Signs of the Literary Times

Essays, Reviews, Profiles 1970-1992

Häftad, Engelska, 1993

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This book is O'Rourke's first volume of nonfiction since his 1972 The Harrisburg 7 and the New Catholic Left, which Garry Wills hailed as "a clinical x-ray of our society's condition." That book prompted Herbert Mitgang to name O'Rourke "one of the finest writers of his generation." Signs of the Literary Times provides new evidence for that assessment. It brings together O'Rourke's unique mixture of literary, political, and cultural criticism published periodically during the last twenty-two years. The collection ranges from autobiographical essays describing his generation's literary evolution, to articles on free speech issues, such as nude dancing and the Bush-era NEA controversies, as well as book reviews that provide a fresh and largely uncharted critical map of the period. O'Rourke is not only interested in genre bending and expansion, but in persevering during this age of academic specialization as, in his phrase, "a person of letters."In the two decades between his first work of nonfiction and this volume, O'Rourke has published three highly acclaimed novels, The Meekness of Isaac (1974), Idle Hands (1981), and Criminal Tendencies (1987). Of the last, The Virginia Quarterly Review wrote, "Of all the novelists paraded in recent years by publishers as natural successors to Graham Greene, this one comes the closest. A thoroughly entertaining literary event."Signs of the Literary Times is not so much a compendium of diverse pieces on various subjects, as it is a cogent and continuing x-ray of our society's condition.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum1993-12-07
Mått150 x 229 x 15 mm
Vikt363 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor250
FörlagState University of New York Press
ISBN9780791416822

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Preface Acknowledgments I. Edward Dahlberg Times 5 Edward Dahlberg, TeacherDahlberg's The Olive of MinervaEdward Dahlberg 1900-1977The Wages of ExpectationThe Causes of Immortal Conceptions II. The Literary Life and Hard Times The Literature of Place and No PlaceThe Night the Ghost Didn't Get InCatholics Coming of AgeEllen Frankfort's VoiceDifficult Women and Minor CharactersOn Becoming a Novelist and Panic among the PhilistinesFamous People He Has KnownThe Post-Modern AuraProtesting N.E.A.Artisits Should Accept Grants from the Arts EndowmentLetters to Editors: The N.E.A. and the Loyalty Oafs III. Fictional Times: America, England, Ireland Craig Nova, 1,2,3John UpdikeNicholas Delbanco, Donald Marsh, Katherine Dunn, Rosalyn Drexler, Kenneth Patchen, Harry Crews, Robert HemenwayDavid BlackJames CarrollMary GordonChuck Blaise and Madison JonesHugh NissensonJohn BarthGordon LishThomas McMahonJames T. FarrellJoseph Caldwell and James ReidJohn CheeverNorman KotkerRichard Elman and Robin HemleyNettie JonesC.E. PovermanDouglas UngerRichard Bausch and Mark ProbstHoward Frank MosherThomas PynchonLarry HeinemannAdrian MitchellPatrick McGinleyBernard Mac LavertyWilliam Trevor and Fay WeldonIris MurdochD. M. Thomas IV. Nonfictional Time: Amnesty, Trials, Profiles, Censorship Remebering to ForgetJury DutyMichael HarringtonWilliam Sloane Coffin, Jr.Of Judges and G-stringsWill the Court Bare All?Freedom at Risk V. Time for One Story The Maggot Principle Afterward Index

"Though unabashedly literary, O'Rourke's primary concerns—freedom, war, work, and religion—are intensely American. O'Rourke earns the respect of his readers through his superb phrasing, his rigorous thinking and his consistently sound values. As a general reader I trust what he has to tell me because his writing is so gracefully persuasive. If O'Rourke were a lawyer, I'd want him to represent me in court; if he were a carpenter, I'd want him to build my house." — David Huddle, University of Vermont"Signs of the Literary Times is a fascinating account of working with literature by one of America's more interesting, responsible, and innovative writers."—Jerome Klinkowitz, University of Northern Iowa.