Often more disturbing than entertaining, James Ellroy is an author who never shies away from the ugly or repellent. Eminent crime fiction scholar Peter Wolfe examines how Ellroy transcends the genres of pulp and neo-noir fiction to write stories that are both psychologically haunting and culturally relevant. Wolfe skillfully combines biography—including the unsolved murder of Ellroy's mother—with literary analysis to provide a fascinating and readable study of this popular author. The first in-depth companion to the work of James Ellroy, Like Hot Knives to the Brain will interest students of popular culture, mystery readers, and crime buffs everywhere.

Havoc in the Hub brings to light the long-neglected work of George V. Higgins, revealing the wealth of intellectual, social, literary, and religious thought that underlies his 25 novels and numerous other works. Higgins's writing, fed by equal parts wit and sorrow, touches our senses, emotions, and minds. Peter Wolfe makes a resounding contribution to the study of this writer. Wolfe places Higgins's work in its geographical context and outlines the many sources from which Higgins drew during his highly productive career. The first in-depth examination of George V. Higgins, Havoc in the Hub will interest scholars, graduate students, and lovers of Higgins's work alike.

Havoc in the Hub brings to light the long-neglected work of George V. Higgins, revealing the wealth of intellectual, social, literary, and religious thought that underlies his 25 novels and numerous other works. Higgins's writing, fed by equal parts wit and sorrow, touches our senses, emotions, and minds. Peter Wolfe makes a resounding contribution to the study of this writer. Wolfe places Higgins's work in its geographical context and outlines the many sources from which Higgins drew during his highly productive career. The first in-depth examination of George V. Higgins, Havoc in the Hub will interest scholars, graduate students, and lovers of Higgins's work alike.

The work of English playwright Simon Gray (1936-2008) has always resisted ideological and stylistic labels. His artistic independence has also had an unwelcome side effect: It cost him the critical attention garnered by his peers. This book, the first monograph on Gray, examines his oeuvre from the early plays, which hack away at the formalism and humanism of traditional English satire, to the later ones, in which he explores English professionals and their problems connecting with each other. If Gray remains the least known major English dramatist of his day, he's also one of the boldest and best.

This first book-length work on Terrence McNally shows how his decades in the theater have refined his thoughts on subjects like growing up gay in mannish, homophobic Texas, Shakespeare's legacy in contemporary drama, and the life-giving power of forgiveness. McNally believes that the ability to forgive--a challenge to even the most high-minded--confirms our humanity because the wrongs done to us usually don't deserve to be forgiven.The author shows how McNally's impeccable timing, his instinct for a good laugh line, and his preference for physical sensation and character over plot helps him reveal both what's important to his people and why his people are important. These revelations can shake up audiences while providing a great evening at the theater.

In 1973 the Australian novelist Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the year that his great novel of family ties and change, The Eye of the Storm, was published and became a bestseller in America and Europe. Yet White is still not widely known or read, and few writers of today have provoked so many contradictory judgments.Now Peter Wolfe has written the first book-length study of the work of this brilliant and haunting novelist. The study offers a subtle, penetrating examination of White's style, his skill in building narrative tension, and also the depth and complexity reflected in his characterization, which, in his novels, always dominates action. Fittingly, for a writer whose novels bear the indelible stamp of Australia, the study also examines White's psychological use of setting and the intense sense of place found in his work.No other critical study of White covers such a broad range of his writing. Peter Wolfe considers here the entire canon of the novels. The Tree of Man, Voss, The Vivisector, The Eye of the Storm, A Fringe of Leaves, and The Twyborn Affair (White's most recent novel) are all discussed. White's themes and settings range from the power and immensity of the wilderness of the Australian outback to the dislocations wrought in traditional values by postwar industrialization and urban sprawl.Laden Choirs makes accessible to an American audience a writer of the first rank, whose work lies at the heart of modernist concerns. Literary students and scholars who wish to explore the world of Patrick White will find this book an essential key.

In 1973 the Australian novelist Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the year that his great novel of family ties and change, The Eye of the Storm, was published and became a bestseller in America and Europe. Yet White is still not widely known or read, and few writers of today have provoked so many contradictory judgments.Now Peter Wolfe has written the first book-length study of the work of this brilliant and haunting novelist. The study offers a subtle, penetrating examination of White's style, his skill in building narrative tension, and also the depth and complexity reflected in his characterization, which, in his novels, always dominates action. Fittingly, for a writer whose novels bear the indelible stamp of Australia, the study also examines White's psychological use of setting and the intense sense of place found in his work.No other critical study of White covers such a broad range of his writing. Peter Wolfe considers here the entire canon of the novels. The Tree of Man, Voss, The Vivisector, The Eye of the Storm, A Fringe of Leaves, and The Twyborn Affair (White's most recent novel) are all discussed. White's themes and settings range from the power and immensity of the wilderness of the Australian outback to the dislocations wrought in traditional values by postwar industrialization and urban sprawl.Laden Choirs makes accessible to an American audience a writer of the first rank, whose work lies at the heart of modernist concerns. Literary students and scholars who wish to explore the world of Patrick White will find this book an essential key.

