Slate's Bizbox




recycled: Previously published Slate articles made new.

All the King's Men Is a Terrible NovelRe-evaluating Robert Penn Warren's timeless "classic."


A new film version of Robert Penn Warren's novel All the King's Men opens today, starring Sean Penn, Jude Law, and Kate Winslet (click here to read Dana Steven's review). Whatever its reception, no praise could possibly top that piled upon the book—an English-class staple and recognized Great American Novel. But is it actually any good?

In 2002, Christopher Caldwell and Erik Tarloff revisited the text in a Slate dialogue. Caldwell excoriated it, calling it a "lazy, long-winded piece of pseudo-intellectual palaver." Tarloff offered a "yes, but" defense, conceding its many flaws but maintaining that:

[All the King's Men] is a big, sloppy, flawed, powerful book. Its ambitions are huge, and it doesn't always fulfill them. But it manages to do what good books do: It sucks you into its world and keeps you there.

Click here to read Christopher Caldwell and Erik Tarloff's discussion of Robert Penn Warren's All the Kings Men.



Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES




Washington Post
The Washington Post
OPINIONS
The Great Debate
Marcus | Forget Biden. I'd like to see McCain face off against Palin.
Toles: Another McCain SurpriseStumped: Where's Palin's Baby?