|
Dirty Realism
Dirty realism is a term coined by Bill Buford of ''Granta'' magazine to define a North American literary movement. Writers in this sub-category of realism are said to depict the seamier or more mundane aspects of ordinary life in spare, unadorned language. Definition The term formed the title of the Summer 1983 edition of ''Granta'', for which Buford wrote an explanatory introduction: Dirty Realism is the fiction of a new generation of American authors. They write about the belly-side of contemporary life – a deserted husband, an unwanted mother, a car thief, a pickpocket, a drug addict – but they write about it with a disturbing detachment, at times verging on comedy. Understated, ironic, sometimes savage, but insistently compassionate, these stories constitute a new voice in fiction. Style Sometimes considered a variety of literary minimalism, dirty realism is characterized by an economy with words and a focus on surface description. Writers working within the genre tend t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Buford
Bill Buford (born 1954) is an American author and journalist. Buford is the author of the books ''Among the Thugs'' and ''Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany''. He was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and raised in Southern California, attending the University of California, Berkeley from 1973 to 1977, before moving to King's College, Cambridge, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar until 1979. He remained in England for most of the 1980s. Buford was previously the fiction editor for ''The New Yorker'', where he is still on staff. For sixteen years, he was the editor of ''Granta'', which he relaunched in 1979. Buford is credited with coining the term "dirty realism". Work As an author ''Among the Thugs'' (1991) is presented as an insider's account of the world of (primarily) English football hooliganism. His chief thesis is that the traditional sociological account of crowd theory fails t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr., July 20, 1933) is an American writer who has written twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays and three short stories, spanning the Western and post-apocalyptic genres. He is known for his graphic depictions of violence and his unique writing style, recognizable by a sparse use of punctuation and attribution. McCarthy is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary American writers. McCarthy was born in Providence, Rhode Island, although he was raised primarily in Tennessee. In 1951, he enrolled in the University of Tennessee, but dropped out to join the US Air Force. His debut novel, ''The Orchard Keeper'', was published in 1965. Awarded literary grants, McCarthy was able to travel to southern Europe, where he wrote his second novel, ''Outer Dark'' (1968). '' Suttree'' (1979), like his other early novels, received generally positive reviews, but was not a commercial success. A MacArthur Fellowship enabled him to travel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Literary Movements
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Postmodernist Literature
Postmodern literature is a form of literature that is characterized by the use of metafiction, unreliable narration, self-reflexivity, intertextuality, and which often thematizes both historical and political issues. This style of experimental literature emerged strongly in the United States in the 1960s through the writings of authors such as Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, William Gaddis, Philip K. Dick, Kathy Acker, and John Barth. Postmodernists often challenge authorities, which has been seen as a symptom of the fact that this style of literature first emerged in the context of political tendencies in the 1960s.Linda Hutcheon (1988) ''A Poetics of Postmodernism.'' London: Routledge, pp. 202-203. This inspiration is, among other things, seen through how postmodern literature is highly self-reflexive about the political issues it speaks to. Precursors to postmodern literature include Miguel de Cervantes’ ''Don Quixote'' (1605–1615), Laurence Sterne’s ''Tristram Shandy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kmart Realism
Kmart realism, also termed "low-rent tragedies", is a form of minimalist literature found in American short fiction that became popular in the 1980s. Style These short stories "represent and reproduce the disintegration of public life ndthe colonization of private life by consumer capitalism". Background The precursors of Kmart realism include the so-called ''trailer park fiction'', ''Diet-Pepsi minimalism'', and ''hick chic''. Author Tao Lin described Kmart realism as being "at its “height” maybe in the mid to late-80’s. Frederick Barthelme had 20-30 stories published in the ''New Yorker'', Mary Robison also had many stories in the ''New Yorker'', and Gordon Lish was publishing other people’s books and stories as an editor at Alfred A. Knopf and ''Esquire'' around then." Criticism A related definition describes the genre as American fiction that is characterized, among other things, by a fascination with consumption venues and brand names. John Gardner, in critical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Chinaski
