So Long, See You Tomorrow

So Long, See You Tomorrow

First edition[lower-alpha 1]
Author	William Maxwell
Cover artist	Maxwell's daughter[lower-alpha 1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	The New Yorker (magazine) Knopf (book)
Publication date	1979 (magazine) 1980 (book)
Media type	Print
Pages	135
ISBN	0-394-50835-1

So Long, See You Tomorrow is a novel by American author William Maxwell. It was first published in The New Yorker magazine in October 1979 in two parts^[1][2] and appeared in book form the following year, published by Knopf.

It was awarded the William Dean Howells Medal,^[3] and its first paperback edition won a 1982 National Book Award.^{[4][lower-alpha 2]} It was also a finalist for the 1981 Pulitzer Prize.^[5] Michael Ondaatje described it as "one of the great books of our age".^[6]

The novel is based on fact and has been described as an "autobiographical metafiction".^[7]

Plot introduction

It is set in Maxwell's hometown Lincoln, Illinois and tells of a murder that occurred in 1921. Fifty years later the guilt-ridden narrator recounts how the relationships between two neighboring families led to the murder and how he himself failed to support Cletus, a close school friend who was the son of the murderer.^[8]

Notes

1. The first edition cover was designed by William Maxwell's daughter and inspired by Giacometti's sculpture Palace at 4 a.m, which is discussed in the novel.
   Source: "William Maxwell" at The Bounty
2. So Long won the 1982 award for paperback Fiction. (From 1980 to 1983 in National Book Awards history there were dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints, including this one.)

References

1. "So Long, See You Tomorrow, Part One". The New Yorker: 34–102. October 1, 1979. Retrieved 2015-05-10.
2. "So Long, See You Tomorrow, Part Two". The New Yorker: 40–99. October 8, 1979. Retrieved 2015-05-10.
3. American Academy of Arts and Letters - Award Winners
4. "National Book Awards – 1982". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-11.
5. "Fiction". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
6. front cover of 1997 Harvill Press p/b edition
7. Burkhardt, Barbara (1994). William Maxwell: A selected critical biography (Ph.D.). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved 2015-05-10.
8. "About Lincoln, Illinois, and the Chautauqua". Findinglincolnillinois.com. Retrieved 2012-03-19.