Literary studies: fiction Books

Book SynopsisA comprehensive guide that defines the literature and the outlines the best-selling genre of all time: romance fiction. More than 2,000 romances are published annually, making it difficult for fans and the librarians who advise them to keep pace with new titles, emerging authors, and constant evolution of this dynamic genre. Fortunately, romance expert and librarian Kristin Ramsdell provides a definitive guide to this fiction genre that serves as an indispensible resource for those interested in it—including fans searching for reading material—as well as for library staff, scholars, and romance writers themselves. This title updates the last edition of Romance Fiction: A Guide to the Genre, published in 1999.While the emphasis is on newer titles, many of the important older classics are retained, keeping the focus of the book on the entire genre, instead of only those titles published during the last decade. Specific changes include new chapters on linked and continuing romances, a new section on "Chick Lit" in the Contemporary Romance chapter, an expansion of coverage on the alternative reality subset. This is THE romance genre guide to have.Trade ReviewLibrarians have waited a long time for the updated edition of one of their most popular and heavily used readers'-advisory tools, and they are now well rewarded for their patience. Noted romance expert Ramsdell delivers a comprehensive second edition to update the first, which appeared in 1999. . . . This long-awaited revision of a classic readers' advisory resource is an essential purchase for public and academic library readers' services collections. * Booklist, Starred Review *Essential for public librarians overseeing fiction collections, especially when they are without subscriptions to fiction-advisory sources. The go-to book for guidance. Previous editions should be retained. Highly recommended. * Library Journal *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Preface to the Second Edition Introduction Purpose and Scope Organization Bibliographies Authors Included Titles Included Years Covered Entries and Annotations Cross-Indexing Suggestions for Use PART I: INTRODUCTION TO ROMANCE FICTION Chapter 1—Definition and Brief History of Romance Fiction Definition A Brief History of the Romance Novel Early Influences Beginnings The Nineteenth Century The Twentieth Century The 1960s—The Gothic Touch The 1970s—The Hot Historical Explosion The 1980s—The Romance Boom The 1990s—A Decade of Diversity and Change A Brand New Century Chapter 2—The Appeal of Romance Fiction The General Appeal of the Romance The Specific Appeal of the Romance Chapter 3—Advising the Reader Know the Literature Know the Reader Connecting the Reader and the Romance Selected Issues Chapter 4—Building the Collection Collection Building Selection and Acquisition Reviews Collection Development Policy—Selected Issues Collection Control and Display Cataloging Processing, Displaying, and Shelving Collection Maintenance Basic Resources Research Collections PART II: THE LITERATURE Chapter 5—Contemporary Romance Definition Traditional Contemporary Romance Category, or Numbered Series, Romance Women's Romantic Fiction Chick Lit Soap Opera Medical Romance Contemporary Americana Romance Appeal Advising the Reader Brief History Traditional Contemporary Romance Early Classic Contemporary Romance Writers Selected Traditional Contemporary Romance Bibliography Contemporary Category Romance Selected Category Romance Series Women's Romantic Fiction Selected Women's Romantic Fiction Bibliography Chick Lit/Mom Lit and the Like Selected Chick Lit/Mom Lit Bibliography Chapter 6—Romantic Mysteries Definition Appeal Advising the Reader Brief History Romantic Suspense Classic Romantic Suspense Authors Selected Romantic Suspense Bibliography Gothic Romance Early Gothic Prototypes Modern Gothic Prototypes Modern Classic Gothic Romance Authors Selected Gothic Romance Bibliography Chapter 7—Historical Romances Definition Appeal Advising the Reader Brief History Historical Novel Selected Bibliography of Classic Nineteenth-Century Historical Novels Selected Bibliography of Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Historical Novels Romantic Historicals Selected Bibliography of Romantic Historical Prototypes Selected Romantic Historical Bibliography Period Romance Brief Historical Descriptions Medieval Period Sixteenth Century Seventeenth Century Georgian Period (1714–1830) Regency Period (1811–1820) Victorian Period (1837–1901) Edwardian Period (1901–1910) Modern Historical Era (1911–1945) Selected Classic Period Romance Authors Selected Period Romance Bibliography Western Period Romance and Selected Bibliography Native American or "Indian" Romance Period Americana Romance and Selected Bibliography Chapter 8—Traditional Regency Romance Definition The Evolving Regency The Regency Period Appeal