmouth College Library.

A small Southern town lynches a falsely accused man in "some of the most . . . human and terrifying pages Caldwell has written" (Richard Wright, author of Native Son). When word spreads through Julie County that Sonny Clark, a black man, has assaulted Katy Barlow, a white woman, the man's fate is sealed. With frightening speed, authorities and an outraged mob align to apprehend Clark and condemn him without trial. By the time Barlow confesses that no crime occurred, it is too late. Told from the multiple perspectives of victim and victimizers as well as passive onlookers, Trouble in July depicts in harrowing detail the tragic ignorance of individuals who fail to understand their roles in a hateful miscarriage of justice. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Erskine Caldwell including rare photos and never-before-seen documents courtesy of the Dartmouth College Library.

With a true American voice, Caldwell presents a searing view of the tragic struggles of a black brother and sister in their attempt to survive the racism and perverse sexuality of their brutal Southern employers.

In 1965, Erskine Caldwell sets out across the South to find his black boyhood friend, Bisco, whom he has not seen in 50 years. Eighteen of those conversations with folks from South Carolina to Arkansas make up this book.

Alan Kent is a wanderer, a seeker. Driven by, or fleeing from, unnamed forces, he struggles against the hardening effects of a brutal and indifferent world. In a series of episodes, Erskine Caldwell tells the semiautobiographical story of Kent's childhood, roving early manhood, and transformation into an artist. The episodes, which range from brief, graphic sketches to one-sentence impressions, are filled with elemental images of light and darkness, blood and water, earth and sky.

Boxx's younger, daughter, does he finally free himself from the clutches of this demonic, madwoman. Yet freedom proves elusive, for by the end of this surreal, phantasmagoric adventure, Blondy and everyone he cares for have come to a bloody end.

Conversations with Erskine Caldwell contains thirty-two interviews with this major writer, who during his long career enjoyed both the celebrity and the controversy that his books generated. These collected interviews include what is apparently his first, given in 1929 before the publication of The Bastard, to one of the very last, given only weeks before his death in April 1987. Caldwell was a lifelong outspoken opponent of censorship and an early advocate of racial equality. His ideas were reflected in a number of important interviews and portraits, often in newspapers or small journals not easily obtained today. In his later years he became a kind of elder statesman, celebrated as the last of that extraordinary generation of American writers which included Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Wolfe, and Steinbeck and which changed the face of American literature. The interviews in this collection reveal Caldwell's attitudes toward the profession of writing. He describes his early years of struggle, his determination to prove himself as a writer, and his tremendous success as the author of Tobacco Road and God's Little Acre, two American classics. He explains his attitude toward the South and his desire to bring about social reform through his writings. He is also candid about his own personal trials, his doubts and beliefs, and the state of his critical reputation.

" Sur la première marche de la véranda, Buck était assis, la tête penchée sur la poitrine. Le fusil était toujours par terre, là où il l'avait laissé tomber. Ty Ty fit un tour complet pour éviter de le voir. - Du sang sur ma terre ! murmurait-il. Devant lui, la ferme s'étendait, désolée. Les tas de sable jaune et d'argile rouge, séparés par les grands cratères rouges, le sol rouge, inculte - la terre semblait désolée. Ty Ty, à l'ombre du chêne, se sentait complètement exténué. Il n'avait plus de force dans les muscles quand il pensait à l'or enfoui dans la terre, sous sa ferme. Il ne savait pas où se trouvait l'or et il ne savait pas comment il le pourrait extraire, maintenant que ses forces l'avaient abandonné. "

In this appealing collection of fourteen interrelated stories, twelve-year-old William Stroup recounts the ludicrous predicaments and often self-imposed hardships his family endures. Playing on the tension between his hardworking, sensible mother and his disarmingly likable but shiftless and philandering father, William tells of Pa's flirtation with a widow, his swapping match with a band of gypsies, his battle of wits with a traveling silk-tie saleswoman, and his get-rich-quick schemes based on selling Ma's old love letters and collecting scrap iron.

Seventeen short stories which have appeared in previous volumes or magazines.

Personal experiences of Caldwell with guerrilla warfare in the Soviet Union.