All The Kings Men

15 Pages 3718 Words

Louisiana State University where he stayed until 1942. It was here that he collaborated with Cleanth Brooks on his novel approach to writing and interpretation. In 1938 they published their first textbook, Understanding Poetry, and in 1943 its companion piece, Understanding Fiction. Together these texts would revolutionize the interpretation of literature and become the cornerstone of literary teaching methods. At Vanderbilt he would also publish his own magazine, Southern Review, and although very popular with a large circulation, the periodical did not survive World War II.

Warren’s work was indelibly submerged in the past, ~ a Southern tradition so to speak. He would eventually compile a ten volume collection of books beginning with Night Rider in 1939, an account of his own childhood. Following were works on his time at Vanderbilt, the pre-Civil War Era, the South from World War II to the 1960's, and finally, a summary of his works and life. The most famous and widely read of these, and the novel that garnered him the first of three Pulitzer Prizes was All the King’s Men published in 1946. Eventually, it would be made into a play, opera, movie, and would be reprinted in twenty languages. Subsequently, Warren himself would be named the first poet laureate in the United States.
All the King’s Men was inspired by the political events unfolding during Warren’s tenure at LSU in Baton Rouge circa 1935. One of the main characters, Willie Stark, backwoods attorney turned politician, is presumably representative of then governor of Louisiana, Huey Long. However, the story is only superficially about Stark and his rise to power. In actuality is it about the coming of age of Jack Burden, one of Stark’s “cronies”, and his journey towards enlightenment, truth, knowledge and right.
Jack Burden, one of the story’s fictional, yet integ...