Advising the Reader Origins and Brief History of the Regency Romance Early Regency Prototypes Modern Regency Classics Selected Traditional Regency Romance Bibliography Selected Anthologies Chapter 9—Alternative Reality Romance Definition Appeal Advising the Reader Brief History Selected Modern Classics Fantasy Romance Selected Fantasy Romance Bibliography Futuristic Romance Selected Futuristic Romance Bibliography Paranormal Romance Selected Paranormal Romance Bibliography Time Travel Romance Selected Time Travel Romance Bibliography Urban Fantasy Romance Selected Urban Fantasy Romance Bibliography Chapter 10—Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Romance Definition Appeal Advising the Reader Selected Reference Sources Publishers Brief History Classic Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Romances Selected Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Romance Bibliography Chapter 11—Inspirational Romance Definition Appeal Advising the Reader Publishers Brief History Classic Inspirational Romance Writers Selected Inspirational Romance Bibliography Chapter 12—Ethnic/Multicultural Romance Definition Appeal Advising the Reader Brief History Publishers Classic Ethnic and Multicultural Romance Writers Selected Ethnic and Multicultural Romance Bibliography African American Asian and Asian American Anthologies Latino Native American Other Multicultural Romances Chapter 13—Linked Romances Definition Linked Romances versus Publishers' Series Appeal Advising the Reader Brief History Classic Linked Romances Selected Linked Romances Bibliography Multiauthored Series Chapter 14—Erotic Romance Definition Appeal Advising the Reader Brief History Publishers Selected Erotic Romance Bibliography PART III: RESEARCH AIDS Chapter 15—History and Criticism General Guides to the Literature History, Surveys, and Criticism Classic Overviews Classic Gothic Overviews British Perspectives Research Articles, Studies, and Books Governesses and Ladies' Maids Dissertations and Theses Trade and Library Publication Articles Popular Press Articles Chapter 16—Author Biography and Bibliography Author Biographical Sources Biographies, Autobiographies, and Other Single Author Sources Bibliographies The Internet Chapter 17—Periodicals and Review Sources Periodicals Book Review Sources Indexes/Databases Academic Search Premier Book Review Digest Book Review Index Expanded Academic ASAP Lexis/Nexis Proquest Newspapers Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (Book Review Section) Review Columns "Fiction: Romance" in Booklist "Romance" in Library Journal Internet Sites Chapter 18—Miscellaneous Romance Reference Sources Romance Authorship Aids Historical Background Sources Word Books, Recipe Books, Spell Books, and Other Miscellany Websites Chapter 19—Societies and Organizations Writers' Organizations Readers' Organizations, Lists, and Websites Academic and Scholarly Organizations, Lists, Blogs, and Websites Chapter 20—Awards Affaire de Coeur Reader/Writer Poll Awards Romance Writers of America Awards Golden Heart Awards Rita Awards RWA Service Awards RWA Emma Merritt National Service Award Lifetime Achievement Award Hall of Fame Award Favorite Book of the Year Janet Dailey Award Veritas Award Librarian of the Year Steffie Walker Bookseller of the Year Vivian Stephens Industry Award ARTemis Awards RWA Research Grant Program RWA Special Interest Chapter Awards Royal Ascot Award Prism Award Daphne Du Maurier Award RT Book Reviews Magazine Awards Reviewers' Choice Awards Career Achievement Awards Sapphire Awards Quill Book Awards Borders/Walden Bestselling Romance Awards Romance Readers Anonymous LISTSERV (RRA-L) Awards Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) Awards RoNA (Romantic Novel) Awards RoNA Rose Award Romantic Novel of the Year Award Member Awards Katie Fforde Bursary Joan Hessayon New Writers' Scheme Award Elizabeth Goudge Trophy Georgette Heyer Prize Betty Trask Prize and Awards Chapter 21—Collections Reading Collections Research Collections Boston University Bowling Green State University Brown University California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) Michigan State University Stanford University University of Virginia Library of Congress (LC) New York Public Library (NYPL) Chapter 22—Publishers Alyson Publications Avalon Books Avon Books Baker Publishing Group Ballantine Publishing Group Bantam Dell Publishing Group Barbour Publishing Bella Books Belle Books The Berkley Publishing Group Bold Strokes Books Blush Cedar Fort Cerridwen Press Cleis Press Dorchester Publishing Ellora's Cave Publishing FaithWords Firebrand Books Five Star Publishing Grand Central Publishing Robert Hale Harlequin Enterprises Harlequin Series Silhouette Series Mira Books HQN Kimani Press Luna Red Dress Ink Spice Love Inspired (Formerly Steeple Hill) HarperCollins Harvest House Publisher Hodder & Stoughton ImaJinn Books