Studs Lonigan: A Triology Comprising Young Lonigan, the Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan, and Judgment Day (A Prairie State Book) [Paperback]

"Studs Lonigan" written by James T Farrell follows the life of William "Studs" Lonigan from the ages of sixteen to thirty. Originally three separate novels, this book was ground breaking in its day for its gritty realistic portrayal of life in an urban centre frilled with the trappings of alcohol, violence, womanising, an array of street characters yet also, family, loyalty, disillusionment, media and historic commentary. In essence Farrell has created a massive work using 57th and Indiana on Chicago's Southside as a microcosm for a varity of themes, notably the changing position of the Irish community in America, the effects of the great Depression, World War one and youthful idealism with modern actuality. This story is overall one of tragedy on two levels. For Studs he dies young realising in sure strides that he is overall very little, contrasted to the headstrong youth that based himself after the gallery of cinematic idols he perceived. Yet also for a time and place that was obviously a watershed for the author, Stud's degeneration mirrors other aspects Farrell sees as problematic in Modern America. The book narrative basically takes us through Studs life. We first meet him as a young boy of sixteen. He stares at the mirror practising his sneer and chews a cigarette in the typical tough guy manner of his day. His father, a well to do Irish-American businessman, and mother wants him to become a painter and priest respectively. What follows however is a catalogue of Studs adventures with the street corner element of Chicago, brandishing memorable characters like Weary Reilly, Tommy Doyle, Slug Mason and Five Star Hennessey. Generally a coming off age tale where love, labour, alcohol and violence mingle, Studs dreams of being a football star, of going to war, of being the toughest guy on the block, of getting married, of taking the world by the throat and strangling it into submission. However as the story develops he is increasingly disempowered. His appearance in it self is not enough to attract girls so he has to rely on his tough hard edged image to win their emotions adding to his inner confusion of never being able to say what he wants confidently to the opposite sex. Alcohol and casual violence with run ins with less conscionable compatriots i.e. Reilly eventually lead him to phneumia and a weak heart. By his climatic fight with his younger brother in which Studs is overpowered his mental fall is complete. No longer the tough guy, just a guy. What marks Studs out, as an original protagonist is his is thoughtful questioning nature. His hard image ride on his belief of his own invincibility-which of course lies more in fiction and cinema than in reality. Studs ideas of romance and heroism are all evoked through his inner images. When these colourful fairy tale ideals are broken which form the tone through roughly half the novel something in Studs is gone and you can feel the dark clouds gather. Farrell here I feel makes the universal point of what should be and what is and the passed on notions that encircle certain activities. The fall of Studs is the fall of all dreamers that's why in sympathy for Studs almost reflects sympathy for us. Where Studs fails, is where we fail. Farrell's innovative use of slang (authentic street language) all through the book acts to bring the reader completely into the mindset and place of the characters. The speech patterns and gritty tough guy mannerisms and comments are realistic shown to let the novel act as a commentary of a time and a place. The language in the book is colourful, vivid, edgy, realistic and vital. Vital because of Farrell's obvious aims. To bring a person into your known place you need to firstly to place them in the street (the detailed descriptions of 57th on Indiana achieve this.) Next, place them in the mindset of a central character in this environment (the narration of Studs Lonigan). Then give your readers a key into this community (the ultimate key of language). James T Farrell uses the language so completely and accurately because he realised its importance in life as a real thing (Stylised writing describing these people just would not work on any level) and he brilliantly manipulates it to forfeit the above criteria. Another vital aspect of the novel is the amount of detail that Farrell reveals the divergence of ethnic transition in twentieth century America. His neighbourhood is one of Irish abstraction, white and blue collar. The Irish being the first mayor emigrant group to land in mass in the United States formed the first "ghetto" like neighbourhoods, which for all the wrongs associated with such sections of the urban arena also brought a sense of transplanted community and a sense of belonging. Studs early life is increasingly bothered by the rumours of an imminent black shift through distant neighbourhoods coming ever closer to their own area. Threats and blame are passed yet eventually that foreign object a "black face" becomes common leading to the exodus of the Irish community. This transition occours at an exceeding rate. By the books climax Studs father returns to the old neighbourhood unable to recognise or accept his forced separation from an area that formed his past. Here is a man with a dying son, bankrupt due to the Depression and without even the security of place to pacify his mind. Yet what are the questions Farrell is posing us through such transitions. Is Farrell blaming the spread of other ethnics for the decline of urban community? Is he lamenting the weakening of the hold of the Irish community on American life and politics? Is he a racist? The answer I believe is none of the above. Here is a man of a certain ethnic group who has lived to see his own past become a thing of memory. Lonigan Senior portrays Farrell in the novel. The old times and ways are gone, in Modern America what was stable does not last long, The sway, movement and influxes represent American expansion and growth, its greatness if you like but Farrell points to generations dislocated and a population with out roots. Lack of roots breeds uncertainty. Such issues and thoughts are not uncommon in modern American literature yet Farrell handles the ideas objectively. We ask and answer our own questions in the book. Overall Studs Lonigan is a fascinating piece of fiction. Farrell deals with enough motifs, ideals and elements to fill many more novels. Yet his achievements are in creating a thoroughly sympathetic and realistic character in Studs Lonigan, a character we can root for, learn from and grow with. He identifies us with a whole neighbourhood, puts us in that place and time and leads us through a series of events, both on a personal and a historic level. To retain interest and to create such lasting effect is the mark of a great (and largely forgotten) writer working at the peak of his powers. A must read mingling history, fiction and a central protagonist whose struggle with life never quite leaves you.