The classic television show 'The twilight Zone' explored the possibilities inhering in the ordinary. A twilight Zone episode moved us by being poignant and intimate, rambunctious or thought provoking.

By mid-career, many successful writers have found a groove and their readers come to expect a familiar consistency and fidelity. Not so with Henry Green (1905-1973). He prefers uncertainty over reason and fragmentation over cohesion, and rarely lets the reader settle into a nice cozy read. Evil, he suggests, can be as instructive as good. Through Green's use of paradoxical and ambiguous language, his novels bring texture to the flatness of life, making the world seem bigger and closer. We soon stop worrying about what Hitler's bombs have in store for the Londoners of Caught (1943) and Back (1946) and start thinking about what they have in store for each other. Praised in his lifetime as England's top fiction author, Green is largely overlooked today. This book presents a comprehensive analysis of his work for a new generation of readers.

The theatrical world Terence Rattigan built is vital but disturbing and uniquely constructed. His sentences are not impacted or fractured, and his plots usually obey a linear time sequence. Yet his realism isn't all that real. Though sentence by sentence, his dialogue sounds natural, the creative pulse behind it is idiosyncratic and self-lacerating. As a gay man writing at a time when homosexuality was a felony in the UK, Rattigan wrote at a skewed angle to his culture, making his plays at times easy to follow but hard to fathom. Terence Rattigan: The Playwright as Battlefield examines the ways in which Rattigan’s works turn their audiences into participants, encouraging intellectual independence and freeing them to make decisions for themselves as to the deeper meanings of the works. The playwright’s omission of outright explanations deepens the audience’s emotional commitment to the outcomes of the performance, and walks a fine line between restraint and invention. His works convey subtly and deceptively the cold obstinacy that thwarts our everyday actions in a way which that is felt viscerally by the audience. This book engages works from throughout Rattigan’s early and late career to examine the unique methods by which the playwright conveys meaning to various audiences within an ever-changing sociocultural context.

A study of the actor, director, playwright and lyricist, Alan Bennett. Peter Wolfe demonstrates that Alan Bennett's success in many spheres was no fluke, and his theatrical eminence has always been accompanied by awards and professional recognition. His play ""Single Spies"" won the Oliver Award as England's Best Comedy in 1989. The casts of his plays, starting with ""Forty Years On"" in 1968, have included such luminaries as Sir John Gielgud, Sir Alec Guinness, Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, Alan Bates and Daniel Day Lewis. His screenwriting earned ""The Madness of King George"" a nomination for an Academy Award. This book seeks to illuminate the writer whose instinct for artistic choices has helped him to succeed on his own terms.

Often more disturbing than entertaining, James Ellroy is an author who never shies away from the ugly or repellent. Eminent crime fiction scholar Peter Wolfe examines how Ellroy transcends the genres of pulp and neo-noir fiction to write stories that are both psychologically haunting and culturally relevant. Wolfe skillfully combines biography—including the unsolved murder of Ellroy's mother—with literary analysis to provide a fascinating and readable study of this popular author. The first in-depth companion to the work of James Ellroy, Like Hot Knives to the Brain will interest students of popular culture, mystery readers, and crime buffs everywhere.

Havoc in the Hub brings to light the long-neglected work of George V. Higgins, revealing the wealth of intellectual, social, literary, and religious thought that underlies his 25 novels and numerous other works. Higgins's writing, fed by equal parts wit and sorrow, touches our senses, emotions, and minds. Peter Wolfe makes a resounding contribution to the study of this writer. Wolfe places Higgins's work in its geographical context and outlines the many sources from which Higgins drew during his highly productive career. The first in-depth examination of George V. Higgins, Havoc in the Hub will interest scholars, graduate students, and lovers of Higgins's work alike.

Havoc in the Hub brings to light the long-neglected work of George V. Higgins, revealing the wealth of intellectual, social, literary, and religious thought that underlies his 25 novels and numerous other works. Higgins's writing, fed by equal parts wit and sorrow, touches our senses, emotions, and minds. Peter Wolfe makes a resounding contribution to the study of this writer. Wolfe places Higgins's work in its geographical context and outlines the many sources from which Higgins drew during his highly productive career. The first in-depth examination of George V. Higgins, Havoc in the Hub will interest scholars, graduate students, and lovers of Higgins's work alike.

The work of English playwright Simon Gray (1936-2008) has always resisted ideological and stylistic labels. His artistic independence has also had an unwelcome side effect: It cost him the critical attention garnered by his peers. This book, the first monograph on Gray, examines his oeuvre from the early plays, which hack away at the formalism and humanism of traditional English satire, to the later ones, in which he explores English professionals and their problems connecting with each other. If Gray remains the least known major English dramatist of his day, he's also one of the boldest and best.

This first book-length work on Terrence McNally shows how his decades in the theater have refined his thoughts on subjects like growing up gay in mannish, homophobic Texas, Shakespeare's legacy in contemporary drama, and the life-giving power of forgiveness. McNally believes that the ability to forgive--a challenge to even the most high-minded--confirms our humanity because the wrongs done to us usually don't deserve to be forgiven.The author shows how McNally's impeccable timing, his instinct for a good laugh line, and his preference for physical sensation and character over plot helps him reveal both what's important to his people and why his people are important. These revelations can shake up audiences while providing a great evening at the theater.