Intaglio Publications Kensington Publishing Corporation Liquid Silver Medallion Press William Morrow Multnomah Publishers Naiad Press, Inc. Thomas Nelson Publishers New American Library (NAL) New Victoria Random House Publishing Group Red Sage Publishing Running Press St. Martin's Press Samhain Publishing Seal Press Simon & Schuster Siren Publishing Spinsters Ink Thorndike Press Tor/Forge Torquere Press Tyndale House Publishers Virgin Books Warner Books Waterbrook Multnomah Zondervan Publishing House Appendix—Sample Core Collection Literary and Early Romance Classics Modern Romance Classics Current Romances Contemporary Series Single Title Women's Romantic Fiction Chick Lit Historical Romantic Mysteries Romantic Suspense Gothic Alternative Reality Fantasy Futuristic Paranormal Time Travel Urban Fantasy Regencies Inspirational Ethnic/Multicultural African American Asian Latino Native American (sometimes called "Indian" in the trade) Sagas Linked Romance Gay/Lesbian Erotic Romance Author/Title Index Subject Index

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Book SynopsisAs a cultural critic, biographer, essayist, and novelist, Albert Murray has had a wide-ranging and profound influence on American art in the decades since the Second World War. Artists as diverse as Walker Percy, Romare Bearden, and Wynton Marsalis have drawn from Murray and his ideas on jazz and the blues, modern consciousness, and the role of race in the American identity. His own works include The Hero and the Blues, Train Whistle Guitar, Good Morning Blues: The Autobiography of Count Basie as Told to Albert Murray, The Spyglass Tree, The Blue Devils of Nada, and The Seven League Boots. Yet this is the first book devoted to Murray himself, and fittingly it is based on the kind of conversations that have proven indispensable to his friends in the arts. It brings together twenty interviews with Murray conducted over the last twenty-four years, beginning with an interview that took place shortly after his second book, South to a Very Old Place, was published, and ending with a previously unpublished interview with the editor. In these conversations Murray discusses those who influenced him - Thomas Mann, Ernest Hemingway, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington - and tells how they helped him develop a philosophy of art based on the blues as well as a new archetype of the American hero, the blues hero. The collection reveals a man who enjoys a good time and a good conversation and whose intellectual improvisations move over such subjects as his reminiscences about the South he grew up in, his insights about regional culture, and commentaries about the contemporary American scene. He is quick to laugh, to conspire, to correct misperceptions, to mimic the sounds a great jazz musician makes, or to recite lines from favorite poems or novels. Taken together, these interviews reveal Murray to be the composite American he describes in his first book, The Omni-Americans, which, when published in 1970, announced a new and important literary voice. Roberta S. Maguire is an assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

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Book SynopsisAn earlier, very much shorter version of this book was published as VULTURES OF THE VOID in 1992 by Borgo Press, along with a companion bibliographic volume, BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION PAPERBACKS AND MAGAZINES 1949-1956. Now the compiler and editor of those books, Philip Harbottle, here presents the result of his further and ongoing researches into British science fiction publishing history. This greatly expanded version includes entirely new coverage of the generic hardcover titles that briefly and paradoxically flourished alongside the indigenous British paperbacks of the early 1950's, spearheaded by an influx of outstanding American science fiction by such authors as Isaac Asimov, Fredric Brown, Edmond Hamilton, Robert Heinlein, Jack Williamson and A. E. van Vogt. VULTURES OF THE VOID: THE LEGACY also deals in fascinating detail with related shaping events both before and after the notorious postwar 'mushroom' decade. In particular it describes how many of the original founders of the pre-war British Interplanetary Society - including fledgling young science fiction writers such as Arthur C. Clarke and Eric Frank Russell - were to become giants and shapers of their field after the war. And how pioneer editors such as Walter Gillings and John Carnell struggled against overwhelming odds to establish British science fiction magazines both before and after the Second World War. In this new book Harbottle also reveals the astonishing latter-day legacy of the turbulent postwar decade for himself and some of the most prolific authors such as John Russell Fearn, E. C. Tubb and others, whose work he has been instrumental in returning to print.

