Saltzman (English, Missouri Southern State College) explores the use of metaphor in representative novels by writers such as Kathy Acker, Don DeLillo, William Gass, John Updike, and Paul West. He argues that even as these authors reveal metaphor as unreliable, they use it to structure modes of moral inquiry. The resolution of moral and aesthetic gratification, he argues, is one of the major purposes of metaphor in contemporary American fiction.
Saltzman (English, Missouri Southern State College) explores the use of metaphor in representative novels by writers such as Kathy Acker, Don DeLillo,...
There is never a dull phrase in Arthur Saltzman's OBLIGATIONS OF THE HARP, his fourth book of essays. The writing in these twenty-five pieces is by turns wry and satirical, sensually descriptive, playfully punning-but always nuanced and illuminating. Reference points range from Kobe Bryant to John Updike, from geology to Jewish ritual. One essay is a fanciful treatment of the history of the human cannonball; another provides a deeply humane and humorous account of preparing middle-schoolers for History Day. Varied in topic and tone, Saltzman consistently revels in and re-imagines the...
There is never a dull phrase in Arthur Saltzman's OBLIGATIONS OF THE HARP, his fourth book of essays. The writing in these twenty-five pieces is by tu...