Classics · MelancholicWhen his deaf friend is sent away, John Singer lodges with the Kellys and the town gathers around him
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
A deaf man in a Georgia mill town becomes the person the others confide in
The novel opens with the friendship between John Singer, a deaf engraver, and Spiros Antonapoulos, his deaf friend, who have lived together for several years. After Antonapoulos's drinking leads to repeated misbehavior, he is sent to an asylum far from town. Alone, Singer moves into a room in the Kellys' house, and the town begins to gather around him. Among them are Mick Kelly, a young girl who loves music, Jake Blount, an alcoholic labor agitator, Biff Brannon, a diner owner, and Dr. Benedict Mady Copeland, a Black physician. McCullers was 23 when Houghton Mifflin published it in 1940.
More about this book
Who
John Singer, Mick Kelly, Jake Blount, Biff Brannon and Dr. Benedict Mady Copeland.
World
A mill town in Georgia in the 1930s.
What makes it different
It is Southern Gothic and McCullers's debut, written by a 23-year-old.
Feel
Tender and lonely.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- The Heart Is a Lonely HunterWikipedia