Studies In Short Fiction

Author : Ewing Campbell
Publisher : Macmillan Reference USA
Page : 204 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 1992
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : UOM:39015020841485

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Raymond Carver by Ewing Campbell Pdf

"Perhaps the most significant and influential figure in this century's wave of American realism, Raymond Carver (1938-1988) is credited not only with reviving the short story as an artistically legitimate form, but also with perfecting minimalist fiction. His 1981 collection, What We Talk about When We Talk about Love, remains the standard against which minimalist literature is measured, and his numerous prize-winning and frequently anthologized stories have established him as the extender of a modernist tradition stretching from Chekhov through Joyce and Hemingway. In his later collections, such as Cathedral (1983) and Where I'm Calling From (1988), Carver surpasses even his own great achievement, setting a bold new path for his short fiction and intensifying the scholarly attention he'd first inspired with "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?" (anthologized in Best American Short Stories of 1967)." "Moving chronologically through Carver's complete short fiction canon and examining key stories in depth, Ewing Campbell traces the author's development through and beyond literary minimalism, into the tradition of tragic allegory. He explores Carvers persistent use of myth and archetype; motifs of the grotesque; religious iconography; and oppressed, spiritually paralyzed characters. From the earliest stories through the latest, Campbell illuminates Carvers constant fascination with the way individuals connect or fail to connect with one another."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Author : Tom Quirk
Publisher : University of Missouri Press
Page : 309 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2013-09-13
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780826266217

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Mark Twain and Human Nature by Tom Quirk Pdf

Mark Twain once claimed that he could read human character as well as he could read the Mississippi River, and he studied his fellow humans with the same devoted attention. In both his fiction and his nonfiction, he was disposed to dramatize how the human creature acts in a given environment—and to understand why. Now one of America’s preeminent Twain scholars takes a closer look at this icon’s abiding interest in his fellow creatures. In seeking to account for how Twain might have reasonably believed the things he said he believed, Tom Quirk has interwoven the author’s inner life with his writings to produce a meditation on how Twain’s understanding of human nature evolved and deepened, and to show that this was one of the central preoccupations of his life. Quirk charts the ways in which this humorist and occasional philosopher contemplated the subject of human nature from early adulthood until the end of his life, revealing how his outlook changed over the years. His travels, his readings in history and science, his political and social commitments, and his own pragmatic testing of human nature in his writing contributed to Twain’s mature view of his kind. Quirk establishes the social and scientific contexts that clarify Twain’s thinking, and he considers not only Twain’s stated intentions about his purposes in his published works but also his ad hoc remarks about the human condition. Viewing both major and minor works through the lens of Twain’s shifting attitude, Quirk provides refreshing new perspectives on the master’s oeuvre. He offers a detailed look at the travel writings, including The Innocents Abroad and Following the Equator, and the novels, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Pudd’nhead Wilson, as well as an important review of works from Twain’s last decade, including fantasies centering on man’s insignificance in Creation, works preoccupied with isolation—notably No. 44,The Mysterious Stranger and “Eve’s Diary”—and polemical writings such as What Is Man? Comprising the well-seasoned reflections of a mature scholar, this persuasive and eminently readable study comes to terms with the life-shaping ideas and attitudes of one of America’s best-loved writers. Mark Twain and Human Nature offers readers a better understanding of Twain’s intellect as it enriches our understanding of his craft and his ineluctable humor.

Author : Robert M. Luscher
Publisher : Twayne Publishers
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 1993
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : UOM:39015026962855

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John Updike by Robert M. Luscher Pdf

Prolific in a variety of genres, John Updike is one of North America's premier men of letters, regularly producing novels, poetry, short fiction, and volumes of assorted prose. Without question, he is one of the most widely read contemporary American authors. Updike's elegant fiction on the tensions and tragedies of contemporary middle-class life have earned him numerous awards, including the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for his novel Rabbit is Rich. Updike is also a serious craftsman of the short story, with 10 collections and 200 short stories to his credit. His stature as a writer of short fiction warrants close examination, particularly in light of the author's active contribution to the genre's current revitalization through formal experimentation and stylistic excellence. In John Updike: A Study of the Short Fiction, Robert M. Luscher focuses exclusively on Updike's short fiction. In this comprehensive treatment of all of Updike's short fiction, Luscher explores each of Updike's story collections separately and in approximate chronological order. Luscher adopts this traditional approach, because each collection has a dominant thematic focus and examines characters in a particular phase of development. Updike's short fiction captures the changing historical background, the shifting social mores, and the personal responses to the altered socio-cultural circumstances that have heightened spiritual uncertainty, social unrest, sexual freedom, and domestic tension. Each successive collection shows Updike experimenting with different techniques as his focus on American domestic life adjusts to accommodate new emphases. Luscher reveals how the particular form and techniques Updike employs areadapted to the materials. As Updike's emphasis on different phases of experience shifts, so does the manner in which he handles his subjects. Luscher's examination is amplified by Updike's own commentary on the art of fiction. He foregrounds Updike's remarks on writing and attitudes about his material, rather than the autobiographical content of his stories. Robert M. Luscher's well organized presentation, cogent use of existing scholarship, and persuasive insights are sure to make this a ground-breaking study of John Updike's short fiction.

