Download or read book Yonnondio written by Tillie Olsen and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2004-10-01 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yonnondio follows the heartbreaking path of the Holbrook family in the late 1920s and the Great Depression as they move from the coal mines of Wyoming to a tenant farm in western Nebraska, ending up finally on the kill floors of the slaughterhouses and in the wretched neighborhoods of the poor in Omaha, Nebraska. Mazie, the oldest daughter in the growing family of Jim and Anna Holbrook, tells the story of the family's desire for a better life – Anna's dream that her children be educated and Jim's wish for a life lived out in the open, away from the darkness and danger of the mines. At every turn in their journey, however, their dreams are frustrated, and the family is jeopardized by cruel and indifferent systems.

Download or read book The Critical Response to Tillie Olsen written by Kay Nelson and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1994-04-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a chronology, bibliography, and selected criticism of Olsen's writings over the past sixty years.

Download or read book Tell Me a Riddle written by Tillie Olsen and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains an authoritative text of the story, along with a chronology, critical essays, and a bibliography.

Download or read book The Critical Response to Tillie Olsen written by Kay Nelson and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1994-04-30 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a chronology, bibliography, and selected criticism of Olsen's writings over the past sixty years.

Download or read book Tillie Olsen written by Joanne S. Frye and published by Macmillan Reference USA. This book was released on 1995 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Tillie Olsen and the Dialectical Philosophy of Proletarian Literature written by Anthony Dawahare and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-10-19 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contrary to previous studies of Tillie Olsen’s writing, Tillie Olsen and the Dialectical Philosophy of Proletarian Literature analyzes the impact of one of the most important philosophies of the last century, dialectical materialism, on the form and content of Olsen’s fiction. By revealing the unconceptualized dialectics of Olsen’s work and its appreciation by scholars and casual readers, this study achieves a dialectical synthesis that incorporates and extends the insights of and about Olsen in terms of dialectical materialism. By foregrounding Olsen’s dialectical approach, it explains and largely resolves apparent contradictions between her Marxism and feminism; her depictions of class, race, and gender; the literature of her earlier and later periods; and her use of realist and modernist literary forms and techniques. Consequently, this project makes a case for the importance of Olsen’s Marxist education during the “Red Decade” of the 1930s and within the U.S. proletarian literary movement.

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 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 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 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 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 Chester Himes written by Charles L. P. Silet and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 1999-10-30 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The work of Chester Himes is now undergoing a critical and popular reevaluation as it gradually comes back into print after years of neglect. His protest novels from the 1940s and early 1950s, his Harlem Domestic crime books, first published in France and later released in English in the United States, and his remarkable two-volume autobiography are now gaining a wider readership through their republication. Nonetheless, the critical writings on his work remain scattered and are often difficult to obtain. This collection of reviews and essays from both popular and academic sources traces the critical response to his work from 1946 to 1996 and thus sheds light on the critical reputation of one of the most distinguished but underrated African American authors. Himes has a wide international reputation, but this reference book focuses on those essays and reviews in the English language which provide a clearer assessment of his controversial literary standing in his native country, where his reputation has been most under debate. The book includes a balanced assessment of all his work, along with an interview with Himes's brother that offers some corrective commentary on his autobiography. The volume also provides a chronology, a checklist of his writings, and a bibliography.

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 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 Ralph Ellison written by Robert Butler and published by Greenwood. This book was released on 2000-04-30 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ralph Ellison's literary career began in 1937 with the publication of his review of Waters Edward Turpin's These Low Grounds. Over the next 15 years he published 10 short stories and 37 essays on literary, cultural, and political topics. But when Invisible Man was published in 1952, Ellison received immediate acclaim from a wide variety of critics, scholars, and novelists. While his novel emerged as a major work of African American literature, it also engaged the European literary tradition and influenced an entire generation of post-World War II writers. Ellison is now one of the most studied African American writers, and the posthumous publication of his second novel, Juneteenth, in 1999 has drawn even more attention to his contribution. Through previously published reviews and essays, and original material, this book charts the response to Ellison's writings. While the bulk of the volume focuses on Invisible Man, the book also includes sections devoted to Ellison's short fiction and nonfiction, as well as posthumous estimates of his work. A chronology highlights the most important events in his life and career, while an introductory essay overviews the broad trends in Ellison scholarship. The volume concludes with a selected bibliography of primary and secondary works.

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 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.