8 /10 1 Votes
Country United States Publication date 1997 ISBN 0-679-43477-1 Publisher Alfred A. Knopf | 4/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 413 pp Originally published 1997 Genre Novel Cover artist Chip Kidd | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Preceded by The Beautiful Room Is Empty Similar Edmund White books, Novels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Farewell Symphony is a 1997 semi-autobiographical novel by Edmund White.
Contents
It is the third of a trilogy of novels, being preceded by A Boy's Own Story (1982) and The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988). It depicts the later adulthood of its protagonist and documents his experience of homosexuality from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Allusions to other works
The title alludes to the "Farewell" Symphony by Joseph Haydn.
Criticism
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, James Wolcott suggested that the book "might have been more honestly titled Hilly Buttocks I Have Known." He concluded, "Edmund White the writer has given way to Edmund White the trashy raconteur. It's the same fate that befell Truman Capote, and it wasn't pretty then either."
References
The Farewell Symphony Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA