U.S. & Canadian Authors - Interviews, 20th Century American Literature - Post WWII - Literary Criticism, American Literature - Regional Literature - Literary Criticism, Literary Criticism - U.S. Fiction & Prose Literature - General & Miscellaneous, Short

John Edgar Wideman

Name: John Edgar Wideman
Author: Keith Eldon Byerman
ISBN: 9780805708707

by Keith Eldon Byerman

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Overview

The coverage offered in "Twayne's Studies in Short Fiction" series extends beyond the author's written works to discuss the writer's personal life taken from interviews, essays, memoirs, and other biographical material; the critical reception to his or her work; and an overview of how the subject's output fits into the larger world of literature. Each volume is designed as a complete and self-contained companion to a particular writer's short fiction, and will invigorate any reading of the writer s works. Further enhancing its value as a reference work, each volume contains a chronology, selected bibliography, and an index, and library bindings with cloth covers insure maximum longevity. One of the most prolific and critically acclaimed African-American short fiction writers this century, John Edgar Wideman has won numerous literary prizes while holding academic positions in creative writing and African-American studies. Yet for all his achievements, he has not received the level of recognition of other modern black writers. Keith E. Byerman seeks to redress this lack of attention with his comprehensive survey of the stories of Wideman's three major collections--Damballah (1981), Fever (1989), and All Stories Are True (1992). Byerman analyzes the stories to show how Wideman uses contemporary techniques of narration in conjunction with traditional African-American storytelling to so superbly communicate his vision. Wideman produces what Byerman calls "urgent" fiction that demands that readers pay attention to the troubled and often desperate voices of the African-American community. Rounding out the volume are three interviews with Wideman in which he gives his perspectives on story-writing, plus three essays by other critics of the story form. Highly recommended for academic, public, and school libraries. -- Choice

Twayne's Studies in Short Fiction series offers concise, sensitive surveys of the works of important practitioners of the short story. -- Booklist

Twayne Publishers has done it again. These handsome volumes should be considered not only for the college library, but also for students, teachers, and devotees of the short story. -- Studies in Short Fiction

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Booknews

Explores Wideman's use of modern and postmodern devices to produce "urgent" fiction that demands that readers pay attention to the troubled and often desperate voices of the African-American community. The author discusses the short fiction, the writer, and the critics in terms of Wideman's blending of past and present, his distinct modes of discourse, and his different narrative techniques which bring tradition to bear on contemporary concerns and characters. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.