Since the publication in 1964 of his novel Last Exit to Brooklyn, which arguably achieved the status of a cult classic, Hubert Selby, Jr., has held a place as one of the foremost exponents of American underground literature. His work has yet to receive extensive critical attention, in part because of its deliberately shocking subject matter and its resistance to precise classification. In Understanding Hubert Selby, Jr., James R. Giles examines the writer's four novels and one collection of short stories to make the case that the full complexity of his fiction has not previously been...
Since the publication in 1964 of his novel Last Exit to Brooklyn, which arguably achieved the status of a cult classic, Hubert Selby, Jr., has held a ...
Understanding Jill McCorkle introduces readers to the novels and short story collections of Jill McCorkle's growing canon. Since 1984 McCorkle has written five novels and two books of short stories, entering the publishing world, as one reviewer noted, with the literary equivalent of a rebel yell. Filling the gap of critical study on McCorkle, Barbara Bennett analyzes the widely read and admired output of this prolific southern woman writer. Bennett identifies and discusses the diverse characters, thematic concerns and keen sense of language that distinguish McCorkle's work.
Understanding Jill McCorkle introduces readers to the novels and short story collections of Jill McCorkle's growing canon. Since 1984 McCorkle has wri...
Understanding Fred Chappell introduces readers to a writer of poems, novels, and short stories whose accolades include France's prestigious Prix de Meilleur des Livres Etrangers, the Bollingen Prize, and the T. S. Eliot Prize. John Lang critiques more than twenty volumes of poetry and fiction of Chappell's work, which was published during a literary career that has spanned nearly four decades. Lang evaluates Chappell's tetralogy of novels that begins with I Am One of You Forever; Midquest, the first five volumes of poetry, the different books of poems published between Castle Tzingal and...
Understanding Fred Chappell introduces readers to a writer of poems, novels, and short stories whose accolades include France's prestigious Prix de Me...
Understanding Bobbie Ann Mason explores the literary accomplishments of a writer whose works straddle the line between highbrow literature and popular culture, an author whose writings are studied in academia and loved by general readers. Best known for her short story collections and her novels Feather Crowns, Spence + Lila, and In Country -- the last of which is also a motion picture -- Mason writes about smalltown life in contemporary western Kentucky. In this comprehensive analysis, Joanna Price offers an introduction to Mason's nonfiction prose, short stories, and novels, and sheds light...
Understanding Bobbie Ann Mason explores the literary accomplishments of a writer whose works straddle the line between highbrow literature and popular...
"Understanding May Sarton" introduces readers to the poetry, fiction, and memoirs of a pioneering feminist whose works, acclaimed but underappreciated during her lifetime, have attracted an expanding readership since her death in 1995. With the inclusion of Sarton's final novel, The Education of Harriet Hatfield, her final volume of poetry, Coming into Eighty, and her three final volumes of nonfiction, Mark K. Fulk provides a comprehensive study without limiting Sarton's literary accomplishments to the categories of feminist and lesbian writing, as other critics have done.
Fulk traces the...
"Understanding May Sarton" introduces readers to the poetry, fiction, and memoirs of a pioneering feminist whose works, acclaimed but underappreciated...
Understanding Charles Johnson offers a critical introduction to the fiction of one of the most highly acclaimed contemporary writers and the first African American male since Ralph Ellison to win the National Book Award, which Johnson received in 1990 for Middle Passage. In addition to providing a biographical sketch, Gary Storhoff analyzes Johnson's four novels and two volumes of short stories. Describing his body of work as unique in American fiction, Storhoff explains how philosophical and religious orientations differentiate Johnson's writings and challenge his readers. Storhoff explores...
Understanding Charles Johnson offers a critical introduction to the fiction of one of the most highly acclaimed contemporary writers and the first Afr...
Understanding Nelson Algren traces the career of a writer best known for his novels The Man with the Golden Arm and A Walk on the Wild Side. From Algren's first short stories through his final fiction, the posthumously published The Devil's Stocking, Brooke Horvath surveys the literary contributions of a writer known as the voice of America's dispossessed. Horvath offers an introduction to the life and work of the Chicagoan who wrote about the underclass in the Windy City and beyond, bringing to the fore their humanity and aspirations. He proposes that while it is appropriate to view Algren's...
Understanding Nelson Algren traces the career of a writer best known for his novels The Man with the Golden Arm and A Walk on the Wild Side. From Algr...
Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction: The Age of Maturity, 1970-2000 explores the major trends and developments during three decades that witnessed science fiction's most dramatic progression from subliterary escapist entertainment to a more sophisticated literature of ideas. Darren Harris-Fain suggests that to understand American science fiction fully, it is essential to realize that the current field with all its variety results from the proceeding decades of writings. In addition, he contends that although much science fiction of merit was written in America prior to 1970,...
Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction: The Age of Maturity, 1970-2000 explores the major trends and developments during three decades th...
This is a comprehensive guide to the writing career of the author of "Angels in America"."Understanding Tony Kushner" surveys the acclaimed writings of the author of the Pulitzer Prize - winning drama "Angels in America" and coauthor of the Academy Award-nominated screenplay for the film "Munich". Viewing Kushner as a sociopolitical dramatist in the tradition of Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw, and Bertolt Brecht, James Fisher guides readers through Kushner's influences and creations to map the importance of the writer's body of work in expanding the postmodern literary and cultural...
This is a comprehensive guide to the writing career of the author of "Angels in America"."Understanding Tony Kushner" surveys the acclaimed writings o...