Cold Mountain (novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the novel. For the film, see Cold Mountain (film).
- This article is about the novel. For the mountain in North Carolina, see Cold Mountain (North Carolina).
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| Recent edition cover | |
| Author | Charles Frazier |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Atlantic Monthly Press |
| Released | 1997 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-87113-679-1 |
Cold Mountain is a novel that tells the story of W. P. Inman, a wounded deserter from the Confederate army near the end of the American Civil War who walks for months to return to Ada, the love of his life. The novel alternates chapter-by-chapter between Inman's and Ada's stories. It was Charles Frazier's first novel and a major bestseller, selling roughly three million copies worldwide. The text contains 21 chapters and 436 pages (excluding acknowledgements etc.).
Cold Mountain, the landmark featured in the book, is a real mountain located within the Pisgah National Forest, Haywood County, North Carolina. The novel was the basis for the film Cold Mountain.
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[edit] Plot summary
The novel opens in a Confederate military hospital near Richmond, Virginia, where the male protagonist, the soldier Inman, is recovering from a recent battle wound. Tired of fighting for a cause he never believed in and longing for his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, he steals out of the hospital after nightfall and sets out west. The narrative alternates back and forth every chapter between the story of Inman and that of Ada Monroe, a minister's daughter recently relocated from Charleston to a farm in the rural mountain community from which Inman hails. Though they only knew each other for a brief time before Inman departed for the war, it is largely the hope of seeing Ada again that drives Inman to desert the army and make the dangerous journey back to Cold Mountain. Details of their brief history together are told at intervals in flashback over the course of the novel.
Ada's father soon dies, and the farm that Ada lives on is soon reduced to a state of disrepair. A young woman named Ruby, homeless but a stronger worker than Ada and resourceful, soon moves in and, through hard labor, helps Ada clean the place up and turn it back into productivity.
Inman's journey westward back to his hometown, walking on trails and hiding in woods, is rough, although he carries Confederate spending money, whose exchange value decreases as the war nears a close. He faces hunger, snow, an attempted armed robbery at a rural tavern, and occasionally is given shelter in crude cabins by hungry, destitute widows. Through cunning ingenuity he helps one of them track and recover a prized pig, her only possession, which had just been seized from her by Union soldiers. He also continually tries to hide from men known as the Home Guard. The Home Guard's purpose is to search for Confederate soldier deserters. He meets a preacher called Veasey, who he catches in the act of attempted murder, and after dissuading him, and leaving him in his hometown, Veasey catches up with Inman, and they travel together. The Home Guard finds both of them and they are put into a group of other captured prisoners. They march for days before the Home Guard decides to simply shoot them because they are too much trouble. Veasey steps forward to try to stop it, but the entire unit is wiped out. Inman somehow survives and drags himself out. After burying Veasey, he continues on.
At Ada's farm, Ruby's father is caught stealing corn. He was a deadbeat who had left the family when Ruby was very young; he is also a Confederate deserter. Ruby grudgingly feeds him. He returns another day with a friend, and they play a fiddle and banjo. After a few days, Ada and Ruby shoo them off the property, fearful that the Home Guard will come and hunt them down. Ruby's father, his friend, and a third companion leave but are caught by the Home Guard, who shoot them. The third man hid when the Guard found the other two. He runs back and alerts Ada and Ruby, who ride out to see the two men. Ruby's father just barely survives; Ada and Ruby pitch camp to let Ruby's father recover.
By this time, Inman has finally just reached the foot of the mountain, where he unexpectedly encounters Ada; however, both have changed so greatly in their appearance and demeanor since they parted that it is some moments before they recognize one another. Inman takes up camp with Ada and Ruby, and he and Ada have sexual intercourse in an abandoned hut. They happily begin to imagine the life they will have together at Black Cove and make plans for their future. As the party begins the trek back to the farm, however, they encounter the Home Guard. A shootout commences in which Inman kills or chases off all the members of the Guard except for a seventeen year old boy who flees into the thicket and is cornered against a rock ledge. Inman, reluctant to shoot him down in cold blood, tries to convince him to lay down his arms and leave, but is shot and fatally wounded by the boy when he approaches, and later dies in Ada's arms. Ada eventually gives birth to a baby girl, presumably the product of her and Inman's one night together (this is never actually stated), and raises her at the now-thriving homestead she and Ruby have built at Black Cove.
[edit] Literary significance & criticism
- "The work is rich in the culture and sensibilities of the North Carolina mountains and was based on local history and stories handed down from Frazier's great-great-uncle." [1]
Early reviewers (and readers) compared the book's plot and tone to the Homer's Odyssey and the acclaimed novel Snow Falling on Cedars.
[edit] Awards and nominations
The novel won the 1997 National Book Award.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
It was later adapted for the screen by director Anthony Minghella in the 2003 film Cold Mountain, starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Renee Zellweger. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Actor in a Featured Role for Jude Law, and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Renee Zellweger.
