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Willing moves chronologically through Apley's 66 years of life, using letters from his late subject's personal papers. He frequently interjects his own comments, declaring his admiration for Apley the public-spirited citizen and bemoaning the disclosure of "scandalous" information about the man and
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The narrative begins in the early 1930s. Wealthy
Bostonian John Apley engages a somewhat pompous literary man to produce a truthful book about his recently deceased father, George. This writer, named Willing, specializes in flowery, sanitized tributes to local luminaries, and he is disturbed by the
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The image of George Apley that emerges in the course of the novel is alternately hilarious and poignant, and ultimately sympathetic. Apley is revealed as a man who was deeply conflicted about his status among Boston's elite, sometimes feeling imprisoned in his privileged world, but sometimes
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his family. Willing, a comic character in his own right, longs for the old days in Boston, when subjects such as love affairs, alcoholism, mental illness and crime were kept out of the papers if they involved prominent people, and respectability was more important than personal happiness.
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72:, made up mostly of letters to and from the title character. It is subtitled "A Novel in the Form of a Memoir", because the letters and other personal documents are quoted by another character, Apley's biographer.
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young man's request for frankness, especially since George Apley was his good friend, but he reluctantly agrees.
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The book was acclaimed as the first "serious" work by
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In 1944, the novel was adapted as a
Broadway play, and in 1947, it was made into a
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decades later called the book the "best-wrought fictional monument to the nation's
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spy novels and other popular fiction. It was a bestseller and won the
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in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The title character is a
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Previously the
Pulitzer Prize for the Novel from 1917–1947
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The Late George Apley television series 1955–57; IMDb.com
1536:. Further suggestions might be found on the article's
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1151:Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
32:The novel's first edition, published in 1937 by
792:The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
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1210:The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
210:
1588:Pulitzer Prize for the Novel-winning works
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1534:See guidelines for writing about novels
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1522:This article about a 1930s novel is a
840:The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford
105:passionately defending the old order.
198:
1510:
1294:The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
1103:A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
16:1937 novel by John Phillips Marquand
13:
1593:American novels adapted into films
1067:The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
14:
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179:The Late George Apley (1947 film)
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1603:Novels set in Harvard University
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720:The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
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1608:Little, Brown and Company books
155:
138:
120:produced a TV series starring
1:
816:The Confessions of Nat Turner
131:
1526:. You can help Knowledge by
81:Pulitzer Prize for the Novel
23:The Late George Apley (film)
7:
1372:All the Light We Cannot See
1330:A Visit from the Goon Squad
935:The Stories of John Cheever
10:
1629:
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601:Tales of the South Pacific
450:Thomas Sigismund Stribling
385:The Bridge of San Luis Rey
226:Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
20:
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896:
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474:Josephine Winslow Johnson
352:
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262:The Magnificent Ambersons
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34:Little, Brown and Company
1396:The Underground Railroad
780:The Keepers of the House
522:Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1348:The Orphan Master's Son
1187:Interpreter of Maladies
959:A Confederacy of Dunces
864:The Optimist's Daughter
672:The Old Man and the Sea
462:Caroline Pafford Miller
164:Retrieved March 5, 2017
146:"Martini Age Victorian"
83:in 1938. An article in
21:For the 1947 film, see
947:The Executioner's Song
510:John Phillips Marquand
46:John Phillips Marquand
36:
797:Katherine Anne Porter
744:To Kill a Mockingbird
708:A Death in the Family
505:The Late George Apley
128:that ran until 1957.
41:The Late George Apley
31:
1598:Novels set in Boston
1583:1937 American novels
1031:A Summons to Memphis
928:James Alan McPherson
426:Margaret Ayer Barnes
310:The Able McLaughlins
274:The Age of Innocence
50:Boston's upper class
48:. It is a satire of
1495:Jayne Anne Phillips
756:The Edge of Sadness
725:Robert Lewis Taylor
618:James Gould Cozzens
565:Journey in the Dark
529:The Grapes of Wrath
397:Scarlet Sister Mary
144:Spaulding, Martha.
44:is a 1937 novel by
1473:Barbara Kingsolver
1444:The Night Watchman
1263:Marilynne Robinson
1180:Michael Cunningham
1108:Robert Olen Butler
964:John Kennedy Toole
828:House Made of Dawn
732:Advise and Consent
594:Robert Penn Warren
589:All the King's Men
493:Gone with the Wind
93:that we know of."
54:Harvard University
37:
1613:1930s novel stubs
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1544:
1504:
1503:
1413:Andrew Sean Greer
1389:Viet Thanh Nguyen
1239:Jeffrey Eugenides
1163:American Pastoral
1156:Steven Millhauser
1127:The Stone Diaries
1115:The Shipping News
1055:Breathing Lessons
882:The Killer Angels
630:A. B. Guthrie Jr.
