The Eighth Day (Wilder novel)

The Eighth Day
First edition
AuthorThornton Wilder
LanguageEnglish
Published1967
PublisherHarper & Row
Publication placeUnited States
Awards1968 National Book Award

The Eighth Day is a 1967 novel by Thornton Wilder. Set in a mining town in southern Illinois, the plot revolves around John Barrington Ashley, who is accused of murdering his neighbor Breckenridge Lansing. The novel was written over the course of twenty months while Wilder was living alone in Douglas, Arizona.[1] The Eighth Day was the 1968 winner of the National Book Award.[2]

Synopsis

During a weekend gathering of the Ashley and Lansing families, Breckenridge Lansing is shot while the men are practicing shooting. Townsfolk suspect that Eustacia Lansing, Breckenridge's wife, and John Ashley were having an affair. Ashley is tried, convicted, and sentenced to execution. Miraculously, days before the scheduled execution, he is rescued by mysterious masked men. He then escapes to Chile, where he assumes the identity of a Canadian named James Tolland and finds work in the copper mining industry.

While Ashley escapes to Chile, his family—left destitute without his income—turns to running a boarding house to make ends meet. His son, Roger, assumes a fake name and moves to Chicago. After working a series of odd jobs, Roger makes a name for himself as a writer for a newspaper. Ashley's daughter, Lily, also assumes a fake name and becomes a famous singer in Chicago, later moving to New York.

At the end of the book, it is revealed that a group of Native Americans, one of whom was friends with Roger, is responsible for helping Ashley escape his execution. The group did this because, after a flood wiped out their local church, Ashley loaned them money to rebuild it. It is also revealed that Ashely did not kill Lansing; Lansing's son George did, because Lansing was becoming violent towards his wife, George's mother. George feared for his mother's safety, and consequently killed his father and then ran away to San Francisco, and later Russia, to work as an actor.

Though there is a murder mystery in the novel, the main focus of the work is the history of the Ashley and Lansing families. Wilder muses frequently on the nature of written history throughout the book. Towards the end, he writes:

"There is only one history. It began with the creation of man and will come to an end when the last human consciousness is extinguished. All other beginnings and endings are arbitrary conventions — makeshifts parading as self-sufficient entireties… The cumbrous shears of the historian cut out a few figures and a brief passage of time from that enormous tapestry. Above and below the laceration, to the right and left of it, the severed threads protest against the injustice, against the imposture."

The book concludes with a number of flash-forwards describing the rest of the lives of the characters. Ashley's wife, Beata, moves to Los Angeles and starts a boarding house there. Roger marries one of Lansing's daughters. Ashley's daughter Sophia suffers from dementia and moves into a sanitarium. Ashley's daughter Constance becomes a political activist and moves to Japan.

Critical reception

The Eighth Day received the National Book Award in 1968. The New York Times called the book "suspenseful and deeply moving".[3] Goodreads says the book "has been hailed as a great American epic".

References

  1. ^ Wilder, Thornton (2007). The Eighth Day. HarperCollins Publishers.
  2. ^ "National Book Awards - 1968". National Book Foundation. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  3. ^ "The Eighth Day". Goodreads. Retrieved 2017-06-17.

Read other articles:

Karangtengah, Cilongok, Banyumas

Untuk tempat lain yang bernama sama, lihat Karangtengah. KarangtengahDesaNegara IndonesiaProvinsiJawa TengahKabupatenBanyumasKecamatanCilongokKode pos53162Kode Kemendagri33.02.17.2015 Luas9.3427 km²Jumlah penduduk9375 jiwaKepadatan1003 jiwa/km² Karangtengah adalah desa di kecamatan Cilongok, Banyumas, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia, yang terletak kurang lebuh 15 kilometer ke arah barat dari ibu kota kabupaten banyumas yaitu Purwokerto. memiliki 7 dusun atau RW, yaitu; 1. Karangtengah (RW I) 2....

 

Off on a Comet

1877 novel by Jules Verne This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: Off on a Comet – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expandi...

