
Asheville’s own Thomas Wolfe “made it possible to believe that the stuff of life, with all its awe and mystery and magic, could by some strange alchemy be transmuted to the page” (William Gay). “Look Homeward, Angel is one of the most important novels of my life. . . . It’s a wonderful story for any young person burning with literary ambition, but it also speaks to the longings of our whole lives; I’m still moved by Wolfe’s ability to convey the human appetite for understanding and experience” (Elizabeth Kostova).
Thomas Wolfe was an American writer best known for his autobiographical novels, especially his 1929 debut “Look Homeward, Angel.” He was born in 1900 in Asheville, North Carolina to a working-class family – his father was a stonecutter and his mother ran a boardinghouse. Wolfe attended the University of North Carolina and later Harvard University, originally intending to become a playwright. Though some of his plays were produced at Harvard, he eventually turned to fiction writing.
In 1926, while traveling abroad, Wolfe began working on what would become “Look Homeward, Angel,” using his own upbringing in Asheville as inspiration for the story of protagonist Eugene Gant. The novel caused controversy in Asheville but was a critical and popular success. In his subsequent novels “Of Time and the River” (1935) and the posthumously published “The Web and the Rock” (1939) and “You Can’t Go Home Again” (1940), Wolfe continued Eugene Gant’s semi-autobiographical tale from young adulthood in the 1910s through the 1930s as he tries to make it as a writer in New York.
Wolfe became known for his intensely lyrical style and near-photographic recall of details used to conjure a strong sense of place. However, his sprawling manuscripts required heavy editing, including by his famed editor Maxwell Perkins. Though his productivity was cut short by his untimely 1938 death at age 37, Thomas Wolfe left behind a respected body of work. “Look Homeward, Angel” is considered a classic capturing small-town American life in the early 20th century.
“This book was written in simpleness and nakedness of soul. When I began to write the book 20 months ago (this from the time when the manuscript was submitted) I got back something of a child’s innocency and wonder. It has in it much that to me is painful and ugly; but, without sentimentality or dishonesty, it seems to me that pain has in inevitable fruition in beauty. And the book has in it sin and terror and darkness-ugly dry lusts, cruelty-the dark, the evil, the forbidden. But I believe it has many other things as well, as I wrote it with strong joy.-”
In 1938, Wolfe completed another sprawling manuscript and brought it to his editor at Harper & Brothers, Edward C. Aswell. He then traveled to the West Coast, but while in Seattle, Wolfe fell severely ill with pneumonia. He was transported back across the country to Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore for surgery, but tragically died there of tubercular meningitis of the brain at age 37.
Though some Asheville residents never forgave Wolfe for the unflattering portrayal of their city in his semi-autobiographical novels, by the time of his premature death he was considered the greatest literary talent North Carolina had contributed to American literature. His fiction transcended mere memoir through intensely lyrical language and thoughtful symbolism, combined with a remarkable ability to give voice to a diverse range of characters. In the words of fellow Southern writer William Faulkner, Wolfe’s writing strove to “put all the experience of the human heart on the head of a pin.”

Wolfe had an exceptional memory that allowed him to vividly recall scenes and details. This talent shaped his fiction writing, which was known for an intense sense of place and lyrical quality. In his semi-autobiographical novels “Look Homeward, Angel” and “Of Time and the River,” Wolfe painted his own coming-of-age story and family figures with romantic grandeur, giving them an epic and mythical resonance. His writing style blended powerful emotional expression with factual reporting, alternating between impactful dramatic scenes from his memory and highly rhetorical lyrical passages. The combination of exacting detail and imaginative embellishment allowed Wolfe to transform the small details of his upbringing into legendary tales with universal themes. Though his productivity was cut short, Thomas Wolfe left a respected body of artistic work elevating small-town Southern life to the level of epic poetry.
Tom was critical of the direction Asheville was heading, the hotels and emphasis on the “low hanging fruit” of tourism led him to say this; “There’s a good play in Asheville,” Wolfe wrote his oldest brother in 1921, “a play of a town which never had the ordinary, healthy, industrial life a town ought to have but instead dressed itself up in fine streets and stuck hotels in its hair in order to vamp the tourist populace…” ~Thomas Wolfe
The Thomas Wolfe Memorial is open 9:00am – 5:00 pm Tuesday – Saturday
CLOSED Sunday & Monday & State Holidays