The Waters of Kronos

Description

From the time of its first publication in 1960, Conrad Richter's The Waters of Kronos sparked lively debate about the extent to which its story of a belated return to childhood scenes mirrored key events of Richter's own life. As was well known at the time, Richter had spent several years in the Southwest, where he collected the material for his first successful book, Early Americans and Other Stories , but by 1933, he had returned to live in his hometown, Pine Grove, Pennsylvania. John Donner, the main protagonist in The Waters of Kronos , traces a similar route from west to east, although he finds that his family home and native town have been submerged under the deep waters of a lake formed by the construction of a hydroelectric dam. As Richter narrates his alter ego's efforts to salvage his past, he moves beyond "semi-autobiography" to offer what are widely recognized as his most haunting reflections upon the power of family history, the fragility of human memory, and art's role in structuring the communal ethos. David McCullough, a fellow Pulitzer Prize winner, met and befriended Richter in the 1960s and has called him "an American master," praising The Waters of Kronos as "his most beautiful book." Review: The Waters of Kronos portends emotional response to real world environmental and development crises. - A beautiful book existentially relevant to today's global crises of whole communities being swallowed up by fire, flood, development, and rising sea levels. Richter's writings in the Water of Kronos and his other books prefaces many of the modern day crises of disruption of spiritual and communities ties with the increase in ecological disasters, environmental crises, and development, all in deep, haunting and poetic prose. It is a wonderful and moving read. Review: Extremely well writen - It was my first reading of Conrad Richter, and I was very curious. I knew that he had won a Pulitzer so I had great expectation. I’m really impressed! The writing is precise, the plot is profound and unexpected, the characters well constructed, the historical details are impressively well researched! Even the language! It’s a little sad, but beautiful! I loved it!!