The magical campus : University of North Carolina writings, 1917-1920

This is a collection of Wolfe's earliest publications from his college years.The ""Magical Campus"" collects for the first time Thomas Wolfe's earliest published works - including poems, plays, short fiction, news articles, speeches, and essays - both signed and unsigned, assembled in chronological order. The collegiate career of Wolfe began at UNC Chapel Hill in 1916, at the age of fifteen, with a freshman year marked by obscurity and loneliness. By his junior year, he had emerged as a recognized and popular figure in campus life, a central participant in numerous organizations and fraternities, and the editor of several student publications. Wolfe began in these apprenticeship years his ascendancy to iconic literary status.Included in ""The Magical Campus"" is Wolfe's first published work, the poem ""A Field in Flanders"" from the November 1917 issue of the University of North Carolina Magazine. Here too is the poem ""The Challenge,"" Wolfe's first piece to be subsequently reprinted off campus in his hometown newspaper. ""A Cullenden of Virginia"" marked his inaugural foray into the realm of published fiction and his folk plays, such as ""The Return of Buck Gavin"" and ""Deferred Payment,"" are illustrative of his unrealized ambitions to be a playwright. Though they lack the sophistication and scale of the grand fictions that now define Wolfe's place in literature, his student publications speak to the potential he had tapped into.

• List of Illustrations p. ix
• Foreword p. xi Pat Conroy
• Preface p. xv Matthew J. Bruccoli
• Acknowledgments p. xviii
• Wolfe's Editorial Positions p. xix
• Signed Publications
• "A Field in Flanders," 1917 p. 3
• "To France," 1917 p. 5
• "The Challenge," 1918 p. 6
• "A Cullenden of Virginia," 1918 p. 8
• "To Rupert Brooke," 1918 p. 13
• "The Drammer," 1919 p. 15
• "An Appreciation," 1919 p. 18
• "The Creative Movement in Writing," 1919 p. 19
• Deferred Payment, 1919 p. 22
• "Russian Folk Song," 1919 p. 33
• The Streets of Durham, 1919 p. 34
• The Crisis in Industry, 1919 p. 39
• Concerning Honest Bob, 1920 p. 49
• "1920 Says Few Words to Carolina," 1920 p. 57
• The Return of Buck Gavin: The Tragedy of a Mountain Outlaw, 1919 p. 59
• The Third Night: A Play of the Carolina Mountains, 1919 p. 69
• "A Previously Unpublished Statement by Thomas Wolfe," 1919 p. 81
• "The Man Who Lives with His Idea," 1920 p. 83
• Attributions
• "Tar Heels Despite Defeat of Last Week Await Virginians," 1919 p. 98
• "Ye Who Have Been There Only Know," 1919 p. 101
• "Useful Advice to Candidates," 1920 p. 103
• "The Bibiograph," 1920 p. 104
• Appendixes
• A The Peace Treaty p. 107
• B Debate Speeches p. 121
• C Class Stunt p. 133