Six hundred-sixty-one. That’s a passel of pages to read. Just figuring out how long it takes to reach the end of such an epic is exhausting; nevertheless, “All the King’s Men” is worth the slog.
The novel begins like a travelogue, giving directions to Mason City on Highway 58. It could be a description of driving on the West Kentucky Parkway: “…straight for miles, coming at you, with the …line down the center coming at you and at you…slick and tarry-shining…”
It is 1936 and we are passengers in a Cadillac, “a cross between a hearse and an ocean liner but which still wouldn’t make your cheeks burn with shame in the country-club parking lot.”
We are on a mission with Governor Willie Stark, his wife and son, and the usual political entourage in tow. They are en route to the humble southern hamlet where Willie got his start.
When they stop in town, a crowd gathers to see the homeboy and clamor for his attention. ”I didn’t come here to make any speech,” Willie claims. “I came up here to go out and see my pappy…And I didn’t come here to ask you to give me anything, not even a vote.”
“I’ll be back later for that,” he goes on. “…I don’t expect all of you to vote for me. My God, if all of you went and voted for Willie, what the hell would you find to argue about? There wouldn’t be anything left but the weather, and you can’t vote on that.”
Through a flashback, we travel to the early days of Willie’s political rise, when he made speeches that did not get the results he wanted. “They were full of facts and figures he had dug up about running the state,” remarked Jack Burden, a reporter who covered the Stark campaign.
According to Burden, the result was that “Folks would start cleaning their fingernails with their pocket knives.”
When Willie, off the record, asks Jack how he thinks the speeches are going, the reporter’s savvy advice is to avoid facts and figures and aim for the gut. Burden coaches Willie to dump the intellectual claptrap and dumb down his message. “For sweet Jesus’ sake,” he says, “don’t try to improve their minds.”
“Make ‘em cry, make ‘em laugh, make ‘em think you’re their weak erring pal, or make ‘em think you’re God-Almighty. Or make ‘em mad. Just stir ‘em up, it doesn’t matter how or why, and they’ll love you and come back for more. Pinch ‘em in the soft place,” Burden insists. “They aren’t alive, most of ‘em, and haven’t been alive in twenty years.”
Following Burden’s suggestion helps launch Stark’s political success and also helps to explain the Boss’s rise and fall.
Descriptions in Robert Penn Warren’s masterpiece demand to be read out loud. For instance, while the photographer snaps photos for the governor’s campaign posters, he insists on getting a shot of the Boss with the old family dog, who “was lying over to one side of the porch like a worn-out fur rug.”
The Boss orders his assistant to make the hound “…look like he was glad to see me,” and when that doesn’t work, it takes two men to heave the old dawg up and position his “faithful head on the Boss’s knee.”
Although published over 70 years ago, “All The King’s Men” remains as relevant today as when it was first written. In recognition of the mastery of Kentucky writer Robert Penn Warren, the first Poet Laureate of the United States and winner of Pulitzer Prizes in both fiction and poetry, University Press of Kentucky has partnered with Kentucky Humanities on its new literacy project, Kentucky Reads. The program will use the novel as the basis of a statewide conversation on populism, political discourse and their relationship to journalism.
At 661 pages, “All the King’s Men” is, according to the New York Times, “no book to curl up with in a hammock, but a book to read until 3 o’clock in the morning, a book to read on trains and subways, while waiting for streetcars and appointments, while riding elevators or elephants.”
The character Willie Stark was based on the real-life politician Huey Long, a political player who manipulated language and created an image of himself that seduced supporters in Louisiana. Though Long died in 1935, his political tactics survive today, and discussions of “All the King’s Men” around the state provide tools for engaged citizens to explore the accountability of leaders and those who vote for them.
A series of events includes Tuesday, Sept. 18, from Paducah’s Market House Theatre a live reading of scenes from the stage adaptation of “All the King’s Men” will be featured, along with a community forum on journalism and politics. In addition, there will be community readings of the book around the commonwealth.
For more information, log on to www.kyhumanities.org.
Constance Alexander is a columnist, award-winning poet and playwright, and President of INTEXCommunications in Murray. She can be reached at calexander9@murraystate.edu. Or visit www.constancealexander.com.
NOTE: On September 13th at 6:30 p.m. the Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement at Northern Kentucky University hosts a keynote address from Dr. Jonathan S. Cullick on his book, Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men A Reader’s Companion (University Press of Kentucky, 2018), and a Community Forum on journalism and politics at the Otto M. Budig Theater. Panelists are Jon Cullick of NKU, Trey Grayson of Frost, Brown, Todd and Judy Clabes of the NKyTribune.
