Recent work in critical theory

Style, Winter, 1998 by William Baker, Kenneth Womack

Klinkowitz offers an assessment of Vonnegut's artistry and his contemporary presence as a recognizable public spokesperson. Klinkowitz traces the emergence of Vonnegut's nonfiction since the 1960s, while also providing close readings of the writer's journalistic and critical forays. Klinkowitz argues that an understanding of Vonnegut's nonfictional canon allows us to comprehend the role of his public spokesmanship in the development of his artistic expression.

Kopley, Richard, ed. Prospects for the Study of American Literature: A Guide for Scholars and Students. New York: New York UP, 1997.

Selections include Kopley's introduction; Joel Myerson's "Ralph Waldo Emerson"; Elizabeth Hall Witherell's "Henry David Thoreau"; Kent P. Ljungquist's "Edgar Allan Poe"; John Bryant's "Herman Melville"; Wilson J. Moses's "Frederick Douglass"; Joan D. Hedrick's "Harriet Beecher Stowe"; Ed Folsom's "Walt Whitman"; David E. E. Sloane and Michael J. Kiskis's "Mark Twain"; Daniel Mark Fogel's "Henry James"; Linda Wagner-Martin's "Edith Wharton"; Susan J. Rosowski's "Willa Cather"; Sanford Schwartz's "T. S. Eliot"; Michael S. Reynolds's "Ernest Hemingway"; Michael Awkward and Michelle Johnson's "Zora Neale Hurston"; Thomas L. McHaney's "William Faulkner"; and Keneth Kinnamon's "Richard Wright."

Landow, George P. Hypertext 2.0: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997.

Landow's volume attempts to unite the world of literary theory with computer technology. Landow addresses the potentially exciting as well as dangerous possibilities of giving readers easy and nearly instant access to a virtual library of sources. Landow offers chapters on such subjects as "Intermedia," "Microcosm," "Storyspace," and the World Wide Web.

Lawlor, William. The Beat Generation. Lanham: Scarecrow, 1998.

Lawlor provides students and scholars alike with a thorough and expansive introduction to the Beat Generation. In addition to chapters that address various approaches to teaching the lives and literature of the Beat Generation, Lawlor offers a host of secondary sources of interest to students of the Beats. Lawlor also features biographical and critical entries on a range of Beat personalities, including William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Paul Bowles, among others.

Leff, Leonard J. Hemingway and His Conspirators: Hollywood, Scribners, and the Making of American Celebrity Culture. Oxford: Roman and Littlefield, 1997.

Left explores the intensely public life of Ernest Hemingway and his role in the emergence of the twentieth-century American literary marketplace. Left offers close analysis of the manner in which Hemingway's works were packaged, marketed, and sold during the early years of his career. In addition to discussing the important role of Max Perkins in Hemingway's success, Leff investigates the ways in which Hemingway's novels were carefully distributed so as to maximize his growing audience in the 1920s and the 1930s.

Levine, Robert S., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Herman Melville. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998.