In 1973 the Australian novelist Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the year that his great novel of family ties and change, The Eye of the Storm, was published and became a bestseller in America and Europe. Yet White is still not widely known or read, and few writers of today have provoked so many contradictory judgments.Now Peter Wolfe has written the first book-length study of the work of this brilliant and haunting novelist. The study offers a subtle, penetrating examination of White's style, his skill in building narrative tension, and also the depth and complexity reflected in his characterization, which, in his novels, always dominates action. Fittingly, for a writer whose novels bear the indelible stamp of Australia, the study also examines White's psychological use of setting and the intense sense of place found in his work.No other critical study of White covers such a broad range of his writing. Peter Wolfe considers here the entire canon of the novels. The Tree of Man, Voss, The Vivisector, The Eye of the Storm, A Fringe of Leaves, and The Twyborn Affair (White's most recent novel) are all discussed. White's themes and settings range from the power and immensity of the wilderness of the Australian outback to the dislocations wrought in traditional values by postwar industrialization and urban sprawl.Laden Choirs makes accessible to an American audience a writer of the first rank, whose work lies at the heart of modernist concerns. Literary students and scholars who wish to explore the world of Patrick White will find this book an essential key.

In 1973 the Australian novelist Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the year that his great novel of family ties and change, The Eye of the Storm, was published and became a bestseller in America and Europe. Yet White is still not widely known or read, and few writers of today have provoked so many contradictory judgments.Now Peter Wolfe has written the first book-length study of the work of this brilliant and haunting novelist. The study offers a subtle, penetrating examination of White's style, his skill in building narrative tension, and also the depth and complexity reflected in his characterization, which, in his novels, always dominates action. Fittingly, for a writer whose novels bear the indelible stamp of Australia, the study also examines White's psychological use of setting and the intense sense of place found in his work.No other critical study of White covers such a broad range of his writing. Peter Wolfe considers here the entire canon of the novels. The Tree of Man, Voss, The Vivisector, The Eye of the Storm, A Fringe of Leaves, and The Twyborn Affair (White's most recent novel) are all discussed. White's themes and settings range from the power and immensity of the wilderness of the Australian outback to the dislocations wrought in traditional values by postwar industrialization and urban sprawl.Laden Choirs makes accessible to an American audience a writer of the first rank, whose work lies at the heart of modernist concerns. Literary students and scholars who wish to explore the world of Patrick White will find this book an essential key.

The classic television show 'The twilight Zone' explored the possibilities inhering in the ordinary. A twilight Zone episode moved us by being poignant and intimate, rambunctious or thought provoking.

By mid-career, many successful writers have found a groove and their readers come to expect a familiar consistency and fidelity. Not so with Henry Green (1905-1973). He prefers uncertainty over reason and fragmentation over cohesion, and rarely lets the reader settle into a nice cozy read. Evil, he suggests, can be as instructive as good. Through Green's use of paradoxical and ambiguous language, his novels bring texture to the flatness of life, making the world seem bigger and closer. We soon stop worrying about what Hitler's bombs have in store for the Londoners of Caught (1943) and Back (1946) and start thinking about what they have in store for each other. Praised in his lifetime as England's top fiction author, Green is largely overlooked today. This book presents a comprehensive analysis of his work for a new generation of readers.

The theatrical world Terence Rattigan built is vital but disturbing and uniquely constructed. His sentences are not impacted or fractured, and his plots usually obey a linear time sequence. Yet his realism isn't all that real. Though sentence by sentence, his dialogue sounds natural, the creative pulse behind it is idiosyncratic and self-lacerating. As a gay man writing at a time when homosexuality was a felony in the UK, Rattigan wrote at a skewed angle to his culture, making his plays at times easy to follow but hard to fathom. Terence Rattigan: The Playwright as Battlefield examines the ways in which Rattigan’s works turn their audiences into participants, encouraging intellectual independence and freeing them to make decisions for themselves as to the deeper meanings of the works. The playwright’s omission of outright explanations deepens the audience’s emotional commitment to the outcomes of the performance, and walks a fine line between restraint and invention. His works convey subtly and deceptively the cold obstinacy that thwarts our everyday actions in a way which that is felt viscerally by the audience. This book engages works from throughout Rattigan’s early and late career to examine the unique methods by which the playwright conveys meaning to various audiences within an ever-changing sociocultural context.

A study of the actor, director, playwright and lyricist, Alan Bennett. Peter Wolfe demonstrates that Alan Bennett's success in many spheres was no fluke, and his theatrical eminence has always been accompanied by awards and professional recognition. His play ""Single Spies"" won the Oliver Award as England's Best Comedy in 1989. The casts of his plays, starting with ""Forty Years On"" in 1968, have included such luminaries as Sir John Gielgud, Sir Alec Guinness, Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, Alan Bates and Daniel Day Lewis. His screenwriting earned ""The Madness of King George"" a nomination for an Academy Award. This book seeks to illuminate the writer whose instinct for artistic choices has helped him to succeed on his own terms.