Author : Greg Johnson
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 1994
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : UOM:39015032627112

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Joyce Carol Oates by Greg Johnson Pdf

"Joyce Carol Oates is often called America's most prolific living writer, but it is perhaps her versatility that is most astounding. Just as she is a revered novelist, playwright, poet, and critic, the short stories gathered in her 21 published collections - from By the North Gate (1963) to Haunted: Tales of the Grotesque (1994) - vary in theme and style, although all evoke the bedrock natural and social reality that has consistently informed her fiction." "In this comprehensive survey of Oates's stories, Greg Johnson selects eight of her collections that he considers most representative of her work and among her most successful books. He analyzes stories in which Oates experiments with form, genre, allusion, and Gothicism and presents postmodern allegories of American life. Separate chapters are devoted to Oates's early Eden County stories in By the North Gate and Upon the Sweeping Flood (1966), her stories focused on female experience in The Wheel of Love (1970) and The Goddess and Other Women (1974), her experimentation with fictional form and genre in Marriages and Infidelities (1972) and Night-Side (1977), and her recent work in Raven's Wing (1986) and Heat (1991), dealing with the psychology and culture of contemporary life." "The volume's second part presents a 1981 interview with Oates (conducted by Sanford Pinsker), as well as a copious selection of Oates's writing about her stories and the form generally - a discussion of her early stories; separate appraisals of "Funland," "Heat," "The Swimmers," and "Why Don't You Come Live with Me It's Time"; her response to the question "Is there a female voice?"; and her comments on the translation of short story into film. Part 3 consists of four critical essays - by scholars Marilyn C. Wesley, Daniel L. Zins, Robert McPhillips, and Gretchen Schulz - commissioned specifically for this volume, as well as previously published essays by William Abrahams, Elaine Showalter, and Elizabeth Pochoda." "Johnson's exploration of the stories he considers key to an understanding of Oates's mastery of the genre is essential reading for students of Oates's work and of the contemporary American short story."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Author : Pauline E. Hopkins
Publisher : Graphic Arts Books
Page : 18 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2021-04-23
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781513298498

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Talma Gordon by Pauline E. Hopkins Pdf

Talma Gordon (1900) is a short story by Pauline E. Hopkins. Recognized as the first African American mystery story, Talma Gordon was originally published in the October 1900 edition of The Colored American Magazine, America’s first monthly periodical covering African American arts and culture. Combining themes of racial identity and passing with a locked room mystery plot, Hopkins weaves a masterful tale of conspiracy, suspicion, and murder. “When the trial was called Jeannette sat beside Talma in the prisoner’s dock; both were arrayed in deepest mourning, Talma was pale and careworn, but seemed uplifted, spiritualized, as it were. [...] She had changed much too: hollow cheeks, tottering steps, eyes blazing with fever, all suggestive of rapid and premature decay.” When Puritan descendant Jonathan Gordon is discovered murdered under suspicious circumstances, the ensuing trial implicates his own daughter Talma. Despite being declared innocent, the townsfolk are determined to believe that Talma conspired to have her father killed after he discovered her mixed racial heritage. Freed from the prospect of imprisonment, Talma is left with only her sister’s protection against the anger and violence of her neighbors. With this thrilling tale of murder and racial tension, Hopkins proves herself as a true pioneer of American literature, a woman whose talent and principles afforded her the vision necessary for illuminating the injustices of life in a nation founded on slavery and genocide. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Pauline E. Hopkins’ Talma Gordon is a classic work of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

Author : Douglas A. Hughes
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 612 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 1971
Category : Short stories
ISBN : 0030841887

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Studies in Short Fiction by Douglas A. Hughes Pdf

Author : Ailsa Cox
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2009-03-26
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781443807524

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The Short Story by Ailsa Cox Pdf

Long regarded as an undervalued and marginalised genre, the short story is undergoing a renaissance. The Short Story celebrates its unique appeal. Practitioners and scholars address the issues facing short story criticism in the 21st century. Author A.L. Kennedy shares the pleasures and frustrations of writing the short story in the literary marketplace. This is followed by an assessment of recent attempts to promote short story readership in the UK. Other contributors look at forms such as the short-short and the short story sequence. The range of authors discussed includes Martin Amis, Anita Desai, Salman Rushdie and James Joyce. The short story is the most international of genres; this is reflected in chapters on Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino and on Japanese short fiction. Postcolonial and translation theory are combined with the close reading of specific texts. Neglected authors, such as the Welsh writer Dorothy Edwards and the colonial figure Frank Swettenham, are re-evaluated and we also consider genre writing, with chapters on crime fiction and Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles. Integrating theory and practice, The Short Story will appeal both to writers and to students of literary criticism.