 

Brutal (seri web)

BrutalGenre Drama Laga SkenarioLintang Pramudya WardhaniCeritaLintang Pramudya WardhaniSutradaraArie AzisSutradara lagaDevris BrigelPemeran Zoe Jackson Rezky Aditya Kevin Kambey Siva Aprilia Zack Lee Lagu pembukaJika Kita Bersama oleh Superman Is DeadLagu penutupJika Kita Bersama oleh Superman Is DeadPenata musikBella MaritzaNegara asalIndonesiaBahasa asliBahasa IndonesiaJmlh. musim1Jmlh. episode12ProduksiProduser eksekutif Sutanto Hartono Hermawan Sutanto Tina Arwin SinematografiZeta ...

Hans Stubbe

Stubbe in 1984 Hans Karl Oskar Stubbe (7 March 1902 – 14 May 1989) was a German agronomist and plant breeder. During the Second World War he was dismissed by the Nazi government from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Breeding Research in Müncheberg in 1936. After the war he went to work in East Germany where he was the founding director of the Institute for Cultivated Plant Research (which started as the Institut für Kulturpflanzenforschung in Vienna) in Gatersleben. He stood up against th...

 

Politique étrangère et de sécurité commune

Politique étrangère de l'Union européenne Description Politique de l'Union européenne Administration Traité Titre V du TUECinquième partie du TFUE Volet Politique de sécurité et de défense commune CPE PSDC modifier  La politique étrangère et de sécurité commune de l'Union européenne, également connue sous le sigle PESC, était le deuxième des trois piliers instaurés en 1992 par le traité sur l'Union européenne de Maastricht. La structure en pilier a été abolie par l...

 

Unione Sportiva Gubbio 1946-1947

Voce principale: Associazione Sportiva Gubbio 1910. Questa voce sull'argomento stagioni delle società calcistiche italiane è solo un abbozzo. Contribuisci a migliorarla secondo le convenzioni di Wikipedia. Segui i suggerimenti del progetto di riferimento. U.S. GubbioStagione 1946-1947Sport calcio Squadra Gubbio Allenatore Guido Masetti Presidente Virgilio Cocchi Serie C1º (promosso in Serie B) StadioStadio San Benedetto 1945-1946 1947-1948 Si invita a seguire il modello di voce ...

Randal Kolo Muani

Randal Kolo Muani Informasi pribadiNama lengkap Randal Kolo MuaniTanggal lahir 5 Desember 1998 (umur 25)Tempat lahir Bondy, PrancisTinggi 187 m (613 ft 6 in)[1]Posisi bermain PenyerangInformasi klubKlub saat ini Paris Saint-GermainNomor 23Karier junior2005–2010 Villepinte FC2010–2011 Tremblay FC2011–2015 Torcy2015–2018 NantesKarier senior*Tahun Tim Tampil (Gol)2016–2020 Nantes B 62 (17)2018–2022 Nantes 79 (21)2019–2020 → Boulogne (pinjam) 14 (3)202...

 

1923 Ontario general election

1923 Ontario general election ← 1919 June 25, 1923 1926 → 111 seats in the 16th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 56 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   LIB Leader Howard Ferguson Ernest C. Drury Wellington Hay Party Conservative United Farmers Liberal Leader since December 2, 1920 1920 1921 Leader's seat Grenville Halton (lost re-election) Perth North (lost re-election) Last election 25 44 27 Seats won 7...

 

Cebidae

Come leggere il tassoboxCebidi Cebus capucinus Classificazione scientifica Dominio Eukaryota Regno Animalia Phylum Chordata Classe Mammalia Superordine Euarchontoglires (clade) Euarchonta Ordine Primates Sottordine Haplorrhini Infraordine Simiiformes Parvordine Platyrrhini Famiglia CebidaeGray, 1831 Sottofamiglie Callitrichinae Cebinae Saimirinae I Cebidi (Cebidae Gray, 1831) sono una famiglia di scimmie platirrine, a cui vengono ascritte le scimmie conosciute coi nomi comuni di uistitì, ta...

National Register of Historic Places listings in Appomattox County, Virginia

Location of Appomattox County in Virginia This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Appomattox County, Virginia. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Appomattox County, Virginia, United States. The locations of National Register properties and districts for which the latitude and longitude coordinates are included below, may be seen in an online map.[1] There are 8 properties...

 

La Cabaña

Benteng San Carlos de La Cabaña Benteng San Carlos de la Cabaña, Havana, Kuba Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabaña (Benteng Santo Charles), yang lebih dikenal sebagai La Cabaña, adalah sebuah kompleks benteng abad ke-18, ketiga terbesar di benua Amerika, terletak di sisi timur bagian depan pelabuhan di Havana, Kuba. Benteng tersebut berada di atas ketinggian puncak bukit 200 kaki (60 m), bersama dengan Istana Morro (benteng). Pada Januari 1959, para pemberontak komunis pimpinan Fidel Cast...

