The Reviews Come Out

One to six months after publication

1952

Reviews of the book appear with initial reactions to the book. Some praise the book:

"Written by a Southerner from Georgia, this first novel, whose language is Tennessee-Georgia dialect expertly wrought into a clipped, elliptic and blunt style, introduces its author as a writer of power."

New York Times Book Review, 18 May, 1952: 4.

"...Wise Blood has an imaginative intensity rare in any fiction these days."

Newsweek, May 19, 1952: 114.

...and some pan it:

"But all too often it reads as if Kafka had been set to writing the continuity for L'il Abner."

Time, 9 1952:108.

"...neither satire nor humor is achieved...sheer monotony."

Saturday Review 24 May,1952: 22.