View source for Ironweed (novel)

{{Short description|1983 novel by William Kennedy}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book | 
| name          = Ironweed
| image         = Image:IronweedNovel.jpg
| caption       = First edition
| author        = [[William Kennedy (author)|William Kennedy]]
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| genre         = [[Tragedy]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Beacham|first=Walton|title=Beacham's Popular Fiction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HS06AAAAMAAJ&q=greek%20tragedy|page=723|date=1986|publisher=Beacham Pub./Research Pub. |isbn=9780933833104 }}</ref>
| publisher     = [[Viking Press]], NY
| release_date  = 1983
| media_type    = Print (hardback & paperback)
| pages         = 227 pp
| isbn          = 0-670-40176-5      
| dewey         = 813/.54 19
| congress      = PS3561.E428 I7 1983
| oclc          = 8709244
| preceded_by   = [[Billy Phelan's Greatest Game]]
| followed_by   = [[Quinn's Book]]
}}
'''''Ironweed''''' is a 1983 novel by American author [[William Kennedy (author)|William Kennedy]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/03/reading-group-april-2018-ironweed-william-kennedy|title=Reading group: Ironweed by William Kennedy is our underappreciated book for April|first=Sam|last=Jordison|date=April 3, 2018|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> ''Ironweed'' received the 1984 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2018/apr/10/the-story-behind-william-kennedy-ironweed-pulitzer|title=From a fortune cookie to a Pulitzer: the story behind William Kennedy's Ironweed|first=Sam|last=Jordison|date=April 10, 2018|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> and is the third book in Kennedy's Albany Cycle.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nyswritersinstitute.org/williamkennedy|title=William Kennedy &#124; NYS Writers Institute|website=NYSWritersInstitute}}</ref> It is included in the Western Canon of the critic [[Harold Bloom]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtbloom.html#chaos|title=Bloom. Western Canon|first=Robert|last=Teeter|website=www.interleaves.org}}</ref> The novel was adapted into a 1987 [[Ironweed (film)|film of the same name]].

==Plot summary==
Set during the [[Great Depression]], ''Ironweed'' tells the story of a bum named [[Francis Phelan (fictional character)|Francis Phelan]]. Phelan is a native of [[Albany, New York]] who left his family after accidentally killing his infant son. The novel focuses on Phelan's return (after being gone twenty-two years) to Albany over the triduum of [[All Hallows Eve]], [[All Saints' Day]], and [[All Souls' Day]]. Moreover, a surreal element is added to the narrative, as Phelan sees and tries to interact with dead people from his troubled past. The novel features characters that are present in some of Kennedy's other Albany Cycle books.

==Structure==
The structure of the novel resembles the structure of Dante's ''[[Divine Comedy]]''.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/dante-is-the-elephant-in-the-room/|title=Dante Is the Elephant in the Room|first=Angela Alaimo|last=O’Donnell|date=October 12, 2021|website=Church Life Journal}}</ref> The novel's epigraph is a quotation from ''Purgatorio'':<blockquote>To course o’er better waters<br>now hoists sail the little bark of my wit,<br>
leaving behind her a sea so cruel.<ref name="auto"/></blockquote>

==Critical response==
''Ironweed'' received positive reviews from ''[[The New York Times]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/kennedy-ironweed.html|title=Life on the Lam|website=archive.nytimes.com |last=Stade |first=George |date=January 23, 1983}}</ref> and the ''[[Washington Post]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1983/01/16/ironweed/833db615-4341-4e69-89e0-1e1061646750/|newspaper=Washington Post|title=Ironweed |date=January 16, 1983}}</ref> It won Kennedy a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Critics Circle Award.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/26/magazine/the-sudden-fame-of-william-kennedy.html|title=THE SUDDEN FAME OF WILLIAM KENNEDY |website=The New York Times|last=Croyden|first=Margaret|date=August 26, 1984}}</ref>

==Adaptations==
Kennedy wrote the screenplay for the 1987 [[Ironweed (film)|film version of ''Ironweed'']], which was directed by [[Héctor Babenco]] and starred [[Jack Nicholson]] and [[Meryl Streep]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/24/return-to-albany-william-kennedys-ironweed-oscars|title=Return to Albany: was William Kennedy's Ironweed machine-tooled for the Oscars?|first=Sam|last=Jordison|date=April 24, 2018|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> Major portions of the film were shot on location in Albany.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/13/movies/film-hector-babenco-harvests-ironweed.html|title=FILM; Hector Babenco Harvests 'Ironweed' |website=The New York Times|last=O'Connor |first=Thomas|date=December 13, 1987}}</ref> The film was nominated for two [[Academy Awards]]: The [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor in a Leading Role]] (for Nicholson) and the [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress in a Leading Role]] (for Streep).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1988|title=1988 Oscars - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|website=www.oscars.org}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/10/books/books-of-the-times-152691.html?scp=19&sq=Ironweed&st=cse New York Times review]
*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093277/ Film page at IMDB]

{{William Kennedy}}
{{PulitzerPrize Fiction 1976–2000}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1983 American novels]]
[[Category:American novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Great Depression novels]]
[[Category:Novels by William Kennedy]]
[[Category:Novels set in Albany, New York]]
[[Category:Novels about homelessness]]
[[Category:PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction–winning works]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Fiction–winning works]]
[[Category:Viking Press books]]


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