Gina Macdonald – författare

Until now, popular novelist James Clavell has not been recognized for his literary achievements and his contributions to cross-cultural understanding. This critical study seeks to rectify that omission. It shows how Clavell's depiction of cross-cultural encounters of Westerners with the East paves the way for modern multicultural studies. His novels about culture clash help Western readers see with Eastern eyes by taking them into the minds and culture of the Chinese, Japanese, and Iranians. The study provides close textual analysis of each of his novels in turn and shows how Clavell contrasts the manners, values and lifestyles of Easterners and Westerners in a narrative style that combines a number of literary genres and traditions to create a blockbuster of breadth and depth.This study analyzes all of Clavell's fiction: King Rat, Tai-Pan, Shogun, Noble House, Whirlwind, and Gai-Jin. Each chapter discusses one novel and is divided into sections on plot and structure, character development, themes, historical foundations, genre conventions, and alternative perspectives from which to read the novel. A biographical chapter illuminates the influence of Clavell's life experiences on his writing. A chapter on his literary heritage discusses the influence of a variety of genres on his fiction and shows how he weaves a multiplicity of genre threads into a subtle, complex, inviting tapestry of Eastern and Western styles. A genealogy table schematizing the complex family relationships that interlock Clavell's novels and a glossary of foreign language words used in his novels will help the reader to move easily through his canon. This work will help students and general readers to appreciate the cross-cultural aspects of the craft of Clavell's fiction. A key purchase for secondary school, public, and community college libraries.

There's more than meets the eye in the fiction of the master of the espionage thriller Robert Ludlum. In a study that examines seventeen of Ludlum's novels in depth, including the latest, The Apocalypse Watch (1995), Macdonald uncovers the serious themes running through the novels: the role of the individual in preserving democracy, the value of competing voices, the failure of educational institutions to preserve ideals, the temptations of power, the importance of personal loyalties in the face of impersonal organizations, and the nature of evil. She shows how Ludlum's novels are valuable in helping us to understand modern paranoia—our fear of conspiracies, terrorism, barbarism, and intolerance. A personal interview granted by Ludlum for this book illuminates the influences on his craft, especially his long experience in the theater, which affects his sense of pacing, characterization, humor, and suspense.After an initial biographical chapter, Macdonald examines Ludlum's literary roots in suspense novels and discusses the genre. Each succeeding chapter examines a group of his novels tied together thematically or, in the case of the Bourne series, by recurring characters. The discussion of each novel is organized into sections on plot and structure, character, and theme, and features an alternate critical interpretation, such as Freudian, Marxist, or reader response criticism, which offers the reader another fresh perspective from which to examine the concerns of the novel. Novels covered in depth are: Trevayne, The Cry of the Halidon, The Scarlatti Inheritance, The Rhinemann Exchange, The Gemini Contenders, The Holcroft Covenant, The Road to Gandolfo, The Road to Omaha, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Matarese Circle, The Parsifal Mosaic, The Aquitaine Progression, The Icarus Agenda, The Scorpio Illusion, and The Apocalypse Watch. This critical companion includes an up-to-date bibliography of all of Ludlum's published works, as well as selected reviews of all works examined in this study.

Fictional depictions of Native American concepts of justice, crime, and the investigation of crime are explored in this original work. Shaman or Sherlock explores depictions created by Native American authors themselves, as well as those created by outsiders with mainstream agendas. The most successful of these writers fuse authentic Native American culture with standard genre conventions, thus providing an appealing, empathetic view of little-understood or underappreciated groups, as well as insight into issues of cross-cultural communication. Dealing with such significant concepts as acculturation, regional diversity, and assimilation, this unique study evaluates over 200 detective stories.Though the crime novel began in Europe as a manifestation of Enlightenment rationality and scientific methodology, the Native American detective story moves into the realm of the spiritual and intuitive, often incorporating depictions of non-material phenomena. Shaman or Sherlock? explores how geographical and tribal differences, degrees of assimilation, and the evolution of age-old cultural patterns shape the Native American detective story.

This study of the Native American in the western, romance, detective, horror, and science fiction genres examines how even historically accurate representations distort and bias the Native American figure to fit European-based traditions and modern agendas. The authors provide critical approaches for evaluating the literature. They argue that while popular fiction conventions determine and limit authentic portraits of Native American cultures, successful popular fiction writers approach literary quality by fusing authentic Native American culture with the standard genre conventions. Approximately 200 books are discussed and evaluated, and true Native American stories and writings are contrasted with mainstream versions of Indian culture.While the exploitation of Native Americans has long been recognized, little has been written about the manipulation of Native American figures in recent popular fiction. This study will appeal to students of Native American culture, literature, and popular culture. An appendix of special terms is provided along with a comprehensive bibliography.

Scott Turow is a novelist, lawyer, and humanist who has fused his two passions, writing and the law, to create challenging novels that raise significant legal issues and test the justice of present laws. In all of his books, Turow reveals the moral ambiguities that afflict both accuser and accused, and challenges his readers to reconsider their preconceived notions of justice. Beginning with One-L, his first published work about the first-year law school experience, Turow continues to capture his readers' imaginations with books such as Presumed Innocent and Burden of Proof.

Jane Austen on Screen is a collection of essays exploring the literary and cinematic implications of translating Austen's prose into film. Contributors raise questions of how prose fiction and cinema differ, of how mass commercial audiences require changes to script and character, and of how continually remade films evoke memories of earlier productions. The essays represent widely divergent perspectives, from literary 'purists' suspicious of filmic renderings of Austen to film-makers who see the text as a stimulus for producing exceptional cinema. Theoretical issues are explored in balance with the practical concerns of literature-to-film conversions: casting choices, authenticity of settings, script 'amputations' of the original prose, anachronisms, relevance for modern mass audiences, and the intertextuality informing the production of much-remade works. This comprehensive study, including an exhaustive Austen bibliography and filmography, will be of interest to students and teachers alike.

Jane Austen on Screen is a collection of essays exploring the literary and cinematic implications of translating Austen's prose into film. Contributors raise questions of how prose fiction and cinema differ, of how mass commercial audiences require changes to script and character, and of how continually remade films evoke memories of earlier productions. The essays represent widely divergent perspectives, from literary 'purists' suspicious of filmic renderings of Austen to film-makers who see the text as a stimulus for producing exceptional cinema. Theoretical issues are explored in balance with the practical concerns of literature-to-film conversions: casting choices, authenticity of settings, script 'amputations' of the original prose, anachronisms, relevance for modern mass audiences, and the intertextuality informing the production of much-remade works. This comprehensive study, including an exhaustive Austen bibliography and filmography, will be of interest to students and teachers alike.