Ward Just sets his 17th novel, a Künstlerroman, called “Rodin’s Debutante,’’ in northern Illinois, mostly between the Great Depression and the 1960s.
The book traces the life of Lee Goodell, son of a conservative small-town judge, as he makes his way amid a world of secrets and hidden sins to become an artist, eventually creating a series of statues that reflect the stages of an absorbing and tumultuous life story.
Just begins his tale some years before Lee’s birth, as World War I in Europe rages. He introduces us to Tommy Ogden, avid hunter and rich no-account who inherited his father’s money. Tommy’s only redeeming trait is his desire to create a private boarding school for “midwestern boys of good family to show those bastards in the East what a real school looks like.’’ Tommy had attended seven boarding schools, but didn’t mind not fitting in, since he’s always been “out of sync.’’ He abruptly tells his wife, Marie, that the school will be located in their house. He plans to hunt wherever hunting propels him; he’s unconcerned where Marie will live. She says he’s as crazy as a “hoot owl.’’ Tommy envisions Ogden Hall differently from the penitentiary-like schools he attended: An open-minded headmaster and staff will understand and communicate the ways of the world at Ogden Hall. Unfortunately, Ogden Hall doesn’t fulfill Tommy’s expectations. It attracts some good students, but also a plethora of misfits spurned by or expelled from other schools.
