Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men

A Reader's Companion

Jonathan S. Cullick

• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780813175928
• eBook ISBN: 9780813175935
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Robert Penn Warren is one of the best-known and most consequential Kentucky writers of the twentieth century and the only American writer to have won three Pulitzers in two different genres. All the King's Men, generally considered one of the finest novels ever written on American politics, transcends sensationalism and topicality to stand as art. It was a bestseller, won the Pulitzer Prize, and became an Academy Award–winning movie. Depicting the rise and fall of a dictatorial southern politician—modeled on Huey Long of Louisiana—the timeless story and memorable characters raise questions about the importance of history, moral conflicts in public policy, and idealism in government.

In Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men: A Reader's Companion, author Jonathan S. Cullick considers the themes of this famous novel within the context of America's current political climate. He addresses the novel's continuing relevance and interviews a cross-section of elected and appointed officials, as well as journalists, in Kentucky to explore how Warren's novel has influenced their work and approach to politics.

By focusing on what Warren's novel has to say about power, populism, ethics, and the force of rhetoric, Cullick encourages readers to think about their own identities and responsibilities as American citizens. This volume promises to be not only an indispensable companion to All the King's Men but it also provides context and a new diverse set of perspectives from which to understand this seminal novel.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction: “Tell Me a Story”
• 1. The Life of Robert Penn Warren: “Do You Still Consider Yourself a Southern Writer?”
• 2. An Overview of All the King’s Men: “The Awful Responsibility of Time”
• 3. All the King’s Men in Political and Popular Culture: “This Race Is Starting to Remind Us of a Novel”
• 4. The Timelessness of All the King’s Men: “Willie Stark Was Not Huey Long”
• 5. Impressions of All the King’s Men: “A Tale for All Seasons of Politics”
• 6. How the Story Works: The Role of “You”
• 7. The Rhetoric of the Populist Demagogue: “He Could T-t-talk so Good”
• 8. The Pandering Populist: “Don’t Try to Improve Their Minds”
• 9. The King’s Man: “Who Do I Work For?”
• 10. Putting Humpty Dumpty Back Together: “A Felt Need Will Be Satisfied”
• Epilogue. “To Love So Well the World”: Remembering Robert Penn Warren
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix: Questions for Discussion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index