(1951) is the second novel of Willard Motley, an African American novelist. Following the success of his
Knock on Any Door(1947), Motley turned to a new subject and a new approach. Unfortunately, his experiment produced a less unified, less powerful novel.
A conscientious objector during the war, Motley carefully noted how the war affected the civilian population and returning veterans. The book that he wrote from these observations reflected the harm done by the war. The entire population, Motley felt, became hardened and less tolerant of dissent. To prove his point he created three protagonists and followed them from before their induction into the army through the years immediately following the war. Chet Kosinski is from a Polish immigrant family. After losing a
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Citation: Fleming, Robert E.. "We Fished all Night". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 March 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8706, accessed 21 November 2024.]