Ironweed

Ironweed is a 1983 novel by the American writer William Kennedy. It is the third book in his Albany Cycle, won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and is included in the Western Canon compiled by critic Harold Bloom.

Set during the Great Depression, the novel follows Francis Phelan, a drifter from Albany, New York, who abandoned his family after accidentally killing his infant son. The story centres on his return to Albany, twenty-two years later, over the triduum of All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. A surreal element runs through the narrative, as Phelan encounters and tries to interact with dead people from his troubled past. Its structure resembles that of Dante's Divine Comedy, and its epigraph is taken from the Purgatorio.

Critics responded positively in The New York Times and The Washington Post, and the book brought Kennedy the Pulitzer and a National Book Critics Circle Award. Kennedy wrote the screenplay for the 1987 film directed by Héctor Babenco, starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, much of it shot on location in Albany. The film earned two Academy Award nominations, for Best Actor and Best Actress in a Leading Role.