David Seed is Professor in the School of English at Liverpool University. He has published books on Joseph Heller, Thomas Pynchon, Science Fiction and the Cold War. He edits the Science Fiction series of Liverpool University Press and serves as a consulting editor for Science Fiction Studies. He is the editor of our Companion to Science Fiction.

• Notes on Contributors ix Introduction 1David SeedPart I Genres, Traditions, and Subject Areas 91 U.S. Modernism 11Susan Hegeman2 The City Novel 24James R. Giles3 The Western 36Neil Campbell4 Postmodern U.S. Fiction 48Hans Bertens5 Modern Gothic 60Marilyn Michaud6 The Short Story 72Mark Whalan7 Southern Fiction 84Sharon Monteith8 Jewish American Fiction 96David Brauner9 "Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me": Modern African American Fiction 109A. Robert Lee10 U.S. Detective Fiction 122Cynthia S. Hamilton11 Hard-Boiled/Noir Fiction 135Lee Horsley12 Chicano Fiction 147Helen Oakley13 Black Humor Fiction 159David Seed14 Fiction on the Vietnam War 171Philip Melling and Subarno Chattarji15 The Rediscovery of the Native American 183Joy Porter16 Trash Fiction 195Stacey OlsterPart II Selected Writers 20717 Edith Wharton 209Pamela Knights18 Willa Cather's Entropology: Permanence and Transmission 219Guy J. Reynolds19 Gertrude Stein and Seriality 229Ulla Haselstein20 Ernest Hemingway 240Peter Messent21 John Dos Passos 251Andrew Hook and David Seed22 Thomas Wolfe 261Anne Ricketson Zahlan23 F. Scott Fitzgerald 271William Blazek24 Zora Neale Hurston 282Lovalerie King25 Theodore Dreiser 292Clare Virginia Eby26 William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha 302Charles A. Peek27 H.D.'s Visionary Prose 313Rachel Connor28 John Steinbeck 322Brian Railsback29 Raymond Chandler 332Sean McCann30 Richard Wright 342Tara T. Green31 Ralph Ellison 352Rachel Farebrother32 James Baldwin 361D. Quentin Miller33 Vladimir Nabokov 369Barbara Wyllie34 Norman Mailer 377Michael K. Glenday35 William S. Burroughs 386Davis Schneiderman36 Saul Bellow 395Michael Austin37 Gore Vidal 403Heather Neilson38 Joseph Heller 411David M. Craig39 Kurt Vonnegut 420Jerome Klinkowitz40 Thomas Pynchon 428Ian Copestake41 Ishmael Reed: American Iconoclast 436Darryl Dickson-Carr42 Joyce Carol Oates 445Gavin Cologne-Brookes43 Philip Roth 454Timothy Parrish44 The Fiction of John Updike: Timely and Timeless 462Brian Keener45 Maxine Hong Kingston 471Helena Grice46 Toni Morrison 480Jennifer Terry47 Alice Walker 489Maria Lauret48 Don DeLillo 497Mark Osteen49 Gerald Vizenor: Postindian Gamester 505A. Robert Lee50 Bret Easton Ellis 514James Annesley51 Amy Tan: "American Circumstances and Chinese Character" 522Heidi Slettedahl Macpherson52 Paul Auster: Poet of Solitude 530Mark Brown53 Bharati Mukherjee 539Judie NewmanIndex 547