| Abstract |
Willie Stark, one of the two protagonists in All the King's Men, is believed with justifiable claim to be based on the real figure of Huey P. Long, a dictatorial governor in Louisiana. Robert Penn War...ren, however, gives him a rich and unique portrait, that is, a flesh-and-blood characterization in which realism and idealism fuse with each other. The Willie Stark story is narrated by the other main figure, Jack Burden. As Willie's trusted aide, he gives an account of the political rise and assassination of his boss, and this account eventually constitutes an autobiopaphical story of his own self discovery. Jack's story consists of the three explorations of the past-the investigations of Cass Mastern's life and death, of a hidden bribery scandal in Judge Irwin's remote past, and of the meaning of his own past, which form the whole body of this novel. In this parralive taking a form of the first person narration and recollection Jack Burden presents a compelling story of his inner development from idealistic escapism through nihilistic philosophy of the Great Twitch to painful recognition of what he calls the Spider-Web theory In light of how to tell a historical account, however, Jack's narrative seems to be too strong to exclude other possibilities of historical interpretation. It gives the reader the impression that he reigns over his story as omnipotent author. In this respect All the King's Men makes a striking contrast to another historical novel Go Down, Moses, in which William Faulkner tries to grasp historical truth through juxtaposing plural, often conflicting, versions of historical discourse. It may not be too inappropriate to say that Warren should have included possibilities of different interpretation in Jack's discourse and put the very act of narrating a story
history in the context, as it were, of the Spider-Web.show more
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