The Fifth Son of the Shoemaker

The Fifth Son of the Shoemaker is a book by Donald Corley, illustrated by the author. It was his best known work and his only novel, though according to Lin Carter it is actually "a volume of short stories under the guise of a novel."[1] The book was first published in hardcover in New York by Robert M. McBride in September 1930.

The Fifth Son of the Shoemaker
Dust cover of the first edition
AuthorDonald Corley
Cover artistDonald Corley
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreNovel
PublisherRobert M. McBride
Publication date
1930
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages282 pp.
Preceded byThe House of Lost Identity 
Followed byThe Haunted Jester 

Plot

The book concerns the story of a Russian family of hereditary shoemakers who have immigrated from Moscow to New York, their establishment in a humble East Side cellar, rise from rags to riches, and travels around the world.

Reception

The New York Times called the novel Corley's "best-known work."[2]

Lin Carter describes Corley's style as possessing a quality of "gorgeousness", which he characterizes as having "the sort of verbal richness that bejewels the pages of Clark Ashton Smith's work or the Arabian Nights ... lazy and singing, [with] a certain playfulness to it ..."[3]

Notes
  1. Carter, Lin, ed. Discoveries in Fantasy, New York, Ballantine Books, 1972, pp. 102.
  2. "Donald Corley" (obituary), New York Times, December 14, 1955.
  3. Carter, Lin, ed. Discoveries in Fantasy, New York, Ballantine Books, 1972, pp. 101–103.


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