eAudiobook
hoopla Instant
The Bohemians
Year
2021
Language
ENGLISH
Duration
9h 18m
Publication Information
Blackstone Publishing
Summary
The unforgettable story of the birth of modern America and the western writers who gave voice to its emerging identityThe Bohemians begins in 1860s San Francisco. The Gold Rush has ended; the Civil War threatens to tear apart the country. The bards of the moment are the Bohemians: a young Mark Twain, fleeing the draft and seeking adventure; literary golden boy Bret Harte; struggling gay poet Charles Warren Stoddard; and beautiful, haunted Ina Coolbrith, poet and protectorate of the group. Twain and the Bohemians find inspiration in their surroundings: the dark ironies of frontier humor, the extravagant tales told around the campfires, and the youthful irreverence of the new world being formed in the west. The star of the moment is Bret Harte, a rising figure on the national scene and mentor to both Stoddard and Coolbrith. Young and ambitious, Twain and Harte form the Bohemian core. But as Harte's star ascends-drawing attention from eastern taste makers such as the Atlantic Monthly-Twain flounders, questioning whether he should be a writer at all. Ben Tarnoff's elegant, atmospheric history reveals how these four pioneering western writers would together create a new American literature, unfettered by the heavy European influence that dominated the East. At once an intimate portrait of an eclectic, unforgettable group of writers and a history of a cultural revolution in America, The Bohemians reveals how a brief moment on the western frontier changed our country forever. "Tarnoff's book sings with the humor and expansiveness…capturing the intoxicating atmosphere of possibility that defined, for a time, America's frontier." "Few audiobooks offer a better window on the evolution of a unique American literature than this fine portrayal…Narrator Jim Frangione['s] excellent performance is a listening-and learning-experience of the highest order…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award." "Tarnoff powerfully evokes the western landscapes, local cultures, and youthful friendships that helped shape Twain." "Tarnoff's ultimate thesis…[is] that together these writers 'helped pry American literature away from its provincial origins in New England and push it into a broader current.'" "A fresh take on Twain's San Francisco circle." "Twain may be the main draw…but Tarnoff's writing about a few of Twain's contemporaries-Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, Ina Coolbrith-is just as engaging." "Tarnoff's glimmering prose lends grandeur to this account…a highly readable story." "Tarnoff energetically portrays this irresistible quartet within a vital historical setting."