606:James A. Michener
498:Margaret Mitchell
481:Honey in the Horn
457:Lamb in His Bosom
68:. The book is an
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1468:Demon Copperhead
1437:Colson Whitehead
1401:Colson Whitehead
1311:Elizabeth Strout
1306:Olive Kitteridge
1275:Geraldine Brooks
1139:Independence Day
1091:A Thousand Acres
983:The Color Purple
833:N. Scott Momaday
785:Shirley Ann Grau
773:William Faulkner
701:MacKinlay Kantor
689:William Faulkner
677:Ernest Hemingway
660:The Caine Mutiny
577:A Bell for Adano
541:In This Our Life
368:(1926; declined)
347:
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291:Booth Tarkington
267:Booth Tarkington
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91:Protestant elite
70:epistolary novel
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1384:The Sympathizer
1287:Cormac McCarthy
1251:Edward P. Jones
1246:The Known World
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1120:E. Annie Proulx
1007:Foreign Affairs
1000:William Kennedy
905:Humboldt's Gift
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857:Wallace Stegner
852:Angle of Repose
809:Bernard Malamud
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486:Harold L. Davis
469:Now in November
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1528:expanding it
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1222:Empire Falls
1220:
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1202:2001–present
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1144:Richard Ford
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1036:Peter Taylor
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1012:Alison Lurie
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988:Alice Walker
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940:John Cheever
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869:Eudora Welty
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625:The Way West
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517:The Yearling
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373:Early Autumn
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303:Willa Cather
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255:Ernest Poole
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150:The Atlantic
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110:feature film
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64:in downtown
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1490:Night Watch
1483:Hernan Diaz
1365:Donna Tartt
1168:Philip Roth
1096:Jane Smiley
1084:John Updike
976:John Updike
910:Saul Bellow
768:The Reivers
737:Allen Drury
665:Herman Wouk
582:John Hersey
327:Edna Ferber
298:One of Ours
286:Alice Adams
152:, May 2004.
116:. In 1955,
62:Beacon Hill
1577:Categories
1299:Junot Díaz
1060:Anne Tyler
923:Elbow Room
749:Harper Lee
713:James Agee
361:Arrowsmith
250:His Family
132:References
60:living on
56:-educated
1538:talk page
1234:Middlesex
1175:The Hours
897:1976–2000
804:The Fixer
640:1951–1975
445:The Store
353:1926–1950
242:1918–1925
112:starring
1282:The Road
995:Ironweed
648:The Town
77:Mr. Moto
1318:Tinkers
1043:Beloved
684:A Fable
1497:(2024)
1485:(2023)
1463:(2022)
1451:(2021)
1439:(2020)
1427:(2019)
1415:(2018)
1403:(2017)
1391:(2016)
1379:(2015)
1367:(2014)
1355:(2013)
1343:(2012)
1337:(2011)
1325:(2010)
1313:(2009)
1301:(2008)
1289:(2007)
1277:(2006)
1265:(2005)
1258:Gilead
1253:(2004)
1241:(2003)
1229:(2002)
1217:(2001)
1194:(2000)
1182:(1999)
1170:(1998)
1158:(1997)
1146:(1996)
1134:(1995)
1122:(1994)
1110:(1993)
1098:(1992)
1086:(1991)
1074:(1990)
1062:(1989)
1050:(1988)
1038:(1987)
1026:(1986)
1014:(1985)
1002:(1984)
990:(1983)
978:(1982)
966:(1981)
954:(1980)
942:(1979)
930:(1978)
918:(1977)
912:(1976)
889:(1975)
877:(1974)
871:(1973)
859:(1972)
847:(1970)
835:(1969)
823:(1968)
811:(1967)
799:(1966)
787:(1965)
775:(1963)
763:(1962)
751:(1961)
739:(1960)
727:(1959)
715:(1958)
703:(1956)
691:(1955)
679:(1953)
667:(1952)
655:(1951)
632:(1950)
620:(1949)
608:(1948)
596:(1947)
584:(1945)
572:(1944)
560:(1943)
548:(1942)
536:(1940)
524:(1939)
512:(1938)
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488:(1936)
476:(1935)
464:(1934)
452:(1933)
440:(1932)
428:(1931)
416:(1930)
404:(1929)
392:(1928)
380:(1927)
329:(1925)
322:So Big
317:(1924)
305:(1923)
293:(1922)
281:(1921)
269:(1919)
257:(1918)
186:
66:Boston
1478:Trust
1270:March
1524:stub
1408:Less
184:IMDb
124:and
58:WASP
1493:by
1481:by
1471:by
1459:by
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253:by
182:at
1579::
1475:/
148:,
1565:e
1558:t
1551:v
1540:.
1530:.
218:e
211:t
204:v
25:.
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