Download or read book The Critical Response to Dashiell Hammett written by Christop Metress and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1994-12-30 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As one of the most popular American writers of detective fiction, Dashiell Hammett has drawn a diverse range of criticism. The author of The Dain Curse, The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, and other works, Hammett is now receiving additional attention from scholars who seek to reassess his writing. Spanning more than sixty years of critical response, this volume includes reviews of Hammett's novels from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as recent scholarly essays.
Download or read book The Dain Curse written by Dashiell Hammett and published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. This book was released on 2011-02-23 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When eight diamonds are stolen from a prominent San Francisco family, the Continental Op is called in to investigate. But the missing jewels aren’t the only thing out of the ordinary. The man who reported the burglary ends up dead, ostensibly a suicide. His daughter, one of the suspects, Miss Gabrielle Dain Leggett, has a penchant for morphine and religious cults. She also has an unfortunate effect on the people around her: they have a habit of dying. Might Gabrielle be the victim of an arcane family curse? Or is the truth about her stranger and even more dangerous? The Dain Curse is one of the Continental Op’s most bizarre cases and a tautly crafted masterpiece of suspense.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Robert Lowell written by Steven G. Axelrod and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1999-06-30 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the publication of his first major volume in 1946, Lord Weary's Castle, to a few years before his death in 1977, Robert Lowell held sway as the premier English-language poet of his time. Lord Weary's Castle seemed to push poetic language and cultural critique in exciting new directions, yet they were directions sanctioned by the New Criticism of his time. In 1959, Lowell's Life Studies dramatically broke the very traditions he had previously revitalized. During the 1960s, his works elaborated his new poetic mode and engaged with personal, political, and historical issues. But with the 1973 publication of his poetic trilogy, History, For Lizzie and Harriet, and The Dolphin, his reputation suffered. Though his final work, the autobiographical Day by Day—published shortly before his death in 1977—was favorably received, critics continued to attack him in the decades that followed. Thus Lowell's reputation, as this volume makes clear, has fluctuated, and at the close of the twentieth century, there is still no critical consensus about any aspect of his work. This book provides a representative sample of the critical discourse concerning Lowell's poetry, drama, and prose, and shows that discourse at its most varied and vital. An introductory essay surveys the response to Lowell's writings. The first three sections then track Lowell's volumes chronologically. Most of his books receive one or two reviews followed by several scholarly essays, arranged in the order of their publication. Along with the reprinted articles are two essays written specifically for this volume. The fourth section presents several broad overviews of Lowell and his works, and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources concludes the book. The volume also contains an essay by Lowell himself, in which he reflects on his career.
Download or read book Red Harvest written by Dashiell Hammett and published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. This book was released on 2010-12-29 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The steadfast and sturdy Continental Op has been summoned to the town of Personville—known as Poisonville—a dusty mining community splintered by competing factions of gangsters and petty criminals. The Op has been hired by Donald Willsson, publisher of the local newspaper, who gave little indication about the reason for the visit. No sooner does the Op arrive, than the body count begins to climb . . . starting with his client. With this last honest citizen of Poisonville murdered, the Op decides to stay on and force a reckoning—even if that means taking on an entire town. Red Harvest is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in the American grain.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Flannery O Connor written by Douglas Robillard and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2004-12-30 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With an emphasis on examining Flannery O'Connor's literary reputation during her lifetime, and the growth of that reputation after her death, this collection brings together fifty years of critical reactions to her work.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Kamau Brathwaite written by Emily A. Williams and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2004-11-30 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While Kamau Brathwaite is renown for his achievements as a world literary, historical, and cultural critic, his Anglophone Caribbean poetry is the cornerstone of his legacy. His critically acclaimed trilogy, The Arrivants, which is composed of the individual volumes, Rights of Passage, Masks, and Islands is analyzed along with many other poetic works. Also discussed within are his innovative and highly original literary techniques which have evolved during over forty years as a poet. This book is a collection of selected critical responses to volumes of Brathwaite's poetry written from the 1960s to 2000s. Organized by decades, it includes book reviews, articles, essays, and personal reflections. Also included is a recent interview with Brathwaite conducted by Williams in 2002. In this interview, Brathwaite has the opportunity to address his critics as he responds to his work holistically as well as specific volumes of his poetry and stylistic innovations. Anyone interested in Brathwaite's poetry will truly enjoy this work.
