From the Lists: #29 The Studs Lonigan Trilogy

Another %$#@! Trilogy! 

It seems like months since I last posted, but with all the family vacation action, work, and International Festival planning, I have been more than a little slack in keeping up with my posts. So, to get back into the swing of sharing, let's have a look at James T Farrells' Studs Lonigan Trilogy [Young Lonigan (1932), The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan (1934), and Judgment Day (1935)].

As with every multi-volume entry on the list of 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century, I sighed with weariness when it was time to get started on this one. Luckily, I found an eBook version that included all three volumes - 757 glorious pages!  And, I am not being sarcastic.

The trilogy starts with young William (Studs) Lonigan preparing for his grammar school graduation and ends with his untimely death at the age of 31. The first and last books are somewhat chronological in that they focus on about six months of Stud's life, mostly from his point of view. The middle book, covers the the 15 years in between using short vignettes describing milestones in Studs' life. The writing style for each book is in what I like to refer to as "Screenplay" format - i.e. short chapters with lots of dialog.

Synopsis:

Studs is short in stature, not particularly handsome, and not too intelligent.. He would probably be considered average on most counts - except within his own thoughts. When he looks in the mirror, he sees a tough, handsome guy, who is bound to experience good fortune. In reality, he is short-sighted and prideful, he runs with a bad crowd, makes bad decisions, has no self-awareness, and blames the world for his endless stream of bad luck. He has neither the words nor the capability of communicating his emotions or thoughts, which for the most part are focused on comparing himself to his peers, fighting, and female conquest.

Like the character in Train Spotting, Studs is always going to give up drinking and wild nights. He is strong in his resolve - at least until there is another bottle, another slight to his ego, or another chance at sex. Unlike other literature of this time, the act of sex is neither condemned nor moralized. Instead, Studs' lack of experience and clumsiness in the act, always leaves him unhappy, unsatisfied, and depressed. Of course this feeling is quickly blamed on the woman - who is after all nothing but a slut. Only a slut would give it up so easily.

Sadly, Studs' life never lives up to the dreams of success and ideals of love to which he is constantly comparing his circumstances. He is always jealous of someone more successful than he, yet Studs is incapable of taking control of his own life. He can only take solace in knowing that some of his childhood friends are living lives much worse than his.

By the end of the trilogy, Studs is about 31 years old, still lives at home with his long suffering parents, and he has met an girl he wants to marry. Unfortunately for everyone concerned, he dies trying to do the right thing - albeit his efforts are futile.  

Thoughts on the Trilogy

After the Edwardian novels about romantic betrayal (The Golden Bowl and The Good Soldier) and offended sensibilities, I was pleasantly surprised by the directness of the writing, but rather distressed by the use of racial slurs. With so many different groups of people (Irish, Italians, Hungarians, African Americans, Jews, Germans, etc.) arriving in the USA at the turn of the century, animosities seemed to fester among those whose parents or grandparents had arrived slightly earlier. The members of the second generation immigrants were obviously good Americans. Those who arrived more recently were simply lazy / greedy / slutty / dirty / ignorant and were to blame for Chicago's decline, the destruction of the 58th street neighborhood in which Studs lives, World War I, and the Great Depression..

Coincidental Happenings

This month's classes at the Kadampa Center focus on Death and Rebirth. Coincidentally, the descriptions of Studs' death paralleled the stages of death and dissolution we have been studying (sense of falling, hallucinations, appearance of smoke, bright light, intermediate states, etc.). The reason for studying death is that we are all going to die. We must, therefore, live a good life and be prepared to calmly face our death.

While reading the final volume of this trilogy, I could not help but to relate Studs' life and his untimely death to what we are learning in this module. I found it strangely coincidental that something so random as a book on a list seemed to be guiding me along my spiritual path. Perhaps people with strong spiritual traditions experience this quite often, but it made me feel as if I am finally on the correct path.

Namaste