Wright Morris, My Uncle Dudley

Martin Kich (Wright State University)
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Morris’ first novel,

My Uncle Dudley

was published in 1942. It is narrated by a teenager known only as “The Kid.” The Kid’s Uncle Dudley is a genuine American character, more slippery than a “respectable” citizen but not heartless enough to be a full-blown confidence man. The novel is an account of a road trip in the mid-1920s from Los Angeles to Chicago. Dudley recruits a group of seven passengers who want to travel east and uses their deposits for the trip to purchase the rattletrap automobile that they will travel in. Along the way, the group must deal with mechanical breakdowns, inclement weather, and unfriendly local law enforcement. Although the Kid greatly admires his uncle’s ability to improvise a convincing spiel, he also learns from their experiences with…

317 words

Citation: Kich, Martin. "My Uncle Dudley". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 February 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=15147, accessed 29 March 2024.]

15147 My Uncle Dudley 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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