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<:;st> Reprint of the 1932 Scribners edition cited in BCL3. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Novel by Erskine Caldwell, published in 1932. A tale of violence and sex among rural poor in the American South, the novel was highly controversial in its time. It is the story of Georgia sharecropper Jeeter Lester and his family, who are trapped by the bleak economic conditions of the Depression as well as by their own limited intelligence and destructive sexuality. Its tragic ending is almost foreordained by the characters' inability to change their lives. Caldwell's skillful use of dialect and his plain style made the book one of the best examples of literary naturalism in contemporary American fiction. The novel was adapted as a successful play in 1933.

ANNOTATION

Set during the Depression in the depleted farmloads surrounding Augustus, Georgia, Tobacco Road was first published in 1932. It is the story of the Lesters, a family of destitute white sharecroppers debased by poverty to an elemental state of ignorance and selfishness.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Set during the Depression in the depleted farmlands surrounding Augusta, Georgia, Tobacco Road was first published in 1932. It is the story of the Lesters, a family of white sharecroppers so destitute that most of their creditors have given up on them. Debased by poverty to an elemental state of ignorance and selfishness, the Lesters are preoccupied by their hunger, sexual longings, and fear that they will someday descend to a lower rung on the social ladder than the black families who live near them.

FROM THE CRITICS

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**** Reprint of the 1932 Scribners edition cited in BCL3. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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