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Book SynopsisDouglas C. Kane reveals a tapestry woven by Christopher Tolkien from different portions of his father’s work that is often quite mind-boggling, with inserts that seemed initially to have been editorial inventions shown to have come from some remote portion of Tolkien’s vast body of work. He demonstrates how material that was written over the course of more than thirty years was merged together to create a single, coherent text. He also makes a frank appraisal of the material omitted and invented by Christopher Tolkien and how these omissions and insertions may have distorted his father’s vision of what he considered—even more than The Lord of the Rings—to be his most important work. It is a fascinating portrait of a unique collaboration that reached beyond the grave. Kane documents the changes, omissions, and additions and traces how the disparate source materials were used to create what is in essence a composite work. He compares the published text with the source texts contained in the volumes of The History of Middle-earth as well as other works and identifies patterns of major and minor changes made to these source materials that resulted in the reconstruction of the finished text. He also cites the works of some of the most important Tolkien scholars, including Tom Shippey, Verlyn Flieger, Christina Scull, Wayne Hammond, Charles Noad, and David Bratman in an attempt to understand and explain why these changes may have been made.Trade ReviewKane minutely details the delicate task Christopher [Tolkien] undertook in stitching together elements of his father’s oeuvre, disparate in genre (from annals and glossaries to full-fledged narratives) and in composition-date (from the 1930s to the 1960s, including work composed both before and after The Lord of the Rings). Kane’s textual scholarship is rigorous and is a model not only for Tolkien scholars but for scholars of more canonical authors, whose textual study is often pursued with less enthusiasm. . . . As welcome as the scrupulous registering of minute changes is, the book excels most when it points to [the] larger choices. [An] absorbing study. -- Nicholas Birns * Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review, Vol. 5, 2009 *One marvels at the amount of work Kane has invested in his project and appreciates the rigor with which it is documented. Meticulous as it is, one has the feeling that — like all icebergs of scholarship — only perhaps one-tenth of the author’s labor has actually made it onto the printed page. . . . [A] meticulously researched and valuable new reference work (one of all too few) on The Simarillion . . . it has the added benefit of approaching the work from the relatively new angle of considering Christopher’s role as a vigorous editor, and Kane is to be congratulated for confronting the matter directly. -- Jason Fisher * Mythlore, (The Journal Of The Mythopoeic Society), Volume 27, *It will probably have occurred, however transiently, to many of those who read first the published Silmarillion and later The History of Middle-earth to ponder exactly how the one is related to the other. . . . This task has now been accomplished by Douglas Kane in Arda Reconstructed at an unprecedented level of detail. . . . However, this is much more than a tabulation of sources. . . . Arda Reconstructed is an important and thought-provoking work and raises serious questions about the treatment of unpublished — and unfinished — literary material. Even if one by no means agrees with all of its answers, it merits a place on the shelf of the more serious explorer of Tolkien’s imagined world. -- Charles Noad, author of “On the Construction of The Silmarillion” * The Lotr Plaza *In Arda Reconstructed Douglas Kane reveals, in even more detail than has previously been available, the complexity of The Silmarillion; and in doing so, also brings into focus the intractable problems Christopher Tolkien faced in making its publication a reality in a form that reflected the “Silmarillion” material in all its breadth and depth. . . . Arda Reconstructed is highly illuminating and very enjoyable to read, shedding much light on The Silmarillion. -- Brian Henderson * The Tolkien Library *Arda Reconstructed . . . is probably the most extensive analysis of The History of Middle-earth so far undertaken. * The Literary Encyclopedia *All in all a wonderful piece of research with many insights into how The Silmarillion was put together by Christopher Tolkien. . . . [A] worthwhile purchase for the Tolkien fan and perhaps essential for the Silmarillion fan. -- Robert H. Walker * Amon Hen, The Bulletin of the Tolkien Society, May 2010 *Mr Kane’s legal background shines through in his utter precision and his delight in the smallest relevant detail. That may all sound like an exceedingly dry exercise, yet this book is anything but dusty. It is never less than readable whilst presenting information which is often complex with commendable clarity. This is a book which has much to offer to readers of several sorts. For anyone wanting to read into the background to the relatively familiar Silmarillion, Arda Reconstructed gives them a way to begin exploring the vast History of Middle-earth series, which can often seem dauntingly confusing. For the more serious scholar, Arda Reconstructed is invaluable, as it gives us a sure guide to what is authorial and what is editorial in the . . . Silmarillion. . . . It also makes possible critical evaluation of the choices made by the editors, particularly necessary with a posthumous work such as The Silmarillion. … Mr Kane’s work also throws up intriguing questions worthy of answer by themselves; some may lie