Cold Mountain

Recent edition cover
Author	Charles Frazier
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Historical novel
Publisher	Atlantic Monthly Press
Released	1997
Media type	Print (Hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-87113-679-1

Cold Mountain is a novel that tells the story of W. P. Inman, a wounded deserter from the Confederate army near the end of the American Civil War who walks for months to return to Ada, the love of his life. The novel alternates chapter-by-chapter between Inman's and Ada's stories. It was Charles Frazier's first novel and a major bestseller, selling roughly three million copies worldwide. The text contains 21 chapters and 436 pages (excluding acknowledgements etc.). Cold Mountain is a mountain in the Appalachian Mountains of Western North Carolina in the United States of America. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (515x659, 51 KB) Summary Author: Ben Tibbetts Description: I made this as a temporary image to represent the novel Cold Mountain. ... Charles Frazier, American novelist, was born in 1950 in Asheville, North Carolina, graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1973, and received his Ph. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A historical novel is a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author. ... A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) book is bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth or heavy paper) and a stitched spine. ... Motto: Deo Vindice (Latin: Under God, Our Vindicator) Anthem: God Save the South (unofficial) Dixie (traditional) The Bonnie Blue Flag (popular) Capital Montgomery, Alabama (until May 29, 1861) Richmond, Virginia (May 29, 1861–April 2, 1865) Danville, Virginia (from April 3, 1865) Language(s) English (de facto) Government Republic President... Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total... Charles Frazier, American novelist, was born in 1950 in Asheville, North Carolina, graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1973, and received his Ph. ...

Cold Mountain, the landmark featured in the book, is a real mountain located within the Pisgah National Forest, Haywood County, North Carolina. The novel was the basis for the film Cold Mountain. Cold Mountain is a mountain in the Appalachian Mountains of Western North Carolina in the United States of America. ... The Pisgah National Forest covers 1,076,711 acres (4,357 km²) of mountainous terrain across western North Carolina. ... Haywood County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. ... Cold Mountain is a novel by Charles Frazier, which was adapted by Anthony Minghella into a film in 2003. ...

Plot summary

The novel opens in a Confederate military hospital near Richmond, Virginia, where the male protagonist, the soldier Inman, is recovering from a recent battle wound. Tired of fighting for a cause he never believed in and longing for his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Carolinas, he steals out of the hospital after nightfall and sets out west. The narrative alternates back and forth every chapter between the story of Inman and that of Ada Monroe, a minister's daughter recently relocated from Charleston to a farm in the rural mountain community from which Inman hails. Though they only knew each other for a brief time before Inman departed for the war, it is largely the hope of seeing Ada again that drives Inman to desert the army and make the dangerous journey back to Cold Mountain. Details of their brief history together are told at intervals in flashback over the course of the novel. Blue Ridge Mountains, Shining Rock Wilderness Area Appalachian Mountain system The Blue Ridge is a mountain chain in the eastern United States, part of the Appalachian Mountains, forming their eastern front from Georgia to Pennsylvania. ... The Carolinas is a collective term used in the United States to refer to the States of North and South Carolina together. ...

Ada's minister father soon dies, and the farm that the genteel city-bred Ada lives on is soon reduced to a state of disrepair. A young woman named Ruby, homeless but a stronger worker than Ada and resourceful, soon moves in and, through hard labor, helps Ada clean the place up and return it to productivity.

Inman's journey westward back to his hometown, walking on trails and hiding in woods, is rough, although he carries Confederate spending money, whose exchange value decreases as the war nears a close. He faces hunger, snow, an attempted armed robbery at a rural tavern, and occasionally is given shelter in crude cabins by hungry, destitute war widows. Through cunning ingenuity he helps one of them track and recover a prized pig, her only possession, which had just been seized from her by Union soldiers. He also continually tries to hide from men known as the Home Guard. The Home Guard's purpose is to search for Confederate soldier deserters. He meets a preacher called Veasey, who he catches in the act of attempted murder, and after dissuading him, and leaving him in his hometown, Veasey catches up with Inman, and they travel together. They butcher a dead cow that had fallen into a creek. The Home Guard finds both of them and they are put into a group of other captured prisoners. They march for days before the Home Guard decides to simply shoot them because they are too much trouble. Veasey steps forward to try to stop it, but the entire unit is wiped out. Inman somehow survives and drags himself out. After burying Veasey, he continues on. A Home Guard is a part-time civilian reserve military force similar to a militia. ...

At Ada's farm, Ruby's father is caught stealing corn. He was a deadbeat who had left the family when Ruby was very young; he is also a Confederate deserter. Ruby grudgingly feeds him. He returns another day with a friend, and they play a fiddle and banjo. After a few days, Ada and Ruby shoo them off the property, fearful that the Home Guard will come and hunt them down. Ruby's father, his friend, and a third companion leave but are caught by the Home Guard, who shoot them. The third man hid when the Guard found the other two. He runs back and alerts Ada and Ruby, who ride out to see the two men. Ruby's father just barely survives; Ada and Ruby pitch camp to let Ruby's father recover. The term fiddle refers to a violin when used in folk music. ... A four-string banjo For other uses, see Banjo (disambiguation) The banjo is a stringed instrument of African American origin. ...

By this time, Inman has finally just reached the foot of the mountain, where he unexpectedly encounters Ada; however, both have changed so greatly in their appearance and demeanor since they parted that it is some moments before they recognize one another. Inman takes up camp with Ada and Ruby, and he and Ada have sex in an abandoned hut. They happily begin to imagine the life they will have together at Black Cove and make plans for their future. As the party begins the trek back to the farm, however, they encounter the Home Guard. A shootout commences in which Inman kills or chases off all the members of the Guard except for a seventeen year old boy who flees into the thicket and is cornered against a rock ledge. Inman, reluctant to shoot him down in cold blood, tries to convince him to lay down his arms and leave, but is shot and fatally wounded by the boy when he approaches, and later dies in Ada's arms. Ada eventually gives birth to a baby girl, presumably the product of her and Inman's one night together (this is never actually stated), and raises her at the now-thriving homestead she and Ruby have built at Black Cove.

Literary significance & criticism

Early reviewers (and readers) compared the book's plot and tone to the Homer's Odyssey and the acclaimed novel Snow Falling on Cedars. Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre The Odyssey (Greek: , Odusseia) is one of the two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to the poet Homer. ... Snow Falling on Cedars is the first novel written by American writer David Guterson. ...

Awards and nominations

The novel won the 1997 National Book Award. 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Book Award is one of the most important literary prizes in the United States, presented annually for the best books by living U.S. citizens published in the U.S. The awards have been presented since 1950 in at least one category, and are presently awarded in each...

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

It was later adapted for the screen by director Anthony Minghella in the 2003 film Cold Mountain, starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Renée Zellweger. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Actor in a Featured Role for Jude Law, and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for Renée Zellweger. Anthony Minghella (born January 6, 1954) is a British film director, playwright and screenwriter. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cold Mountain is a novel by Charles Frazier, which was adapted by Anthony Minghella into a film in 2003. ... David Jude Heyworth Law (born December 29, 1972) is an Academy Award nominated English actor, who is known as Jude Law. ... Nicole Mary Kidman AC (born June 20, 1967) is an Australian [2][3] Academy Award-winning actress who, in 2006, became the highest paid actress in the film industry. ... Renée Kathleen Zellweger (born April 25, 1969) is an Academy Award-winning American film actress. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ...

External links

• Readers of Southern Living voted one of Best Inns of the South is just 30 minutes from Cold Mountain
• Detailed Review of Book and Characters
• Buy the Book from Amazon.com
• Sparknotes Character Analysis

References