Patrick ODonnell - Passionate doubts: designs of interpretation in contemporary American fiction
Here you can read online Patrick ODonnell - Passionate doubts: designs of interpretation in contemporary American fiction full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. year: 1986, publisher: University of Iowa Press, genre: Religion. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:
Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.
Book:
Passionate doubts: designs of interpretation in contemporary American fiction
Passionate doubts: designs of interpretation in contemporary American fiction: summary, description and annotation
We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "Passionate doubts: designs of interpretation in contemporary American fiction" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.
Patrick ODonnell: author's other books
Who wrote Passionate doubts: designs of interpretation in contemporary American fiction? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.
Passionate doubts: designs of interpretation in contemporary American fiction — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work
Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Passionate doubts: designs of interpretation in contemporary American fiction" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.
Passionate Doubts : Designs of Interpretation in Contemporary American Fiction
author
:
O'Donnell, Patrick.
publisher
:
University of Iowa Press
isbn10 | asin
:
0877451389
print isbn13
:
9780877451389
ebook isbn13
:
9781587291715
language
:
English
subject
American fiction--20th century--History and criticism, Psychological fiction, American--History and criticism, Reader-response criticism, Semiotics and literature, Self in literature.
publication date
:
1986
lcc
:
PS374.S44O36 1986eb
ddc
:
813/.54/09
subject
:
American fiction--20th century--History and criticism, Psychological fiction, American--History and criticism, Reader-response criticism, Semiotics and literature, Self in literature.
Page iii
Passionate Doubts
Designs of Interpretation in Contemporary American Fiction Patrick O'Donnell
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PRESS IOWA CITY
Page iv
University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242
Copyright 1986 by the University of Iowa
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Jacket and book design by Richard Hendel
Typesetting by G & S Typesetters, Inc., Austin, Texas
Printing and binding by Kingsport Press, Kingsport, Tennessee
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
O'Donnell, Patrick, 1948 Passionate doubts. Includes index. I. American fiction20th centuryHistory and criticism. 2. Self in literature. I. Title. PS374.S44O36 1986 813'.54'09 85-28865 ISBN 0-87745-138-9
Page v
FOR THOMAS HANZO "There is a project for the sun. The sun Must bear no name, gold flourisher, but be In the difficulty of what is to be."
Page vii
Contents
Acknowledgments
ix
Preface
xi
Introduction: Fiction and Interpretation, a Dialogue
xvii
One Nabokov's Watermark: Writing the Self in Pale Fire
3
Two Self-Alignment: John Hawkes' Travesty
23
Three Self, Narrative, History: The System of John Barth's Letters
41
Four "A Book of Traces": Gravity's Rainbow
73
Five The World Dactylic: Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood
95
Six The Wor(l)d Made Flesh: Stanley Elkin's The Franchiser
116
Seven Entanglement: The Reader in Contemporary Fiction
137
Notes
159
Index
179
Page ix
Acknowledgments
In writing this book, I have benefited from the criticism and generosity of several friends and colleagues. I wish to especially thank Herbert Schneidau, Barbara Babcock, Douglas Canfield, Jerrold Hogle, Edgar Dryden, Susan Aiken, and John T. Matthews for the time they took to comment upon my work, often when they were heavily involved in projects of their own. Two friends from abroad, Marc Chnetier and Heide Ziegler, gave both encouragement at just the right time and the necessary insights from their own work on contemporary American fiction. For several years, Robert Con Davis and I have been talking over matters of theory and fiction. Our dialogue has been a continuous source of provocation and enrichment, and his support for my work in general has been essential to the completion of this single example.
The insights and enthusiasm of my students in English 596-G, History and Theory of Fiction, provided the final spark of energy I needed to finish this book. A grant from the Arizona Humanities Council allowed me to use the fine collections in contemporary fiction and theory at the libraries of the University of California-Irvine and the University of CaliforniaLos Angeles. Albert Geggenheimer, editor of the Arizona Quarterly, and Claude Richard, editor of Delta, have kindly allowed me to reprint revisions of the discussions of Pale Fire and Travesty which originally appeared in their journals.
Not at all finally, my family has given me the kind of consideration and support which can be properly acknowledged only in private. This book is dedicated to my teacher, Thomas A. Hanzo, who first made me aware of the pains and joys of interpretation.
Page xi
Preface
Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. Henry James, "The Middle Years"
This book considers six important contemporary American novels in light of their concern with interpretationboth as a labor undertaken by the reader of fiction and as an activity that takes place within the text itself. We know what it is to read, but the novels that I shall discuss raise the issue of what it is
Similar books «Passionate doubts: designs of interpretation in contemporary American fiction»
Look at similar books to Passionate doubts: designs of interpretation in contemporary American fiction. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.
Reviews about «Passionate doubts: designs of interpretation in contemporary American fiction»
Discussion, reviews of the book Passionate doubts: designs of interpretation in contemporary American fiction and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.
