So it was that the intensely american smalltown story of francis phelan an. The story concerns the relationship of a homeless couple. Winner of the pulitzer prize and the national book critics circle award for fiction in this pulitzer. But as ironweed shows, what he took from bellows lessons isnt straightforward. Author william kennedy takes us into the mind and heart of a homeless vagrant and explores the situations which have brought francis to this heartbreaking station in life. Select from a variety of genres including romance, mystery or teen vampire. Hands down, this our favourite way to come up with story ideas. They are not intended to create an ironclad structure. Simple plot and random story generator by ron kurtus. Kennedys tactic is to keep his plot and francis phelans fate open to all possibilities. Resoomer summarizer to make an automatic text summary online. George stade is a professor of english at columbia university and author of confessions of a ladykiller, a novel.
This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of ironweed by william kennedy. Use the result as a starting point for your next great story, or just as an exercise to flex your creative muscles. Crime stories usually involve a flawed detective who has to defeat a monster criminal. Author william kennedy takes us into the mind and heart of a homeless vagrant and explores the situations which have brought francis to this. It won the pulitzer in 1984 beating out cathedral by raymond carver and the feud by thomas berger, neither of which i have read yet. Generate a random story title thats relevant to your genre. Scholastic s story starters kids writing activity generates creative writing prompts, from general fiction to adventure, fantasy, and science fiction. It stars jack nicholson and meryl streep, with carroll baker, michael okeefe, diane venora, fred gwynne, nathan lane and tom waits in supporting roles. Writingexercises plot generator this plot generator creates some quick plot ideas for you.
At first we cannot quite make out his face, and when we can and see that the character is played by jack nicholson, there is a shock, for even in that first moment he seems to have been enveloped by the character. This study guide consists of approximately 49 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of ironweed. Francis phelan, longabsent father of billy phelan, the main character in the previous. Choose some keywords and we will automatically create a short story in seconds. Enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing ironweed near you. Also sign me up for fanmail to get updates on all things movies. Jerry bruckheimer plot generator randomly generates a moderately complex plot, including suggested actors books 20 master plots by ronals b.
Romance book title generator the ultimate bank of 10,000. Ironweed, the pulitzer prizewinning novel by william. Francis phelan francis phelan, a baseball player during the 1900s, a parttime gravedigger, and a longtime vagrant as the. Ironweed 1983 billy phelans father, francis, a derelict on the run from his own demons and past mistakes, is the principal character of ironweed, a winner of the pulitzer prize and national book critics circle award for fiction. In limited space, cut the stems by half in early summer to control height. Buy ironweed by william kennedy from amazons fiction books store. The premise of the club is to read a novel and then view the movie at the group meeting that was based on the novel. As william kennedy shows, good writing is about what you can get. If you click just the situation button you will get interesting basic situations like someone is wrongly accused of a crime and something precious has been lost. Book title generator the ultimate bank of 10,000 titles. Think of this as a sort of writing prompt generator to help you brainstorm new story ideas. Ironweed is set during the great depression and tells the story of francis phelan, an alcoholic vagrant originally from albany, new york, who left his family after accidentally killing his infant son while he may have been drunk. Through franciss story, the novel imagines how class warfare has. A unique generator to help writers brainstorm ideas like plot complications, story prompts, and a characters fears, quirks, secrets, hobbies, and emotional wounds.
As i expected, the movie paled in comparison to the book, despite the screenplay being written by kennedy himself. Whether youve planned the perfect story or are suffering from writers block, you still need to write that first line. Here are four of our goto tricks when thinking of interesting things to write about. The story begins in a seedy albany bar, where four of the books. All the narrative energy and insight is focused on this one main character, francis phelan. Ironweed by william kennedy chapter 2 summary and analysis. In this third novel in kennedys depressionalbany series, the focus is on aging. Ironweed by william kennedy chapter 1 summary and analysis.
