You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe
"You Can't Go Home Again" is a novel by Thomas Wolfe that explores the complexities of identity, belonging, and the pursuit of truth in a rapidly changing world. The protagonist, George Webber, experiences a turbulent journey from his home in Libya Hill, a small town in the mountains of Old Catawba, to the bustling streets of New York City and back again. Initially filled with optimism after a successful trip to Europe and a burgeoning literary career, George finds himself disillusioned when he returns to Libya Hill for his aunt's funeral, only to discover that the town has transformed into a capitalist hub devoid of the values he once cherished.
As George publishes a book that reflects his experiences and observations, he faces backlash from his old friends and neighbors, leading him to question his motives and the nature of truth. His relationship with Esther, a stage designer, adds to his internal conflict, as their differing aspirations pull them apart. Throughout the narrative, George grapples with the meaning of success and the elusiveness of fame while forging deep connections with society's marginalized individuals in Brooklyn.
The novel culminates in George's realization that he cannot return to the simplicity of his past and that the fight for truth in America is fraught with challenges. Ultimately, "You Can't Go Home Again" serves as a poignant meditation on the human condition, the longing for authenticity, and the struggle against greed and selfishness in an increasingly complex world.
You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe
First published: 1940
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Autobiographical
Time of plot: 1929–1936
Locale: New York, England, and Germany
Principal Characters
George Webber , a writerEsther Jack , the woman he lovesFoxhall Edwards , his editor and best friendLloyd McHarg , a famous novelistElse von Kohler , a woman also loved by Webber
The Story
As George Webber looks out the window of his New York apartment on a spring day in 1929, he is filled with happiness. The bitter despair of the previous year has been lost somewhere in the riotous time he has spent in Europe, and now it is good to be back in New York with the feeling that he knows where he is going. His book has been accepted by a great publishing firm, and Foxhall Edwards, the best editor of the house, has been assigned to help him with the corrections and revisions. George has also resumed his old love affair with Esther Jack, who, married and the mother of a grown daughter, nevertheless returns his love with tenderness and passion. This love, however, is a flaw in George’s otherwise great content, for he and Esther seem to be pulling in different directions. She is a famous stage designer who mingles with a sophisticated artistic set, whereas George thinks that he can find himself completely only if he lives among and understands the little people of the world.
Before George’s book is published, he tries for the first time to go home again. Home is Libya Hill, a small city in the mountains of Old Catawba. When the aunt who reared George dies, he goes back to Libya Hill for her funeral. There he learns that he can never really go home again, for home is no longer the quiet town of his boyhood; rather, it is a growing city of money-crazy speculators who are concerned only with making huge fortunes out of real estate.
George finds some satisfaction in the small excitement he creates in Libya Hill because he has written a book that is soon to be published. Even that pleasure is not to last long, however, for when he returns to New York and his book—which is about Libya Hill and the people he knew there—is published, almost all the citizens of Libya Hill write him letters filled with threats and curses. George’s only motive had been to tell the truth as he sees it, but his old friends and relatives in Libya Hill seem to think that he spied on them throughout his boyhood in order to gossip about them in later years. Even the small fame he receives in New York, where his book is favorably reviewed by the critics, cannot make up for the abusive letters from Libya Hill.
George feels he can redeem himself only by working feverishly on his new book. He moves to Brooklyn, first breaking off his relationship with Esther. This severance from Esther is difficult, but George cannot live a lie himself and attempts to write the truth. In Brooklyn, he does learn to know and love the little people—the derelicts, the prostitutes, the petty criminals—and he learns that they, like so-called good men and women, are all representative of America. George’s only real friend is Foxhall Edwards, who has become like a father to him. Edwards is a great man, a gifted editor and a genius at understanding and encouraging those who, like George, find it difficult to believe in anything during the years of the Great Depression. Edwards, too, knows that only through truth can America and the world be saved from destruction, but, unlike George, he believes that the truth cannot be thrust suddenly upon people. He calmly accepts conditions as they exist. George rages at his friend’s skepticism.
After four years in Brooklyn, George finishes the first draft of his new book. Tired of New York, he thinks that he might find the atmosphere he needs to complete his manuscript in Europe. In London, he meets Lloyd McHarg, the embodiment of all that George wants to be. George yearns for fame in this period of his life. Because his first book brought him temporary fame, quickly extinguished, he envies McHarg’s world reputation as a novelist. George is disillusioned when he learns that McHarg finds fame meaningless. He has held the world in his hand for a time, but nothing has happened. Now he is living feverishly, looking for something he cannot name.
When George decides his manuscript is ready for publication, he returns to New York, makes the corrections Edwards suggests, and then sails again for Europe. He goes to Germany, a country he has not visited since 1928. In 1936, he is more saddened by the change in the German people than he has been by anything else in his life. He had always felt a kinship with the Germans, but they are no longer the people he knew. Persecution and fear tinge every life in that once-proud country, and George, sickened, wonders if there is anyplace in the world where truth and freedom still live.
There are, however, two bright spots in his visit to Germany. The first is the fame that greets him on his arrival. His first book had been well received, and his second, now published, is a great success. For a time, he basks in that glory, but soon he, like McHarg, finds fame an elusive thing that brings no real reward. His other great experience is his love for Else von Kohler. That is also an elusive joy, however, for her roots are deep in Germany, and George knows he must return to the United States to cry out to his own people that they must live the truth and so save the nation from the world’s ruin. Before he leaves Germany, he sees more examples of the horror and tyranny under which the people exist, and he leaves with a heavy heart. He realizes once more that one can never go home again.
Back in New York, George knows that he must break at last his ties with Foxhall Edwards. He writes to Edwards, telling him why they can no longer travel the same path. First, he reviews the story of his own life, through which he weaves the story of his desire to make the American people awake to the great need for truth so that they might keep their freedom. He tells Edwards, too, that in his youth he wanted fame and love above all else. Now, having had both, he has learned that they are not enough. Slowly he has learned humility, and he knows that he wants to speak the truth to the downtrodden, to all humanity. Because George knows that he has to try to awaken the slumbering conscience of America, he is saying farewell to his friend, for Edwards believes that if the end of freedom is to be the lot of humanity, fighting against that end is useless.
Sometimes George fears that the battle is lost, but he will never stop fighting as long as there is hope that America will awaken to the truth. He eventually discovers that the real enemy of America is selfishness and greed, disguised as a friend of humankind. He feels that, if he can only get help from the less fortunate people of the nation, he can defeat the enemy. Through George, America might go home again.
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