Love and Glory
Encyclopedia
Love and Glory is a 1983 novel by Robert B. Parker
. The story is told in the first person by Boone Adams. It is a coming-of-age and love story
. There is explicit and implicit reference to and imitation of The Great Gatsby.
Much of the novel takes lace at the fictional Taft University, which Parker used later as the setting for the 1989 Spenser novel Playmates and where Susan Silverman teaches.
, where he falls in love with a girl but is unable to win her. He leaves school to become a writer, but drink and his frank comments lose him his day jobs before he can become a real writer
. He spirals down, moving west, while drinking and taking ever-lower jobs. Along the way, he gets sent to Korea
during the Korean War
. Finally, he hits bottom, but with a mis-interpreted line from The Great Gatsby
, his enduring love for his unrequited love, and the good luck of getting a job from someone, he is able to turn himself around. All the time, the one thing he has been able to hold onto is his collection of unsent letters to his love. After he has regained health and direction, he returns to the east to be near his love and to work his way to being a writer. He re-enters school and winds up getting his doctorate
in English at the same time she does. Through his years of finishing his bachelor's, and getting his graduate degrees, he gets closer to her, eventually becoming more than a friend, and convincing her that she should divorce
her successful husband, who is the head of the English Department, to marry the protagonist.
Robert B. Parker
Robert Brown Parker was an American crime writer. His most famous works were the novels about the private detective Spenser. ABC television network developed the television series Spenser: For Hire based on the character in the late 1980s; a series of TV movies based on the character were also...
. The story is told in the first person by Boone Adams. It is a coming-of-age and love story
Romance novel
The romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late...
. There is explicit and implicit reference to and imitation of The Great Gatsby.
Much of the novel takes lace at the fictional Taft University, which Parker used later as the setting for the 1989 Spenser novel Playmates and where Susan Silverman teaches.
Plot
The protagonist tells of his days at an eastern college in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he falls in love with a girl but is unable to win her. He leaves school to become a writer, but drink and his frank comments lose him his day jobs before he can become a real writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. He spirals down, moving west, while drinking and taking ever-lower jobs. Along the way, he gets sent to Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. Finally, he hits bottom, but with a mis-interpreted line from The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published in1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City from spring to autumn of 1922....
, his enduring love for his unrequited love, and the good luck of getting a job from someone, he is able to turn himself around. All the time, the one thing he has been able to hold onto is his collection of unsent letters to his love. After he has regained health and direction, he returns to the east to be near his love and to work his way to being a writer. He re-enters school and winds up getting his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in English at the same time she does. Through his years of finishing his bachelor's, and getting his graduate degrees, he gets closer to her, eventually becoming more than a friend, and convincing her that she should divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
her successful husband, who is the head of the English Department, to marry the protagonist.