Download or read book The Critical Response to John Irving written by Todd F. Davis and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2004-07-30 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Surveys the nature of John Irving's remarkable popular and critical success as a novelist from the late 1960s through the present.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Saul Bellow written by Gerhard Bach and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1995-10-30 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though one of the most significant American writers of the 20th century, Saul Bellow has continually elicited conflicting responses from critics. Some critics have seen him as America's greatest contemporary writer, while others have discounted him as discouragingly redundant. Not even his novel Herzog, generally considered his worthiest achievement, has gone unchallenged. The expansion of critical theory in the last decade has added to the controversy over Bellow's works. The reviews and essays gathered in this volume illustrate the many disparate critical responses and approaches to Saul Bellow over the last 50 years, from the late 1940s into the 1990s. Representative samples of criticism from the earliest reviews to the most recent assessments trace the different critical phases and approaches to Bellow's work over time. The selections included also reflect larger trends in literary criticism over the last half century and chart the history of the critical community's response to Bellow. The selections are arranged chronologically in clusters devoted to particular works.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Samuel Beckett written by Cathleen C. Andonian and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1998-06-30 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Best known as the author of Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett was one of the most distinguished writers of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1969, and his works have secured him a lasting place in the literary canon. The critical response to his fiction has been overwhelming. Numerous books and thousands of articles have been published on Beckett, primarily in Europe, the United States, and Canada. Since he wrote most of his works in French, and then translated them himself into English, critics responded to different versions of his works. This reference book documents the critical response to Beckett from his earliest prose and poetry to the public reaction to his death in 1989. Reviews and scholarly articles representing the response to Beckett's creative works are included. Selections are arranged chronologically, so that the reader may trace the reception of Beckett's works over time. An introduction summarizes Beckett's enormous contribution to literature, and a bibliography lists works for further reading. Winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize for literature, Irish-born author Samuel Beckett earned a solid reputation for being one of the most important authors of the 20th century. Best known as the author of Waiting for Godot, Beckett wrote other dramatic works, such as Endgame and Krapp's Last Tape. He wrote several novels, including Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnamable, and a number of poems and short stories. His innovative approach to language, character, plot, and narrative style was appreciated but sometimes criticized, and his nontraditional concepts of time and space taught readers to approach literature in a new way. Though he experimented with literary forms, his works are within the 20th century intellectual tradition of alienation, isolation, and pessimism. Through essays and reviews, this reference book documents the critical response to Beckett's poetry, fiction, and drama from his earliest works to the public reaction to his death in 1989. Because Beckett often wrote in French and then translated his works into English, scholars responded to several versions of the same work. Because Beckett also had an exceptional knowledge of world literature, philosophy, mathematics, and the sciences, his works are dense with meaning and have invited a broad range of critical approaches. This reference is divided into several sections that roughly correspond with the different genres Beckett utilized. Within each section, reviews and seminal articles are arranged chronologically, so that the reader may trace the response to Beckett over time. An introductory essay discusses the overall response to Beckett, and a bibliography lists works for further reading.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Truman Capote written by Joseph J. Waldmeir and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1999-02-28 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Truman Capote was one of the most controversial authors of the 20th century. Since his death in 1984, scholarly interest in his writings has grown considerably. This book traces the critical reception of his works.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Gertrude Stein written by Kirk Curnutt and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 2000-04-30 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From her early classic Three Lives to her best-selling Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas to Brewsie and Willie, a loving tribute to the G.I.s who adored her, Gertrude Stein's work was among the most controversial of the modernist movement. Alternately praised and derided, emulated and ridiculed, Stein was as unique a celebrity as the mass media of the early 20th century ever produced. As her influence spread through the lost generation she nurtured, critics from Edmund Wilson to confidant Carl Van Vechten defended her experimentation against the slings and arrows of the literary establishment. At the same time, Stein found herself parodied and caricatured from the pages of the New York Sun to the New Yorker. Her reputation solidified only after her 1946 death from cancer prompted a series of reminiscences and reestimations from the Chicago Tribune to the Saturday Review. While previous collections of Stein criticism typically reprint commentary by her most ardent supporters, this study reconstructs her precarious position in the eyes of American newspaper and magazine columnists and is thus a guide to her critical reception. While including quintessential pieces on Stein by Carl Van Vechten, William Carlos Williams, and Katherine Anne Porter, this collection also includes previously obscure estimations from contemporaries such as H. L. Mencken, Mina Loy, and Conrad Aiken. The book borrows from a range of sources—from leading literary outlets such as the New Yorker to a number of regional newspapers. Some 75% of the material in the volume has never before been reprinted.