buried somewhere in the HoMe series but are far clearer here, while others may be asked for the first time in this book. … That scholarly usefulness is however, I believe, only part of what this book has to offer. This painstakingly detailed and accurate study is also potentially of the greatest use to those engaging creatively with Tolkien’s work. Arda Reconstructed’s ability to point to more expansive versions in the HoMe series is ideal for anyone wanting or needing more information than the often spare Silmarillion. -- Ruth Lacon, co-author of numerous books on Tolkien * The Festival of the Shire Journal *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Tables Preface Acknowledgments Source Materials and Conventions Introduction: Reconstructing Arda Part I: The Ainulindalë and the Valaquenta Ainulindalë (The Music of the Ainur) Valaquenta (Account of the Valar) Part II: Quenta Silmarillion (The History of the Silmarils) Chapter 1 "Of the Beginning of Days" Chapter 2 "Of Aulë and Yavanna" Chapter 3 "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor" Chapter 4 "Of Thingol and Melian" Chapter 5 "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië" Chapter 6 "Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor" Chapter 7 "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor" Chapter 8 "Of the Darkening of Valinor" Chapter 9 "Of the Flight of the Noldor" Chapter 10 "Of the Sindar" Chapter 11 "Of the Sun and the Moon and the Hiding of Valinor" Chapter 12 "Of Men" Chapter 13 "Of the Return of the Noldor" Chapter 14 "Of the Beleriand and Its Realms" Chapter 15 "Of the Noldor in Beleriand" Chapter 16 "Of Maeglin" Chapter 17 "Of the Coming of Men into the West" Chapter 18 "Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin" Chapter 19 "Of Beren and Lúthien" Chapter 20 "Of the Fifth Battle" Chapter 21 "Of Túrin Turambar" Chapter 22 "Of the Ruin of Doriath" Chapter 23 "Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin" Chapter 24 "Of the Voyage of EGrendil and the War of Wrath" Part III: The Akallabêth, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, and the Appendices to the Silmarillion Akallabêth (The Downfall of Númenor) Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age Appendices to the Silmarillion Conclusion: Arda Reconstructed Notes Index

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Book SynopsisFor more than two decades, Matt Cardin has been one of the most profound and provocative critics and scholars working in the field of horror fiction, and this volume contains his collected essays on a wide array of topics within the genre. Cardin has made a specialty in treating the multifaceted work of Thomas Ligotti, and in six substantial papers he discusses such subjects as H. P. Lovecraft''s influence on Ligotti''s work and thought, the nature of horror in such celebrated tales as "Nethescurial" and "The Bungalow House," and other phases of the work of this master of the weird. And in a wide array of interviews, Cardin provides insight into his own vision and outlook, which have served as the basis of his weird tales. But Cardin is best known as a critic who has brought a formidable knowledge of philosophy and religion to the analysis of horror fiction. Angels and demons; religion and vampires; the nature of cosmic horror-these and other topics are treated by Cardin in the context of horror fiction and film ranging from Mary Shelley''s Frankenstein to George Romero''s "Living Dead" films. In these and other papers, Matt Cardin displays his effortless mastery of the many complex issues evoked by the very nature of the weird tale."This is the perfect companion piece to Matt''s fiction omnibus To Rouse Leviathan. We''re lucky that Matt exists in our world at this particular time and place, in which the weirdness of our day-to-day reality is in dire need of his deeply humanistic criticisms, ideas, suggestions, and presence."-Jon Padgett, author of The Secret of Ventriloquism"For my money, Matt Cardin is the most interesting voice in horror criticism of our time. His investigations into the intersection of religion and horror get to the root of what makes this literary mode so potent and so profound. The arrival of this book is an event to be celebrated. It belongs on the shelf of every reader who cares about the human mind, creativity, and how they relate to this bleak and beautiful literature."-Nathan Ballingrud, author of North American Lake Monsters

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Book SynopsisThe Maximalist Novel sets out to define a new genre of contemporary fiction that developed in the United States from the early 1970s, and then gained popularity in Europe in the early twenty-first century. The maximalist novel has a very strong symbolic and morphological identity. Ercolino sets out ten particular elements which define and structure it as a complex literary form: length, an encyclopedic mode, dissonant chorality, diegetic exuberance, completeness, narrratorial omniscience, paranoid imagination, inter-semiocity, ethical commitment, and hybrid realism. These ten characteristics are common to all of the seven works that centre his discussion: Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, Underworld by Don DeLillo, White Teeth by Zadie Smith, The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, and 2005 dopo Cristo by the Babette Factory. Though the ten features are not all present in the same way or form in every single text, they are all decisive in defining the genre of the maximalist novel, insofar as they are systematically co-present. Taken singularly, they can be easily found both in modernist and postmodern novels, which are not maximalist. Nevertheless, it is precisely their co-presence, as well as their reciprocal articulation, which make them fundamental in demarcating the maximalist novel as a genre.Trade ReviewThere have been attempts to define the nebulous genre of ‘big books’ before, but none so successful or analytically astute … Ercolino has taken full advantage not only of characterizing but also of naming the putative genre of the maximalist novel … I suspect that criticism on big books will soon be filled with references to the ‘maximalist novel.’ For this we are indebted to Ercolino’s study which makes a significant and important contribution to the criticism on late twentieth- and twenty-first century narrative fictions. -- N. Katherine Hayles * Novel: A Forum on Fiction *Ercolino situates his contribution in response to three competing paradigms for thinking about long narrative works: Tom LeClair’s ‘systems novel’, Franco Moretti’s ‘world text’, and Frederick Karl’s ‘Mega-Novel’. Moretti’s Modern Epic looms perhaps the largest among these three, and one of The Maximalist Novel’s greatest strengths is in the way it extends Moretti’s classic analysis to incorporate the developments in epic form ushered in by postwar writers … [T]his book makes a valuable contribution to novel theory and should be of interest to readers intent on understanding how the big, ambitious novels of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century work. * Forum for Modern Language Studies, Volume 51 Issue 2 (April 2015) *Ercolino knows his literary theory; his introduction . . . makes well his case for understanding maximalism as a genre beyond the questions of mastery, encyclopaedism and national identity . . . [and] it is on this theoretical ground that Ercolino's argument is at its strongest -- Kiron Ward * Textual Practice *By the 'maximalist novel,' Ercolino means works that possess 'strong morphological and symbolic identity' and are defined by length, encyclopedic mode, dissonant chorality, diegetic exuberance, completeness, narratorial omniscience, paranoid imagination, intersemiocity, ethical commitment, and hybrid realism. Though Ercolino's world is 'hermeneutic frameworks' and 'intersemiocity,' some of his insights are more democratic - not reserved for those with their fingers on the theoretic pulse of Barth and Lyotard […] Ambitious, systematic, and rigorous, Ercolino excels at close readings of the novels. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. -- Erik Hage, SUNY Cobbleskill * CHOICE *The Maximalist Novel offers a thought-provoking overview of its object, and an excellent spur to further research. -- David Kurnick * Studies in the Novel *Ercolino is persuasive in his conception of the genre ... [and] particularly astute in pursuing the genealogy of each element. * U.S. Studies Online *Up to the present, we have had three major attempts to define the chaotic seeming extravaganzas that take the form of doorstop-sized books. Tom LeClair, Frederick R. Karl, and Franco Moretti have laid out conflicting definitions, and Stefano Ercolino offers a splendid, different, and nuanced approach to such challenging texts as David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest and Roberto Bolaño’s 2666. He identifies characteristics present to greater or lesser extent in all of the seven novels he discusses, and then analyzes how these characteristics function. Length, encyclopedic mode, dissonant chorality, and diegetic exuberance strain the novelistic conventions and readers’ capacities to absorb, while completeness, narratorial omniscience, and paranoid imagination, all help contain or modify the centrifugal impulses. He sees these novels as dynamic balances in which chaotic drives are co-present with cosmic structuring. Where people like Edward Mendelson argued that the point of creating an encyclopedic work was to be encyclopedic for its own sake, Ercolino insists that encyclopedism is a tool, not a goal, even as multiplicity of plots and voices is not in itself a goal but part of the larger dynamic within the organization. In addition to those characteristics, he also discusses inter-semiocity, ethical commitment, and hybrid realism as contributors to these attempts to create totalizing representations of our world. Ercolino writes lucidly, and keeps his chapters short and focused. Particularly interesting is his argument that the maximalist novel is a strong hybrid between novel and epic. Ercolino’s study is a good place to start if you want help making sense of a maximalist novel. * Kathryn Hume, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English, The Pennsylvania State University, USA *The Systems Novel. Mega-Novels. World Fictions. Have these terms and the characterizations they encourage had the effect of removing history and locatedness from our most ambitious literary fictions? To appreciate their significance, Stefano Ercolino urges us to reconsider contemporary fiction within literary history as a whole. A critical project no less ambitious than the big books under discussion,The Maximalist Novel offers new categories and a transatlantic context for current fiction in both its innovative and traditional aspects. * Joseph Tabbi, Professor of English, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA *In this ambitious study, Stefano Ercolino persuasively argues that the maximalist novel has developed out of its postmodern American roots to become a vital transnational genre for contemporary Western writers. Ercolino’s multilinguism and deep knowledge of an array of national literary traditions allow him to bring into view the formal features that define this new and vibrant genre—an undertaking made all the more interesting by the apparent