The Cabala

Written by Thornton Wilder

Narrated by Tristan Morris

""Thornton Wilder's 1926 debut novel probes the inscrutable mystery of the ancient, fabulous wealth that confers a kind of immortality on its custodians, allowing their natures to form without concession or compromise to life beyond their privileged enclave. . . . [It] established Wilder as one of the most accomplished stylists of his generation."" —The Guardian

In The Cabala, Samuele, an American student, spends a year in the fabulously decadent world of post World War I Rome. He experiences first-hand the waning days of a secret community—a “cabala” composed of decaying European royalty, eccentric expatriate Americans, even a great cardinal of the Roman Church.

The vivid portraits he paints of these characters, whom he views as the vestigial representatives of the gods and goddesses of Ancient Rome, launched Wilder’s career as a celebrated storyteller and literary stylist.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Caedmon
• Release date: May 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062972194

Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) was an accomplished novelist and playwright whose works, exploring the connection between the commonplace and cosmic dimensions of human experience, continue to be read and produced around the world. His Bridge of San Luis Rey, one of seven novels, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, as did two of his four full-length dramas, Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1943). Wilder's The Matchmaker was adapted as the musical Hello, Dolly!. He also enjoyed enormous success with many other forms of the written and spoken word, among them teaching, acting, the opera, and films. (His screenplay for Hitchcock's Shadow of Doubt [1943] remains a classic psycho-thriller to this day.) Wilder's many honors include the Gold Medal for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Book Committee's Medal for Literature.

Reviews for The Cabala

[dbsovereign · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not my favorite Wilder, but interesting glimpse into the world of expats in Rome. Fantastical plot with some insight into what it's like to be an expat (and what a small world it becomes once you're in a foreign country).

[jeffome · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

ok.....for starters, this book had no quotation marks......not sure i have ever read something without them, but it was an adjustment. Expatriates from all over convening on Rome take a young New England scholar into their high social circles giving him a year he'll remember for some time! Also a bit of a thinking book....lots of dialogue about Catholicism and royalty and the reincarnation of sorts of Roman Gods, all of this making for a bit of an effort for me beyond my desire for a pleasurable read. Wilder won 3 different Pulitzer Prizes, 1 for a novel and 2 for plays, so as always, i started at the beginning. This was his first, and i'll not hold that against him at this point. It was a quick read, but nothing that really grabbed me in any way. One hopes that experience for Wilder led to more stimulating work.....I'll keep you posted!

[veracite · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Much more enjoyable than other reviews led me to expect but the end was a bit baffling. Perhaps I'm missing some context?

[slickdpdx · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow. Having encountered too many amateur productions of Our Town, I overlooked Thornton Wilder. This economically written and closely observed novel follows a young American, Samuel, who arrives in Rome in the early 1920s and gains entry to a small high society group of royalist dead-enders (the Cabala of the title.) Through the ladies of the Cabala, Samuel encounters, in a very personal and immediate fashion, areas of crisis between the new and old worlds (not only in the sense of Europe and the Americas, but also - and probably more importantly - in the sense of the 19th century world and the 20th.)