Shadow Country, part 1: A New Rendering of the Watson Legend

Product Description [This is Part 1 of a 2-part Audiobook CD Library Edition in vinyl case.][Read by Anthony Heald] *Winner of the 2008 National Book Award for Fiction Winner of the Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award 2009 Shadow Country is Peter Matthiessen's re-imagining of the legend of E. J. Watson, the Everglades sugar planter and notorious outlaw of the wild Florida frontier. Vividly capturing the American hinterlands at the turn of the twentieth century, it traces the story of Watson through eyewitness perspectives as he drives himself relentlessly toward his own violent end at the hands of neighbors who mostly admired him. Originally written as three separate, acclaimed novels, Shadow Country is Matthiessen's bold new distillation of his monumental work. Tightened and brilliantly rewritten throughout, he has collapsed the time frame while deepening the insights and motivations of his characters, achieving his original vision of the Watson trilogy. From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. The life and times of Florida frontiersman E.J. Watson are meticulously chronicled in Matthiessen's National Book Award–winning masterpiece. Combining three novels in one, the book follows Watson from his early years to his bloody demise, as recounted by his family and friends. The story is brought to life by the gifted Heald, who creates a cosmos of compelling characters, each as believable as the last, and imbues the environment with an atmosphere of chilling menace. Despite the book's sprawling length, readers will be hooked by this magnificent listening experience. A Modern Library hardcover. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review ''Shadow Country is altogether gripping, shocking, and brilliantly told, not just a tour de force in its stylistic range, but a great American novel, as powerful a reading experience as nearly any in our literature. This magnificent, sad masterpiece about race, history, and defeated dreams can easily stand comparison with Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men. Little wonder, too, that parts of the story of E.J. Watson call up comparisons with Dostoevsky, Conrad, and, inevitably, Faulkner. In every way, Shadow Country is a bravura performance, at once history, fiction, and myth -- as well as the capstone to the career of one of the most admired and admirable writers of our time.'' --New York Review of Books ''Magnificent and capacious . . . I'll just say right here that the book took my sleeve and like the ancient mariner would not let go . . . Finally now we have these books welded like a bell, and with Watson's song the last sound, all the elements fuse and resonate . . . A breathtaking saga.'' --Los Angeles Times ''Matthiessen's Watson trilogy is a touchstone of modern American literature . . . After six or seven years of re-creation . . . the three books are in one volume for the first time, and the result is remarkable . . . Where Watson was a magnificent character before, he comes across as nothing short of iconic here; it's difficult to find another figure in American literature so thoroughly and convincingly portrayed.'' --Publishers Weekly (starred book review)''Shadow Country is an ambitious, lasting, and meaningful work of literature that will not soon fade away. It is a testament to Mr. Matthiessen's integrity as an artist that he felt compelled to return to the Watson material to produce this work and satisfy his original vision . . . A multifaceted work that can be read variously or simultaneously as a psychological novel, a historical novel, a morality tale, a political allegory, or a mystery.'' --East Hampton Star ''Shadow Country is a magnum opus. Matthiessen is meticulous in creating characters, lyrical in describing landscapes, and resolute in dissecting the values and costs that accompanied the development of this nation.'' --Seattle Times ''Peter Mattiessen con