The Damnation of Theron Ware: Or Illumination Book

The Damnation of Theron Ware: Or Illumination is about a young Methodist priest. He and his wife have moved to a small town in upstate New York. Every three years the priests are moved around. He didn't get the township he wanted, but he was young and happy and looked forward to the new position with optimism. We watch what happens in the following year. Theon Ware is the priest and Alice is his young wife. It is the turn of the 20th century.

Look at the title. When the book first came out in America in 1896 it was entitled The Damnation of Theon Ware. In Britain it was published under the title of Illumination, which tells you in one word what the book is about. It is about Theon Ware's awakening. At the beginning he is naïve. At the end he has become illuminated; he has woken up to the ways of the world. His eyes are opened to how the church is run; he is unsure if he can even believe in God anymore. He becomes infatuated. Here he is let down too.

The novel draws a picture of American provincial life, in terms of religious beliefs, social behavior, attitudes toward intellectualism and the arts and sciences. In its message, in what is relayed via the plot, it is a book of realism. The prose has remnants of the romantic style that preceded realism'which is to say wordy rather than clean and neat. Illicit relationships are not blatantly spoken of; they are implied.

Is there humor? I found one sentence to smile at:

"I was brought up in the country. (There) they don't have kisses in assorted varieties."

The line was written in approximately this way!

I felt not a thing for any of the characters! I spent my time considering the author's message, which by the end is made clear.

John Catty narrates the audiobook. Actually, I did not like the narration. The guy sounds so flat and boring. He drones on and on and on. Some parts are better than others and I could always hear the words, so I decided on giving the narration performance two stars. I am in a generous mood. I think I would have enjoyed the prose more had I read it rather than listened.

On finishing the book, I was rather underwhelmed. People of today are taught to be critical, skeptical and aware of societal problems. In the modern world of today we need scarcely be "illuminated"; we are instead inundated with the problems, injustices and inequalities all too prevalent in the world around us.

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The Damnation of Theron Ware: Or Illumination is compared to Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy. I like Dreiser's writing but prefer his Sister Carrie more!