James Tait Black Memorial Prizes
Young Tom (Valancourt 20th Century Classics)
This novel traces the growth of a young boy named Tom and the gradual formation of his sense of self. Through family ties, friendship, and social expectation, it follows the subtle changes in his inner life with quiet precision.
Work Information
A tender, finely observed novel of boyhood uncertainty and discovery.
"Young Tom" is an important late novel by Forrest Reid, published in 1944 and awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In a restrained style, it portrays the emotional instability of boyhood and the self that takes shape through relations with others.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Valancourt Books
- Published
- 2023-10-10
- Pages
- 182 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 12.7 x 1.17 x 20.32 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781941147498
- ISBN-10
- 1941147496
- Price
- 2936 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Gay & Lesbian/Literature & Fiction/Fiction/Gay
Young Tom (1944) completes the trilogy of novels featuring Tom Barber, which began with Uncle Stephen (1931) and The Retreat (1936), and it is probably Forrest Reid's finest achievement. Acclaim from contemporary critics was unanimous, and the book won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize as the best novel of the year. In many ways, ten-year-old Tom is like other boys: his life centres on his parents, school, and his best friend Pascoe. But he also has another existence, equally real, in his dreams and imagination. In this novel, we follow him as he plays with his three canine companions, Barker, Pincher and Roger, befriends and communicates with a rat and a squirrel, and tries to find out what happened to Ralph Seaford, the dead boy whose ghost now haunts Tom's grandmother's attic. In exquisite prose, without sentimentality, exaggeration, or a single false note, Reid brings to life Tom, his greatest creation, and accomplishes the difficult feat of allowing readers to revisit and experience anew the wonders and mysteries of childhood. This edition features a new introduction by Andrew Doyle.
Reviews
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LIfe for the sensitive soul in another time.
Forrest Reid's best novel about early 20th century middle-class "sensitive" youth in Ireland. I did enjoy reading this and thinking about what it must have been like when a teen was not deluged with media and conspicuous consumption.