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Richard Wright written by Robert Butler and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1995-03-30 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Wright is widely recognized as one of the most important African-American writers and as a significant 20th-century author. With the publication of Native Son in 1940, Wright established his enduring reputation as a man of letters. With the immense critical success of Native Son, Wright went on to author Black Boy, The Outsider, and Eight Men. His writings reflect his experiences growing up in the poverty and racial strife of the South, and his thoughts on major social issues. This volume traces the critical reception of Wright's major works, from the publication of Native Son to the present day. An introductory chapter overviews the critical response to his writings, while two biographical chapters discuss his writings in relation to his life. Sections are then devoted to Native Son, Black Boy, and The Outsider. Each of these sections presents reviews and articles reflecting the best criticism of Wright's works. A final section, Richard Wright Today, offers contemporary assessments of Wright's reputation, as well as fascinating discussions of the recent Library of America editions of his works.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Erskine Caldwell written by Robert McDonald and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1997-08-26 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Author of such classics of 20th-century popular American literature as Tobacco Road (1932) and God's Little Acre (1933), Erskine Caldwell was something of a celebrity nearly all his life. But he was also a serious writer, one whose merits are as considerable as they remain underexplored. In the 1930s, he startled the literary world with his frank portrayals of the poor whites of the South. Beginning in the early 1940s, critics grew suspicious that he had exhausted his originality and his talent. In the late 1960s, some scholars began an effort, which continues intermittently today, to reconsider Caldwell's achievement. This collection of reviews, critical essays, and book excerpts provides a chronological portrait of the often contradictory and unfailingly colorful critical response to Caldwell from 1931 to the present. The 57 pieces collected in this volume were chosen to represent all sides and perspectives in the evolving critical opinion of Caldwell's work. The items are grouped in sections representing three chronological periods that encompass the prevailing critical moods concerning his writings: the 1930s, when readers of many persuasions found him promising and held out great hopes for his development; 1940 to 1968, when increasing critical scrutiny led to his dismissal as a writer of significance; and 1969 to the present, when there have been several substantial efforts to reconsider Caldwell's achievement. An introductory essay argues that Caldwell remains largely absent from our critical consciousness today because of a prevailing willingness among academics to rely on largely negative received opinions about his books in place of primary experience with them. The introduction is followed by a chronology, and the volume concludes with an extensive selected bibliography.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Thomas Carlyle s Major Works written by D. J. Trela and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1997-03-30 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born in 1795, Thomas Carlyle was a preeminent figure in Victorian letters. Carlyle was widely reviewed, discussed, praised and criticized during his lifetime, because of his controversial ideas as well as his masterful biographies, histories and extended essays, all forms deemed more canonical in the nineteenth century. Although opinion about him and assessments of his work have fluctuated greatly in the years since his death in 1881, interest in his writings has seldom waned. This volume presents some of the most inaccessible and some of the best critical opinion dealing with four of Carlyle's major works that are arguably most representative of his thought. These includeSartor Resartus (1833-34), The French Revolution (1837), On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1841), and ^IPast and Present^R (1843). Through reviews and essays, this reference work summarizes the critical reception of Carlyle's writings from their initial appearance to the present day. Born in 1795, Thomas Carlyle was one of the preeminent figures of Victorian letters. Carlyle was widely reviewed, discussed, praised and criticized during his lifetime, primarily because of his masterful biographies, histories, and extended essays, all forms deemed more canonical in the nineteenth century. His Sartor Resartus (1833-34) anticipated the spiritual crisis of the Victorian period, engaged the ideas of German philosophers, and was influential in shaping American Transcendentalism and the works of such authors as Emerson and Thoreau. Carlyle's historical writings were consistently praised for their vigorous style, their vividness, and their accuracy. Although opinion about him and assessments of his work have fluctuated greatly in the years since his death in 1881, interest in his writings has seldom waned. This volume presents some of the most inaccessible and some of the best critical opinion dealing with four of Carlyle's major works that are arguably most representative of his thought. These include ^ISartor Resartus^R (1833-34), ^IThe French Revolution^R (1837), ^IOn Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History^R (1841), and ^IPast and Present^R (1843). Through reviews and essays, this reference work summarizes the critical response to Carlyle's writings from their initial appearance to the present day. The volume emphasizes early reviews while the selections of critical articles from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries reflect mature assessments of Carlyle and include pieces that are not well known or easily accessible. The volume begins with an introductory essay that discusses Carlyle's response to his reviewers, and it closes with a bibliography of major studies.