limitlessness and lawlessness that these novels project. Ercolino is a powerful theorist in his own right. One of the delights of this book is its dialectical engagement with key ideas from the long tradition of novel theory. Drawing from marxist, narratological and new medial studies, Ercolino brings a maximized knowledge of novel theory to his inquiry into the maximalist novel. -- Dorothy J. Hale, Professor of English, University of California, Berkeley, USAThe Maximalist Novel is first and foremost a work of literary genre theory … the powerful integration of a meticulous analysis of form with a discussion of the cultural and symbolic reasons behind formal choices is the greatest merit of this work, which also demonstrates the vitality and relevance in today’s literary scholarship of what has been (often derogatorily) labeled as “Marxist criticism.” … The Maximalist Novel, a thoughtful and acute attempt to define a new generic category, testifies to the liveliness of contemporary scholarship on the novel form, especially in relation to the recently much-debated concept of world literature. Ercolino’s critical approach demonstrates that the integration of a rigorous historical understanding with a broad disciplinary framework can help us navigate complex and urgent questions that contemporary novels continue to raise. * Comparative Literature Studies *Table of ContentsList of Figures Acknowledgements The Maximalist Novel Introduction. Maximalist Paradigms 1. “Art of Excess”: The Systems Novel 2. “A Paradoxical Form”: The Mega-Novel 3. “In the Eyes of the World”: The Modern Epic Part One Chapter I. Length Chapter II. Encyclopedic Mode 1. An “Encyclopedic Novel”? 2. An Encyclopedic “Genre”? 3. The Encyclopedic Mode Chapter III. Dissonant Chorality 1. Chorality 2. Polyphony Minimalism/Maximalism Chapter IV. Diegetic Exuberance Chapter V. Completeness 1. Structural Practices of the Maximalist Novel 1.1 Circular Geometries 1.2 Temporal Architectures 1.3 Conceptual Structures 1.3.1 Leitmotiv 1.3.2 Myth 1.3.3 Intertextual Forms Chapter VI. Narratorial Omniscience Chapter VII. Paranoid Imagination Internal Dialectic. Chaos-Function/Cosmos-Function Part Two Chapter VIII. Intersemioticity Chapter IX. Ethical Commitment 1. “Chemically Troubled Times”: Representing Addiction Chapter X. Hybrid Realism Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrevor Cribben Merrill offers a bold reassessment of Milan Kundera’s place in the contemporary canon. Harold Bloom and others have dismissed the Franco-Czech author as a maker of “period pieces” that lost currency once the Berlin Wall fell. Merrill refutes this view, revealing a previously unexplored dimension of Kundera’s fiction. Building on theorist René Girard’s notion of “triangular desire,” he shows that modern classics such as The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The Book of Laughter and Forgetting display a counterintuitive—and bitterly funny—understanding of human attraction. Most works of fiction (and most movies, too) depict passionate feelings as deeply authentic and spontaneous. Kundera’s novels and short stories overturn this romantic dogma. A pounding heart and sweaty palms could mean that we have found “the One” at last—or they could attest to the influence of a model whose desires we are unconsciously borrowing: our amorous predilections may owe less to personal taste or physical chemistry than they do to imitative desire. At once a comprehensive survey of Kundera’s novels and a witty introduction to Girard’s mimetic theory, The Book of Imitation and Desire challenges our assumptions about human motive and renews our understanding of a major contemporary author.Trade ReviewThe contribution that Trevor Merrill’s book makes is at least threefold: it sheds new light on the work of one of our era’s strongest novelists; it extends and confirms the literary reach of René Girard’s main hypotheses; and it helps us to better understand our own existence. And it does all of this in a style that’s clear, precise, and elegant. What more could be asked of a major work of literary criticism? -- François Ricard, McGill University, USAIn the same way that according to Galileo "Nature's great book is written in mathematical language", Trevor Merrill argues brilliantly that Milan Kundera’s oeuvre is written in terms of René Girard’s theory of mimetic, triangular desire. What is remarkable is that Kundera himself was unaware of the existence of the theory when he wrote his first novels. Had he been, he would by his own admission have found himself unable to write them. What is even more remarkable is that this structural kinship once revealed does add to the beauty of Kundera’s works in the same way that Newton’s or Einstein’s equations make Nature even more astounding. This is a great book about a great writer and a great theory, in which the three vertices of the triangle enhance one another. -- Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Professor of Philosophy, Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, FranceWith clear and persuasive style Trevor Cribben Merrill’s The Book of Imitation and Desire successfully rescues Milan Kundera from the unjust expulsion he suffered, at the hand of Harold Bloom, from the pantheon of the 20th century canonic authors. By compellingly arguing about the infinite perceptiveness of Kundera’s novels in relation to the Quixotesque adventures of our eternally mediated desires, Merrill offers an illuminating and enriching new perspective on the opus of the Czech writer. The Girardian lens, rather than straitjacketing the psychological complexity of Kundera’s works, as many have argued, opens up new critical perspectives and a new understanding of