Being a native of Asheville, NC, from the time I was a young student I was made totally aware of the famous author born in my mountain town, Thomas Wolfe. And he made our town famous with his first novel “Look Homeward Angel”. The novel is definitely autobiographical and created a great stir when published due to his not-so-veiled  descriptions of many of the local inhabitants which led to him becoming an expat of his own hometown, called Altamont in the novel, for many years.

Old Kentucky Home, boarding house known as Dixieland in “Look Homeward Angel,” state historic site.

Being the lover of books that I am, it’s ironic that I ignored this book for many years. It was only a few years ago that I finally read it for the first time, much to my great delight. It was so cool to read about a turn-of-the-century Asheville, reading the description of so many areas and streets that I was so familiar with, especially the area he calls “the Square”. That is the dead center of Asheville, the crossroads, which is known as Pack Square, named after George Willis Pack who deeded the area to the city as a gift to his adopted home. It was in “the Square” that Tom’s father had his monument shop, the shop that housed the angel that led to the naming of the novel. Also in this area is the location of the library that Wolfe spent many hours at as a child, just as I did as a child in the later library that replaced the original which was named Pack Memorial  Library, in honor of George Pack.

Pack Memorial Library, once my home away from home, now the Asheville Art Museum.

After dying in Baltimore at the age of only 37, Wolfe was brought home and buried in Riverside Cemetery.

The original “Angel” that sat in front of W. O. Wolfe’s shop for years, inspiring the name of the novel.

Just last week I finished reading “Look Homeward Angel” for a second time. But, that was after reading another version of the same novel. Another version you might wonder. Yes, there was a second version published in 2000, the centenary of Wolfe’s birth. But…that’s another story for next time, one of an interesting nature. However, having read the newer version and rereading the original, I went on a historical trek, visiting my and Wolfe’s Asheville, looking at things while trying to envision them in the eyes of Wolfe, imagining him standing right beside me while we shared the moment. That thought in itself could have come from the mind of Wolfe, written down on the page of one of his novels for his mind did wander many a time into the metaphysical. I also visited  the museum next to his home and made journeys to a couple of local graveyards in search of literary ghosts this Halloween season.