Asheville – On College Street, you’ll find this historic marker, Thomas Wolfe Author of “Look Homeward Angel” (1929), “Of Time and the River,” and other works. Home stands 200 yards N., birthplace 500 yds. N.E.
One of Asheville’s most famous authors, Thomas Wolfe, the mysterious and remarkably talented writer born on October 3, 1900, to W. O. and Julia Westall Wolfe, weathered a turbulent childhood in Asheville. His father’s untimely death at Tom’s young age of twenty-two left an indelible mark on Tom. His father was a struggling, often despondent alcoholic who, at times, exhibited abusive tendencies. Young Wolfe spent his formative years in his mother’s boardinghouse, a setting that would later become the foundation for his semi-autobiographical novel Look Homeward, Angel.
His educational journey in Asheville commenced in public schools from 1905 to 1912 before transitioning to the North State Fitting School, a private college preparatory school. It was there he encountered Margaret Roberts, a key figure who influenced both his educational pursuits and personal development, earning from Wolfe the endearing label of “the mother of my spirit.”
At just shy of sixteen years old, Wolfe embarked on his academic path at the University of North Carolina, marking the onset of his literary endeavors. Joining Frederick Koch’s Carolina Playmakers in 1918, Wolfe swiftly demonstrated his creative flair with the production of The Return of Buck Gavin, a play conceived within a mere three hours.
After his graduation from UNC in 1920, Wolfe opted to further his education at Harvard, delving into the art of playwriting under the mentorship of George Pierce Baker in the renowned ’47 Workshop. Immersing himself entirely in the craft, Wolfe dedicated his energies to crafting plays under Baker’s guidance.
After three years of intensive study at Harvard, Wolfe completed his tenure and witnessed the staging of his play, Welcome to Our City. This production was nothing short of ambitious, spanning just over four hours in performance time. In a letter to his mother, Wolfe described the play as “the most ambitious thing, size-wise, the Workshop has ever attempted, encompassing ten scenes, over thirty individuals, and seven changes of setting.” However, despite the immense effort, Welcome to Our City failed to succeed on stage.
After attaining a master’s degree, Wolfe extended his studies with Baker for a year before commencing a teaching role at New York University’s Washington Square College. Struggling to balance teaching with his writing aspirations, he took a leave of absence in 1924 to embark on a European trip focused on his literary pursuits. It was during this time that he encountered Aline Bernstein, a woman nineteen years his senior, marking the beginning of a profound love story.
Bernstein supported Wolfe as he penned “O Lost,” later to be known as Look Homeward, Angel, chronicling his life in oversized accounting ledgers due to his large hands that rendered typewriters impractical. The book’s publication in 1929 stirred Asheville, with locals identifying themselves in its pages. The backlash was swift; infuriated readers contested their portrayals within the text.
Wolfe’s return to his childhood home in 1937 was marked by disruptions, deterring his focus on writing. Contemplating the phrase “You can’t go home again,” he envisioned it as a fitting book title. He submitted a voluminous draft of this conceived novel to his publisher in May 1938.
Tragically, a tour of the West later that year resulted in Wolfe contracting pneumonia, reawakening a dormant lung lesion from 1920. This led to fatal complications as the infection spread to his brain. He passed away at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore on September 15, 1938, and was laid to rest in Asheville’s Riverside Cemetery. Wolfe’s legacy endures through his posthumously published manuscripts, “The Web and the Rock (1939), You Can’t Go Home Again (1940), and The Hills Beyond (1941),” a collection of stories and fragments.
While the Ashevillians of the time were upset with their portrayal in his books, today, Wolfe is one of the best-known authors from Asheville and is widely embraced by its citizens.