Author : Helen S. Garson
Publisher : Frederick Ungar
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 1980
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : UOM:39015009131197

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Truman Capote by Helen S. Garson Pdf

A brief biographical profile accompanies a detailed analysis of Capote's novels and short stories, and an assessment of his influence on modern literature.

Author : Naomi Lindstrom
Publisher : Twayne Pub
Page : 174 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 1990
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 080578327X

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Jorge Luis Borges by Naomi Lindstrom Pdf

Examines both periods of the Argentine writer's works--his early baroque style with elaborate plot construction, and his later more traditional narratives

Author : Joanne S. Frye
Publisher : Macmillan Reference USA
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : STANFORD:36105018298740

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Tillie Olsen by Joanne S. Frye Pdf

In the four pieces gathered in her 1962 collection, Tell Me a Riddle - "I Stand Here Ironing", "Hey Sailor, What Ship?" "O Yes", and the title piece - and in the 1970 story "Requa I", Olsen addresses the problem of how to interpret the experiences - or as she would call them, "life comprehensions" - of those living outside the mainstream culture in a form - literature - whose very nature has been defined by that same culture. The result, writes Joanne Frye in this ambitious study of Olsen's short fiction, is a small body of work, with many layers densely packed, that conveys with lyricism and keen perception both the grace and the hardship inherent in people's daily lives. Frye's assessment also includes a comprehensive survey of the scholarship on Olsen as it grew from a scattered, mostly positive response to her artistry in the politically conservative 1950s and early 1960s to a feminist outpouring as the women's movement took hold in the late 1960s and the 1970s. More recent studies of Olsen's work complement the earlier criticism with more direct investigations of its biographical and political underpinnings.

Author : Patricia Leavy
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2016-06-16
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781315428475

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Fiction as Research Practice by Patricia Leavy Pdf

The turn to fiction as a social research practice is a natural extension of what many researchers and writers have long been doing. Patricia Leavy, a widely published qualitative researcher and a novelist, explores the overlaps and intersections between these two ways of understanding and describing human experience. She demonstrates the validity of literary experimentation to the qualitative researcher and how to incorporate these practices into research projects. Five short stories and excerpts from novellas and novels show these methods in action. This book is an essential methodological introduction for those interested in studying or practicing arts-based research.

Author : Chester L. Wolford
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 184 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 1989
Category : Fiction
ISBN : UOM:39015018989809

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Stephen Crane by Chester L. Wolford Pdf

This is a full-length study of Crane's short stories, tracing their formal development and relating Crane's work to the aesthetic principles of American modernism. As mirrors of his time, Crane's stories reflected the major forces that transformed American life between 1850 and 1900: the Civil War, industrialism and the rise of cities and slums, and the disappearance of the American frontier. Consequently, the predominant theme of much of Crane's work is the conflict between chaos and order, emphasizing what Crane saw as man's fragmented perception of reality. In his search for meaning in human existence, Crane turned to ritual in his late fiction. ISBN 0-8057-8315-6: $18.95.

Author : Aimée Gasston
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 227 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2021-08-10
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9783030785444

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Modernist Short Fiction and Things by Aimée Gasston Pdf

This book reappraises the philosophical value of short fiction by Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield and Elizabeth Bowen, examining the stories through the lens of specific everyday objects. Looking at Woolf and armchairs, Mansfield and snack food, and Bowen and fashion accessories, it probes the aesthetic resonance between these stories’ form and contents and also considers the modes of thinking they might promote. Conceiving of their short fiction as intrinsically radical and experimental even within a wider context of modernist innovation, this book shows how these important women writers brought quotidian objects to riotous life, in such a way that tasked readers with reevaluating their everyday existence. Overall, Modernist Short Fiction and Things argues that short fiction epitomises modernist aesthetics, functioning as a resonant source for investigation and complementing and expanding our understanding of modernist epistemology.

Author : Charles Edward May
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 1991
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : UOM:39015024805072

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Edgar Allan Poe by Charles Edward May Pdf

Examines the techniques and theories used by Poe in his writing of short stories, discusses his impact on the evolution of the genre, and also includes comments and critiques of Poe's work by noted scholars.

Author : Dean R. Baldwin,Katherine Mansfield,Edward Bishop,Frank Baldanza,James Hafley
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 1989
Category : Fiction
ISBN : OCLC:1151680667

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Virginia Woolf by Dean R. Baldwin,Katherine Mansfield,Edward Bishop,Frank Baldanza,James Hafley Pdf