Joseph Korzeniowski

Joseph Korzeniowski was born in Paterson, New Jersey in 1918. He is an only child, and his parents work in a local mill. As a teenager, Joseph develops a deep resentment towards his parents and what he views as the boring routine of their lives. After graduating high school in 1936, Joseph travels to New York City on his own in order to live independently. However, he remains restless and begins to wander rural areas. For a brief period, he works as a manual laborer at a traveling carnival and has an affair with the wife of one of the proprietors. He leaves the carnival and eventually arrives at a wealthy estate in rural upstate New York. The estate is by a lake called Loon Lake.

At Loon Lake, Joseph performs manual labor to earn his keep. He befriends a poet named Warren Penfield and falls in love with...