Henry Charles "Hank" Chinaski is the literary alter ego of the American writer Charles Bukowski, appearing in five of Bukowski's novels, a number of his short stories and poems, and the films '' Barfly'' and ''Factotum''. Although much of Chinaski's biography is based on Bukowski's own life story, the Chinaski character is still a literary creation that is constructed with the veneer of what the writer Adam Kirsch calls "a pulp fiction hero." Works of fiction that feature the character include ''Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live With the Beasts'' (1965), ''Post Office'' (1971), '' South of No North'' (1973), ''Factotum'' (1975), ''Women'' (1978), ''Ham on Rye'' (1982), ''Hot Water Music'' (1983), '' Hollywood'' (1989), and ''Septuagenarian Stew'' (1990). He is also mentioned briefly in the beginning of Bukowski's last novel, ''Pulp'' (1994). Chinaski is a writer who worked for years as a mail carrier. An alcoholic, womanizing misanthrope, he serves as both the protagonist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Women (Bukowski Novel)
''Women'' is a 1978 novel written by Charles Bukowski, starring his semi-autobiographical character Henry Chinaski. In contrast to ''Factotum'', ''Post Office'' and ''Ham on Rye'', ''Women'' is centered on Chinaski's later life, as a celebrated poet and writer, not as a dead-end lowlife. It does, however, feature the same constant carousel of women with whom Chinaski only finds temporary fulfillment. Plot Characters Introduction ''Women'' focuses on the many complications Chinaski faced with each new woman he encountered and had sexual relations with. When asked about his relationship to women, he said that they gave much more than he gave to the relationship, and this acts as a central foundation to the development of Chinaski as a character, especially in the beginning of the novel. One of the first women featured in the book, who also recurred throughout the novel through random phonecalls and thoughts, is a character named Lydia Vance; she is based on Bukowski's one-time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Fante
John Fante (April 8, 1909 – May 8, 1983) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel ''Ask the Dust'' (1939) about the life of Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer in Depression-era Los Angeles. It is widely considered the great Los Angeles novel, and is one in a series of four, published between 1938 and 1985, that are now collectively called "The Bandini Quartet". ''Ask the Dust'' was adapted into a 2006 film starring Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek. Fante's published works while he lived included five novels, one novella, and a short story collection. Additional works, including two novels, two novellas, and two short story collections, were published posthumously. His screenwriting credits include, most notably, '' Full of Life'' (1956, based on his 1952 novel by that name), '' Jeanne Eagels'' (1957), and the 1962 films '' Walk on the Wild Side'' and ''The Reluctant Saint''. Early life Fante was born in D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jayne Anne Phillips
Jayne Anne Phillips (born July 19, 1952) is an American novelist and short story writer who was born in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia. Education Phillips graduated from West Virginia University, earning a B.A. in 1974, and later graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. Teaching Phillips has held teaching positions at several colleges and universities, including Harvard University, Williams College, Brandeis University, and Boston University. She is currently Professor of English and founder/director of the Rutgers University–Newark Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program. During its inaugural year, ''The Atlantic'' magazine named Phillips' MFA program at Rutgers–Newark to its list of "Five Up-and-Coming" creative writing programs in the United States. Writing career Short stories * ''Sweethearts'' (1976) * ''Counting'' (1978) * ''Black Tickets'' (1979) * ''How Mickey Made It'' (1981) * ''The Secret Country'' (1982) * ''Fast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carson McCullers
Carson McCullers (February 19, 1917 – September 29, 1967) was an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet. Her first novel, ''The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'' (1940), explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and outcasts in a small town of the Southern United States. Her other novels have similar themes and most are set in the deep South. McCullers's work is often described as Southern Gothic and indicative of her Southern roots. Critics also describe her writing and eccentric characters as universal in scope. Her stories have been adapted to stage and film. A stage adaptation of her novel ''The Member of the Wedding'' (1946), which captures a young girl's feelings at her brother's wedding, made a successful Broadway run in 1950–51. Early life McCullers was born Lula Carson Smith in Columbus, Georgia, in 1917 to Lamar Smith, a jeweller, and Marguerite Waters.1920 United States Federal Census. She was named after her maternal grandmother, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
