Critical Angles European Views of Contemporary American Literature

This volume demonstrates an awareness of contemporary American literature on the part of 13 European critics, and is organized in two parts. The first part, "Wide Angles," explores the methodology and the problems posed by the study of innovative texts. The essayists--French, Italian, German, Belgian, and British critics--offer perspectives on modernism and postmodernism, author-reader relations in narrative, narrative themes and strategies, and poetry and drama. The second part, "Applied Cinometrics," deals with particular authors and their works. Subjects discussed include: Walker Percy; the novels of William Gaddis and John Sorrentino; a comparative study of Nabokov and Balthus; Raymond Carver; David Mamet; Donald Barthelme; and Sam Shepard. ISBN 0-8093-1216-6: $21.95.