Random Harvest is the rare novel that treats the War to End All Wars with magical realism. The famous novels of World War I are, in a word, realist: journalistic realism from Hemingway, intellectual realism from Ford, brutal yet bittersweet realism from Remarque. He may have foretold the coming of the Lost Generation, and of the post-war literature that recalled the war and it’s collateral cultural and political damage. “The lamps are going out all over Europe: we shall not see them lit again in our life-time,” British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey famously prophesied in 1914 on the eve of World War I. But Random Harvest is indeed a remarkable story. Good for rentals.” In other words, check this one out from the library, but don’t bother buying it.Īs a minor work by an author whose best years were behind him, Random Harvest seemed destined to be a nine day’s wonder. A contemporary Kirkus Reviewmight have summed up the book’s critical fate best: “the story lacks the subtle characterization, the felicity of description that has made other books distinctive. Random Harvest was judged a minor work even for Hilton. Hilton counted none other than Sigmund Freud among his fans. Chips, a novel about a schoolmaster who weathers the changes of the late Victorian period through the early 1930s that has been the source for numerous stage, screen and radio adaptations. Hilton was no stranger to success, having enjoyed blockbuster sales and literary fame for two previous novels - Lost Horizon, which is famous if nothing else for introducing the concept of Shangri-La into popular consciousness, and Goodbye Mr. It was quickly made into a wildly popular MGM movie starring two of the studio’s most esteemed players, Greer Garson and Ronald Colman. Upon it’s 1941 release, Random Harvest became one of the best selling novels of the year. Years later, as world war once again threatens Britain, Rainier embarks on a journey to discover the truth of those lost years. The book tells the story of wealthy industrialist Charles Rainier, who develops amnesia as a symptom of shellshock while serving in World War I. Such is the case of James Hilton’s Random Harvest. Just as puzzling is the work that, while popular, seems too inconsequential for enduring regard, yet remains in print for decades. Popular literature, like all popular culture, is a bin filled with tinsel and the occasional treasure. Sometimes it’s hard to know, even in retrospect, why a book or album or movie instantly becomes a cultural touchstone, only to have it’s gilt wear thin over time. If you’re not a librarian or a student of popular literature - or even if you are - prepare to be surprised by how few of the book titles are even remotely familiar. Some day when you’re bored, Google “best sellers of _” (supplying your own year at least 25 years in the past).
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