Contemporary literature encompasses so many genres, literary forms, and themes that it would seem almost impossible to identify a unifying thread between them. Yet in the tradition established by literary heavyweights who came before, modern writers of all stripes and backgrounds have continued to entertain and to confront the social, cultural, and psychological realities of the times—including everything from racial identity to war to technology—with their own flair and insight. The diversity of authors profiled herein—from Toni Morrison to Sylvia Plath to Stephen King to David Foster Wallace—attests to the scope and complexity of modern society.
As Europe’s religious, social, economic, and cultural identity began to take more definite shape in the medieval and Renaissance eras, so too did its literary identity. By capturing in ink the spirit of these transformative periods, such literary giants as Geoffrey Chaucer, Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, and John Milton laid the foundations for literature, drama, and poetry today. Readers will be introduced to these and other notable figures from around the world whose works have had an equally enduring impact on the global literary canon
Starting at the dawn of the 20th century, writers began experimenting with literary styles as never before. As perhaps the most far-reaching movement, Modernism swept across both the United States and Europe and has been embodied in the works of such writers as Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and T.S. Eliot. The existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, Samuel Beckett’s absurdist writings, and the range of literary output from around the world also reflect the spirit of the period. The lives and works of these and other authors from across the globe are surveyed in this absorbing volume.
Narratives come in many forms, fall into many genres, and tell the stories of an endless assortment of characters. Despite recurring themes and conceits in works from around the world, each story-from biography to science fiction-is singular and designed to elicit a distinct emotional response from its readers. The rhetorical tools and literary styles that have helped reinvent the art and study of storytelling over time are surveyed in this captivating volume.
Desperation is the companion novel to King's The Regulators, which was published simultaneously under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Forget the more-or-less literary novels of recent years, like Dolores Claiborne.