Rowling became a household name and won the admiration of millions around the world. These novel plot generators are intended to jumpstart your imagination. Answer a few quick questions and this website will automatically write a story or blurb for you using your keywords. Jack nicholson plays francis phelan, a washedup ballplayer a onetime infielder for the. Francis may be making another freightcar voyageafter still another killing at the end of ironweed. In this third novel in kennedys depressionalbany series, the focus is on aging, bumming francis phelan, sire of smalltown gambler billy billy phelans greatest came, 1978.
Kennedy was the latest selection for a book club ive recently joined. To help you summarize and analyze your argumentative texts, your articles, your scientific texts, your history texts as well as your wellstructured analyses work of art, resoomer provides you with a summary text tool. Ironweed takes place in albany over two days and two. Ironweed is set during the great depression and tells the story of francis phelan, an alcoholic vagrant originally. Although some plot types lend themselves more to some genres than others, genre is a different dimension to plot, and some plots may span across several genres.
Ironweed is the third book of william kennedys albany series which focuses on the character francis phelan, father of the protagonist of his previous book billy phelans greatest game and referring at times to events in the first book of this series, legs. At first the shape simply seems to be some old debris, blown up against the side of a building, but then the shape stirs and we see that it is a man. It is based on the pulitzer prizewinning novel of the same name by william kennedy, who also wrote the screenplay. In a 1992 interview with kennedy, former director of the new york state writers institute, the late tom smith, characterized francis as one of the gigantic.
The series went on to become a worldwide phenomenon and some of the best selling books in history. This is a book about piecing together recurring memories, revisiting old haunts, and receiving visits from ghosts. Ironweed is an unusual novel which william kennedy found difficult to get published. His fall from social respectability reveals the underbelly of the american dream and marks ironweed as a novel committed to interrogating class struggle in. Its ideal for novels, short stories and the opening line of dialogue in a movie or stage play. Ironweed 1983 by william kennedy chronicles three days in the life of francis phelan, a depressionera drifter who must reckon with his past, the choices he has made, and the ghostsboth literal and figurativethat haunt him. Immediately download the ironweed summary, chapterbychapter analysis, book notes, essays, quotes, character descriptions, lesson plans, and more. Analysis and discussion of characters in william kennedys ironweed. Ironweed is the story of one mans physical and emotional struggle for survival and redemption. New plots are added each week and you can sort by genre, depending on whether youre writing fantasy, romance, scifi, mystery, or drama. On a bright late summer day, the purple flowers of ironweed glow. Ironweed is nourished by kindred souls the new york times. Use our opening line tool above to help inspire you to get started. With plot factory, you have the potential to do the same.
An alcoholic drifter spends halloween in his home town of albany, new york after returning there for the first time in decades. This romance novel plot generator will jumpstart your imagination. The novel focuses on franciss return to albany, and the narrative is complicated by phelans hallucinations of the three people, other than his son, whom he killed in the past. Ironweeds can take their place in sunny moist beds and borders, rain gardens, and beside ponds and streams. Unlike kennedys previous books, ironweed has no narrator or central consciousness. Still, ironweed is a separate novel and need not be read in connection with its predecessors, although such knowledge does enhance the book. You can pick between fantasy, crime, mystery, romance, or scifi. January 23, 1983, sunday, late city final edition section 7. In addition to writing novels, kennedy coauthored the screenplay for the cotton club with francis coppola in 1984 and wrote the screenplay for ironweed in 1987. The novel, for which bellow won the pulitzer prize for fiction in 1976, is a selfdescribed comic book about death, whose title character is modeled on the selfdestructive lyric poet delmore more. Kennedys celebrated 1983 novel, ironweed, has won great acclaim over the years, and has earned a pulitzer prize, a national book critics circle award, and a penfaulkner award. Based on the william kennedy novel of the same name ironweed is set in the waning years of the depression. This is only a test version, but if theres enough interest, well create a better one. Ironweed is the remarkable story of francis phelan, once a talented major league baseball player, husband, and father of three, who has fallen so far from grace that his home for the past twentytwo years has been the street.
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