The Huge Season was published by Viking in 1954. The novel alternates between two time periods: the 1920s (the “huge season” of the title), when a group of college friends clustered around a charismatic figure named Charles Lawrence, and the present (1952), when the surviving members of the group are summoned to New York by Lawrence’s arrest.
Lawrence is Morris’s portrait of the American hero as self-destructive genius — a man of enormous charm and ability who embodies the reckless promise of the 1920s and whose collapse prefigures the collapse of that era’s illusions. The narrator, Peter Foley, is the quieter figure — the observer, the one who survived by virtue of being less intensely alive — and the novel is structured as his attempt to understand what Lawrence meant to him and what happened to the promise they all felt.
The formal structure — alternating chapters set in past and present, different narrative modes for each period — reflects Morris’s commitment to formal experiment. The 1920s chapters are vivid and immediate; the 1950s chapters are muted and reflective. The contrast embodies Morris’s theme: the way American life burns bright in youth and then subsides into something smaller, safer, and sadder.
Collecting The Huge Season
First edition (Viking, New York, 1954): Cloth with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $50–$125
- Very good: $20–$50
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation.
The Lost Generation
The Huge Season (1954) alternates between the 1920s and 1950s, following a group of college friends who were shaped by the Jazz Age and must now confront what time has done to their youthful idealism. Morris’s treatment of the 1920s avoids the Fitzgerald clichés; his young men are midwesterners, not East Coast socialites, and their disillusionment is quieter and more devastating.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many novels did Morris write? Over thirty, published between 1942 (My Uncle Dudley) and 1986 (A Cloak of Light). His productivity was remarkable, though it may have contributed to his relative neglect — critics had difficulty keeping up with the output, and no single novel became the “breakthrough” that would have brought popular attention.