author: john knowles born september 16, 1926 in west virginia novel is based on his experience...
DESCRIPTION
Publication Novel is based on a short story called “Phineas,” that Knowles published in Cosmopolitan in 1956 Rejected 11 times Finally published in 1959 in London and 1960 in the United StatesTRANSCRIPT
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Author: John KnowlesAuthor: John Knowles
• Born September 16, 1926 in West Virginia
• Novel is based on his experience attending an all-boys prep school in New Hampshire
• Served in the Air Force, graduated from Yale in 1949, then worked for several magazines as both a writer and a critic
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PublicationPublication
Novel is based on a short story called “Phineas,” that Knowles published in Cosmopolitan in 1956
Rejected 11 times Finally published in 1959 in London and
1960 in the United States
![Page 4: Author: John Knowles Born September 16, 1926 in West Virginia Novel is based on his experience attending an all-boys prep school in New Hampshire Served](https://reader035.vdocument.in/reader035/viewer/2022070610/5a4d1ba27f8b9ab0599c7b39/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
What the Critics Said…What the Critics Said…
Immediate praise from reviewers Compared to J.D. Salinger’s Catcher
in the Rye (1953) By the 1960s a major part of high
school English curriculums
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Post-PublicationPost-Publication
• Sold more than nine million copies to date
• Still one of the most popular texts studied in high schools
• Knowles went on to publish several other novels, including Peace Breaks Out, a sequel to A Separate Peace (retained the Devon School setting but had a different cast of characters)
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Historical ContextHistorical Context
Novel takes place in the 1940s shortly after the United States had declared its involvement in WWII; had troops in Europe and the Pacific
War brought out patriotism in all Americans All 18 year old males were made to register for
the draft Going to war was a constant concern for young
men; draft dodging was unthinkable
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Historical ContextHistorical Context
Educational opportunities limited for African Americans and women
All-white, male prep schools were an upper class student’s best chance to get into the best private universities
Pressure to succeed at these prep schools was great
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SettingSetting
Set in 1942 at a boy’s boarding school, Devon School, in New Hampshire
Story is told as a flashback from the perspective of an older Gene
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CharactersCharacters
Two best friends: Phineas and GenePhineas (Finny): athletic, reckless, charismatic Gene: intellectual, shy, competitive
Others: Elwin Lepellier (Leper), Brinker Hadley, Phil Latham, Mr. Ludsbery, Cliff Quackenbush, Dr. Stanpole
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Theme TopicsTheme Topics
Coming of Age War Identity
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Point of ViewPoint of View
Told in the first-person point of view by Gene
Now an adult, he is looking at things from a much wiser and more mature perspective.