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Ishmael Reed written by Pavel Zemliansky and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1999-02-28 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ishmael Reed has emerged as one of the most innovative and controversial novelists in contemporary African American literature. By focusing on his nine published novels, this volume charts the critical response to his works over time. The book is organized by decade, with each section containing book reviews and articles. Beginning with material from the 1960s, it explores Reed's concern with artistic freedom and examines the evolution of his Neo-HooDoo aesthetic, which combines satire and parody, comedy and fantasy, African and African American religion, and myth, history, film, and other forms of popular culture. It celebrates and at times criticizes how Reed's fiction defies popular academic conceptions of what American writers, particularly black American writers, ought to be. The book also includes a substantial introduction, a transcript of a recent conversation in which Reed discusses his novels in progress, and an extensive bibliography. Since the publication of his first novel, The Free-Lance Pallbearers, in 1967, Ishmael Reed has emerged as one of the most innovative and controversial African American writers. Despite his belief that he and other black male artists have been misrepresented and virtually ignored in the press, he has received more critical attention than almost any other contemporary African American male author. The majority of this criticism has studied Reed's literary innovations and what he once called his Neo-HooDoo aesthetic, which draws on satire and parody, comedy and fantasy, African and African American religion, and myth, history, film, and various other elements of popular culture. Since the 1970s, many articles and reviews have looked at his commitment to multiculturalism, while others have examined his views on gender and how they help define his position in the literary world. This volume chronicles the critical response to Reed's works. Organized by decades, the book centers primarily on Reed's nine published novels. It contains book reviews and essays devoted to these novels, as well as a recent interview in which Reed discusses his works in progress, including Making a Killing, a novel about the O.J. Simpson trial. While Reed has attained success as a poet and social critic, his novels continue to attract most of the attention. These include a science fiction fantasy, a western, two mysteries, a neo-slave narrative, two political parodies, a trickster tale about contemporary race and gender issues, and a satire on modern academia. The reaction to his works varies from ridicule and condemnation to respect and high praise. A substantial introduction overviews the response to his works, and a chronology lists the major events in his life and career. The volume concludes with extensive bibliographical information.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Gloria Naylor written by Sharon Felton and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1997-09-23 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the author of The Women of Brewster Place, Linden Hills, Mama Day, and Bailey's Cafe, Gloria Naylor is widely respected as one of the most important contemporary African American women writers. This volume provides comprehensive coverage of the critical response to her works. The book is divided into sections devoted to each of Naylor's novels. Within each section, seminal articles and book chapters comment on her writing. Special attention is given to African American and feminist perspectives on her canon. In addition, many of the essays discuss the relationship of Naylor's novels to the works of classical authors such as Chaucer, Dante, and Shakespeare, and to significant modern writers; thus, the volume charts her sources and influence. While some of the essays have appeared previously and are among the most important responses to her writings, the book also includes several original pieces. An exclusive interview with Naylor, an insightful introduction, and a substantial bibliography are special features of this reference work. A balance of new and previously published material provides a thoughtful overview of the reception of her works. A thorough introductory essay discusses Naylor's place in American literature and the themes she treats throughout her novels. A chronology summarizes the principal events in her life and career, and a substantial bibliography lists works for further reading. A special feature is an exclusive interview with Naylor, in which she discusses such topics as the role of the politics of gender in her writings, her treatment of women, the relationship between art and morality, her views on race relations, her thoughts on the future of literature and on her most recent projects, and the manner in which she works and writes.
Download or read book The Critical Response to Marianne Moore written by Elizabeth Gregory and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2003-09-30 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gregory documents for the first time, the critical reception history of the great modernist poet Marianne Moore. This collection of 71 of the most important and provocative reviews and essays from across Moore's long career (1915-1972) includes pivotal articles by H. D., T. S. Eliot, Mark Van Doren, Ezra Pound, Richard Aldington, Edith Sitwell, Harriet Monroe, Alfred Kreymborg, William Carlos Williams, Scofield Thayer, Wallace Stevens, F. R. Leavis, Morton Zabel, Randall Jarrell, Elizabeth Bishop, W.H. Auden, Muriel Rukeyser, Glenway Wescott, Kenneth Koch, John Ashbery, Hilton Kramer and many others. The individual reviews are themselves of considerable literary note. And together they chart the development of a major contributor to the American modernist scene, whose work actively critiques the structures of literary authority. The critical reviews also move beyond the modernist period, to track the evolution of her career in the 1950s and 1960s, when she crossed the line from the elite little magazines into popular culture. The editor's introduction analyses the ways in which the two stages of Moore's career converge. In addition to the historical texts, which cover the period from 1916 to 1999, this volume includes two new essays that offer fresh approaches to reading Moore.
