Russell Banks
Subtitle: in search of freedom
By: Kevin T. Mceneaney.
Publisher: Praeger
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Santa Barbara, Calif
Language: eng
Number of pages: 221
ISBN-13: 9780313381652; 9780313381669
Subjects: Banks, Russell, -- 1940- -- Criticism and interpretation
Description: Despite being a globally successful writer who has been published for over 30 years and is credited with two successful movies based on his work, there is but one prior study of Russell Banks's work in English, which is now nearly a decade old. "Russell Banks: In Search of Freedom" offers the only modern, complete commentary on his work and establishes Banks as one of the leaders in the postmodern, neorealist tradition of American fiction. This critical guide contains a brief biography of Banks, describing the details of his life that shaped his philosophies, plot themes, and settings, such as New England and the Caribbean. "Russell Banks" then illustrates how Banks moved beyond his working-class origins and explored problems in race, communication, sexual and family relations, religion, popular culture, landscape, and more recently, the upper class. The final chapter explains Banks's unique vision of American history and liberty.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: American odyssey: blue-collar intellectual; title: Finding a voice: early stories; title: Parables of inside-out: early novellas; title: Ironic conundrum: Hamilton Stark; title: Limits of liberalism: the book of Jamaica; title: Homeric grotesque: trailerpark; title: Mainstream realism and zombies: continental drift; title: Naturalism as postmodern parable: affliction; title: Oedipus in the Adirondacks: the sweet hereafter; title: Rambling picaresque: rule of the bone; title: Hologram pics: angel on the roof; title: Resurrection of John Brown: cloudsplitter; title: Radical irony: the darling; title: Rural noir: the reserve; title: Postmodern realism: audience and the writer.