Literary Impressions

Old School 

by Tobias Wolff

“We even talked like Hemingway characters, though in travesty, as if to deny our discipleship: That is your bed, and it is a good bed, and you must make it and you must make it well. Or: Today is the day of the meatloaf. The meatloaf is swell. It is swell but when it is gone the not-having meatloaf will be tragic and the meatloaf man will not come anymore.” ― Tobias Wolff, Old School





Set in the sacred corridors of a prestigious New England boarding school in the early 1960s, Old School is a gripping book that explores the complexities of ambition, identity, and the enticing power of literature.  The narrative is told by an unidentified scholarship recipient, a gifted but insecure young man who is desperate to pursue a career in writing and is trying to find his place among his wealthy peers.

The main idea centers on the school's custom of inviting three well-known authors annually: Ernest Hemingway, Ayn Rand, and Robert Frost. Every visit includes a literary contest, with the winner receiving the coveted chance to meet the esteemed visitor. The narrator and his classmates' lives revolve around these visits and the competitions that follow, which exacerbates their fierce rivalry and highlights their weaknesses.

The narrator, who hides his working-class upbringing and Jewish ancestry, longs to be accepted. In an attempt to obtain a sort of "anointing" that will validate his destined greatness, he first looks to literary idols for validation. His interactions with Frost, and particularly the divisive Ayn Rand, have a profound impact on how he interprets literature and the life of the author. He becomes briefly enamored with Rand's philosophy of radical individualism but ultimately finds her worldview and characters unrealistic and cold. This leads him to a deeper appreciation for the nuanced humanity in Ernest Hemingway's work.