 

Lawn bowls at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

Lawn bowls at the 2018 Commonwealth GamesVenueBroadbeach Bowls ClubDates5 – 13 April 2018Competitors240 from 28 nations← 20142022 → Lawn bowls at the2018 Commonwealth GamesSinglesmenwomenPairsmenwomenTriplesmenwomenFoursmenwomenPara-sport pairsmixedPara-sport triplesopenvte Lawn bowls at the 2018 Commonwealth Games was held at the Broadbeach Bowls Club in the Gold Coast, Australia from April 5 to 13.[1][2] Lawn bowls is one of ten c...

Oren Lyons

Iroquois traditionalist, orator, artist, and athlete This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (September 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Oren R. Lyons Jr.Born1930 (age ...

 

梅拉蒂·达伊瓦·奥克塔维亚尼

梅拉蒂·达伊瓦·奥克塔维亚尼Melati Daeva Oktavianti基本資料代表國家/地區 印度尼西亞出生 (1994-10-28) 1994年10月28日（29歲）[1] 印度尼西亞万丹省西冷[1]身高1.68米（5英尺6英寸）[1]握拍右手[1]主項：女子雙打、混合雙打職業戰績48勝–27負（女雙）109勝–56負（混雙）最高世界排名第4位（混雙-普拉文·喬丹）（2020年3月17日[2]）現時世界排名第...

 

Made in America (Kam album)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: Made in America Kam album – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) 1995 studio album by KamMade in AmericaStudio album by KamReleasedMarch 14, 1995GenreWest Coast hip hop, gangsta ra...

Thomas Jefferson: Author of America

Thomas Jefferson: Author of America Cover of the first editionAuthorChristopher HitchensLanguageEnglishSubjectThomas JeffersonPublisherHarperCollinsPublication date2005Publication placeUnited StatesMedia typePrint (hardcover and paperback)Pages188ISBN0-06-059896-4OCLC60525341Dewey Decimal973.4/6092 B 22LC ClassE332 .H66 2005b Thomas Jefferson: Author of America is a short 2005 biography of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States (1801–1809) and t...

 

Tevere

Disambiguazione – Se stai cercando altri significati, vedi Tevere (disambigua). TevereIl Tevere a Roma a ponte Sant'AngeloStato Italia Regioni Emilia-Romagna Toscana Umbria Lazio Province Forlì-Cesena Rimini Arezzo Perugia Terni Viterbo Rieti Roma ComuniVerghereto, Casteldelci, Caprese Michelangelo, Pieve Santo Stefano, Chiusi della Verna, Anghiari, Monterchi, Sansepolcro, Monte Santa Maria Tiberina, San Giustino, Città di Caste...

 

Richard H. Geoghegan

This article is about the British Esperantist. For the Irish agriculturalist, see Richard Geoghegan (Galway).Anglo-American philologist and early Esperantist This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: Richard H. Geoghegan – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2015) (Learn how and when...

Nazionale di hockey su ghiaccio femminile dell'Italia

ItaliaUniformi di gara Casa Trasferta Sport Hockey su ghiaccio FederazioneFederazione Italiana Sport del Ghiaccio Colori               SoprannomeLe Azzurre (The Blues) SelezionatoreMassimo Fedrizzi Record presenzeLinda De Rocco (91) CapocannoniereFederica Zandegiacomo (32) Record puntiEleonora Dalprà (59) Ranking IIHF17° (2022) Miglior ranking11° (2006) Peggior ranking22° (2013) Sitohockey.fisg.itEsordio internazionale Rep. Ceca ...

 

Saruman

«Sharkû» redirige aquí. Para el orco creado por los guionistas de El Señor de los Anillos: las dos torres, véase Sharku. Saruman Personaje de El Silmarillion y El Señor de los Anillos Representación de fan art de Saruman con sus símbolos.Creado por J. R. R. TolkienInterpretado por Christopher LeeDoblador en España Camilo GarcíaDoblador en Hispanoamérica Blas GarcíaInformación personalNacimiento Alrededor del año 1000 T. E.Fallecimiento 3 de noviembre del 3019 T. E.Edad Inmortal...