The "Studs Lonigan" trilogy, James T. Farrell's forgotten masterwork, deserves a new generation of readers desiring assurance that ours is not the first generation to experience the hopelessness of youth without direction and life without purpose. The three self-standing novels follow the youth, adolescence, and manhood of a Chicago Irish-Catholic named William "Studs" Lonigan. What shocked readers when the novels were first published in the early 1930s--a brutal street life characterized by cigarettes and alcohol, senseless violence and casual sex--strikes the reader today for the directness and honesty with which Farrell treats the lives of lower-middle-class youth caught up in the whirlwind of social and economic transformations that followed the First World War.

Despite his self-destruction, Studs remains a sympathetic character. Unlike some of his friends, he does, at least occasionally, have a clue as to what is bringing him to his "Judgment Day" (the title of the last novel). Even so, conquering the limitations of his upbringing, which are only compounded by the miseries of the Depression, remains an overwhelming challenge.

Farrell's Chicago is as important a character as Studs. The city is a living organism that grows, changes, shows its beauties (in some of the author's most lyrical moments), threatens, and, ultimately, continues to exist oblivious of its inhabitants.

Perhaps Farrell overdoes the slang, and occasionally a scene is all too predictable. But not always, especially as Studs comes to adulthood and is increasingly torn by conflicting temptations and an ingrained desire for respectability.

Together with John Dos Passos, his better-
remembered contemporary, James Farrell has captured a memorable segment of American life with techniques that include variations on Dos Passos' newreels. Unlike the author of "U.S.A.", however, Farrell leaves us with a memorable character who demands our attention just as forcibly as when he was a cake-eater walking Chicago's Fifty-eighth Street.

"Studs Lonigan" is, or should be, a classic, up there with"Winesburg, Ohio" or "An American Tragedy" or "Tom Sawyer." James T. Farrell captures something about the prosaic nature of ordinary people expressing ordinary opinions in ordinary colloquial speech with an honesty no other writer I know matches. This is a sad, funny, and ultimately tragic story. It brings the twenties and thirties to life for me in a way F. Scott Fitzgerald never has. The descriptions of a dance marathon and of a Knights of Columbus initiation are alone worth the price of admission.