A Separate Peace is John Knowles' first published novel, released in 1959. The coming-of-age novel is Knowles' most widely-known work. The title is derived from a quotation in Hemingway's novel, A Farewell to Arms, in which Lt. Henry states, "I had made a separate peace," with his adversaries in World War I. The title also appears in the preface to Chapter VI of Hemingway's In Our Time, in which Nick Adams states: "Senta. You and me we've made a ...
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A Separate Peace is John Knowles' first published novel, released in 1959. The coming-of-age novel is Knowles' most widely-known work. The title is derived from a quotation in Hemingway's novel, A Farewell to Arms, in which Lt. Henry states, "I had made a separate peace," with his adversaries in World War I. The title also appears in the preface to Chapter VI of Hemingway's In Our Time, in which Nick Adams states: "Senta. You and me we've made a separate peace."
The back story begins with Gene Forrester returning to his old prep school, Devon (a thinly-veiled portrayal of Knowles' own alma mater, Phillips Exeter Academy), fifteen years after he graduated. He returns to visit two places he regards as "fearful sites": a flight of marble stairs, and a tree by a river. First he examines the stairs and notices that they are made of very hard marble. He then trudges through the mud to the tree. The tree brings back memories of Gene's time as a student at Devon. From this point on in the...
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