Author: John Knowles Born September 16, 1926 in West Virginia Novel is based on his experience attending an all-boys prep school in New Hampshire Served in the Air Force, graduated from Yale in 1949, then worked for several magazines as both a writer and a critic

Publication  Novel is based on a short story called “Phineas,” that Knowles published in Cosmopolitan in 1956  Rejected 11 times  Finally published in 1959 in London and 1960 in the United States

What the Critics Said…  Immediate praise from reviewers  Compared to J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye (1953)  By the 1960s a major part of high school English curriculums

Post-Publication Sold more than nine million copies to date Still one of the most popular texts studied in high schools Knowles went on to publish several other novels, including Peace Breaks Out, a sequel to A Separate Peace (retained the Devon School setting but had a different cast of characters)

Historical Context  Novel takes place in the 1940s shortly after the United States had declared its involvement in WWII; had troops in Europe and the Pacific  War brought out patriotism in all Americans  All 18 year old males were made to register for the draft  Going to war was a constant concern for young men; draft dodging was unthinkable

Historical Context  Educational opportunities limited for African Americans and women  All-white, male prep schools were an upper class student’s best chance to get into the best private universities  Pressure to succeed at these prep schools was great

Setting  Set in 1942 at a boy’s boarding school, Devon School, in New Hampshire  Story is told as a flashback from the perspective of an older Gene

Characters  Two best friends: Phineas and Gene Phineas (Finny): athletic, reckless, charismatic Gene: intellectual, shy, competitive  Others: Elwin Lepellier (Leper), Brinker Hadley, Phil Latham, Mr. Ludsbery, Cliff Quackenbush, Dr. Stanpole

Theme Topics  Coming of Age  War  Identity

Point of View  Told in the first-person point of view by Gene  Now an adult, he is looking at things from a much wiser and more mature perspective.