Klodel Ingliš

Claudelle English (1958/1959) is a provocative and raw novel by Erskine Caldwell, a master of American Southern prose and author of God's Little Field.

The story takes place in rural Georgia, among poor farmers and sharecroppers. Claudelle, the young and attractive daughter of a poor farmer, lives modestly and dreams of love. After her fiancé brutally leaves her and marries another, Claudelle undergoes a complete transformation. From a shy and obedient girl, she turns into an outspoken rebel who consciously uses her sexuality as a weapon of revenge and a way to escape the misery and boredom of her small town.

The novel follows her tumultuous sexual odyssey through relationships with several men – from young men to respectable and elderly citizens – which causes shock and scandal in the conservative community. Caldwell, with his characteristic brutal honesty, dark humor, and naturalistic style, portrays the hypocrisy of society, class differences, sexual repression, and the misery of the rural South.

This is typical Caldwell work: raw, erotically charged, socially critical, and at the same time tragicomic. The book was controversial in its time for its overt sexual themes, which made Caldwell one of the most widely read, but also most contested, American writers.