Think \Finding Forrester,"" ""A Separate Peace"" and ""Dead Poets Society."" Here, Tobias Wolff, author of the novel ""Old School"" brings the prep-school novel to a new level. ??
His novel is set in a New England prep school circa 1960, as the narrator guides the reader through his boarding school experiences-both shameful and inspiring.
Much of the narrator's focus is aimed at this particular boarding school's tradition by which one boy is granted a private audience with each visiting writer.
Students compete for this honor by submitting essays, poems and stories. The visiting writer then chooses a winner, who has his poem or story published in the school newspaper and, ultimately, wins a private conference with such writers as Robert Frost, Ayn Rand and Ernest Hemingway.
Upon hearing of Robert Frost's upcoming visit, the narrator writes a poem that he later realizes he can't submit, as he finds it to be ""too close to home. It was home: my mother gone; my father, wounded by my disregard as I was appalled by his need; the sense of time dying drop by drop, of stalled purpose and the close, aquarium atmosphere of confinement and repetition."" ??
It turns out, however, this poem is a defining moment for our narrator, as he realizes that in order to be a good writer, he must strip himself of pretense, even at the risk of giving himself away to his readers. ??
After failing to catch the attention of Robert Frost, our narrator sets out to be discovered by the infamous Ernest Hemingway. He goes to great lengths to get his work noticed-even disregarding the school's honor code.
What makes this novel stand apart from the typical prep school story is that Wolff describes more than just the obsessions and struggles of the writer-to-be. Wolff illustrates the difficult process by which character is formed. Ultimately, it isn't until our narrator is humbled by his duplicity and disappointed by failed expectations that he reaches true self-awareness.
It is likely that ""Old School"" is a continuation of Wolff's memoir ""This Boy's Life,"" as there are occasional hints and indications of Wolff's childhood threaded throughout the story. ??
For that very reason, it seems appropriate for Wolff to write about his protagonist with vivid sympathy and even a sense of nostalgia. Wolff, currently a professor at Stanford, makes sure not to overlook the significant role of teachers in his novel. While much of the story focuses on the protagonist's search for his identity, Wolff attributes much of his protagonist's self-discovery to valuable advice given to him by his professors.
One piece of advice the narrator seems to hold on to is that ""a true piece of writing is a dangerous thing. It can change your life."" Wolff expresses incredible sympathy for the teachers who play a very unexpected role in the book, as they no doubt have played in his own life as an aspiring writer.
""Old School"" is published by Alfred A. Knopf.