the author of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. Pace Bloom, in the pantheon of the novelistic geniuses set by Girard’s seminal Deceit, Desire and the Novel, Merrill’s excellent book suggests, a place should now be reserved for Milan Kundera. -- Pierpaolo Antonello, University Senior Lecturer, Department of Italian, University of Cambridge, UKTable of ContentsForeword by Andrew McKenna Author’s Preface I. “WOMEN LOOK FOR MEN WHO HAVE HAD BEAUTIFUL WOMEN” II. INTO THE LABYRINTH OF VALUES 1. The Transfiguration of the Object 2. Metamorphoses of Kristyna 3. “An Imitation of Feeling” III. FROM IMITATION TO RIVALRY 1. The Shift from Admiration to Envy 2. Deceit, Desire, and the Plight of the Aging Don Juan 3. Rivalry and the Transfiguration of the Object 4. “The Younger Sister Imitated the Elder” 5. Publish or Perish IV. THE MODEL AS OBSTACLE 1. Strategies of Revelation 2. The Art of Polyphonic Comparison 3. A Little Theory of Resentment 4. Litost in the Underground V. JEALOUSY AND ITS METAPHORS 1. The Game Gone Awry 2. The Metaphors of Jealousy 3. “A Test That Gauged Her Susceptibility To Seduction” VI. THE QUADRILLE OF DESIRE 1. Sex as Theater 2. Acute Rivalry and Homosexual Attraction 3. The Geometry of Sadomasochism VII. AT THE HEART OF THE LABYRINTH 1. “The Thousand-Headed Dragon” 2. “The Cement of their Brotherhood” 3. The Two Temptations 4. “The Absolute Denial of Shit” 5. First Time As Tragedy, Second Time As Farce VIII. REPUDIATING THE MODEL 1. Eduard’s Smile 2. From Hatred to Compassion 3. Karenin’s Smile 4. The Birth of a Novelist 5. Liberating Exiles IX. TOMAS IN COLONUS, OR THE WISDOM OF THE NOVEL Postscript: A Response to Elif Batuman Appendix: A Brief Overview of Kundera’s Life and Works Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn 1989, Steven Moore published the first scholarly study of all three of William Gaddis's novels and since then it has been generally regarded as the best book on this difficult but major writer's work. This revised and expanded edition includes new chapters on the novels Gaddis published after 1989, the National Book Award-winning A Frolic of His Own and the posthumous novella Agape Agape, along with updated introductory and concluding chapters. This introduction offers a clear discussion of all five of Gaddis's novels, providing essential biographical information, two chapters each on his most significant novels, The Recognitions and J R, and a chapter each devoted to his later three novels. A concluding chapter locates his place in American literature and notes his influence on younger writers. Each chapter focuses on the main themes of each novel and discusses the literary techniques Gaddis deployed to dramatize those themes. Since Gaddis is an erudite, allusive novelist, Moore clarifies his references and explains how they enhance his themes.Trade ReviewIn 1982, Steven Moore invented Gaddis Studies when he published his comprehensive Reader’s Guide to The Recognitions. Thirty years, and three books later, he’s returned to his landmark 1989 monograph on Gaddis’s work, bringing it up-to-date with new chapters on Gaddis’s late work. This is the definitive study of both how Gaddis’s novels work and why they matter. In each authoritative chapter Moore maps their large intellectual investments and intricate architecture, in lucid and well-informed readings that underline the fact that Moore has a deeper insight into this important body of fiction than anyone else. * Stephen J. Burn, Reader in American Literature, University of Glasgow, UK *Steven Moore is one of our most important Gaddis scholars and, with the recent revival of interest in William Gaddis’s powerful literary legacy, this revised guidebook will become an invaluable resource for undergraduates, graduate students, scholars starting work on Gaddis, and lay readers who might be interested in learning more about his art. * Lee Konstantinou, Assistant Professor of English, University of Maryland, College Park, USA *Where would Gaddis studies be without Steven Moore? His indispensable guide, for many years the only monographic introduction to Gaddis’s fiction, is back again in a new, expanded and updated edition, and more indispensable than ever. Moore unravels the often tortuous situations and storylines of the novels, highlighting their satire and comedy, which can sometimes elude readers. These are not solemn books, but 'frolics,' and Moore is not a solemn explicator but a knowledgeable enthusiast–the ideal traveling companion for any voyager in Gaddisland. * Brian McHale, Arts & Humanities Distinguished Professor of English, The Ohio State University, USA *There are a handful of William Gaddis specialists in the world. One of them, Stephen Burn (also a respected David Foster Wallace critic), in a quotation on the back of the expanded edition of Moore’s critical study of Gaddis’ works—suitably updated and released in February of this year, a handful of months ahead of Tabbi’s biography—states that its author 'invented Gaddis Studies when he published his comprehensive guide to The Recognitions' (in 1982; now available online). Anyone writing after that, and after his original Twayne edition of William Gaddis (1989), owes much to Moore’s analysis. -- Jeff Bursey * Numéro Cinq *Table of ContentsPreface to the Expanded Edition Preface to the 1989 Edition 1. A Vision of Order 2. The Recognitions: Magic, Myth, and Metaphor 3. The Recognitions: The Self Who Can Do More 4. J R: What America Is All About 5. J R: Empedocles on Valhalla 6. Carpenter's Gothic; or, The Ambiguities 7. A Frolic of His Own: Ideas of Order 8. Agape Agape: The Self Who Cannot Do More Bibliography Index

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