Novel Voices

Jeffrey M. Elliot interviews five writers of science fiction: Jerry Pournelle, Harlan Ellison, David Gerrold, Gregory Benford, and Richard A. Lupoff. With an introduction by A. E. van Vogt.

From its beginnings narratology has incorporated a communicative model of literary narratives, considering these as simulations of natural, oral acts of communication. This approach, however, has had some problems with accounting for the strangeness and anomalies of modern and postmodern narratives. As many skeptics have shown, not even classical realism conforms to the standard set by oral or ‘natural’ storytelling. Thus, an urge to confront narratology with the difficult task of reconsidering a most basic premise in its theoretical and analytical endeavors has, for some time, been undeniable. During the 2000s, Nordic narratologists have been among the most active and insistent critics of the communicative model. They share a marked skepticism towards the idea of using ‘natural’ narratives as a model for understanding and interpreting all kinds of narratives, and for all of them, the distinction of fiction is of vital importance. This anthology presents a collection of new articles that deal with strange narratives, narratives of the strange, or, more generally, with the strangeness of fiction, and even with some strange aspects of narratology.

In-depth and personal interviews by Rita Guibert of Pablo Neruda, Jorge Luis Borges, Miguel Angel Asturias, Octavio Paz, Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez and Guillermo Cabrera Infante. The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Pablo Neruda in 1971, Miguel Angel Asturias in 1967, Octavio Paz in 1990 and Gabriel García Márquez in 1982.

Voyage au bout de la nuit (1932), by Louis-Ferdinand Celine (1894-1961), and Zazie dans le metro (1959), by Raymond Queneau (1903-1976), were two revolutionary novels in their transposition of spoken language into written language. Since their publication they have been adapted into a broad range of media, including illustrated novel, bande dessinee, film, stage performance and recorded reading. What happens to their striking literary voices as they are transposed into media that combine text and image, sound and image, or consist of sound alone? In this study, Armelle Blin-Rolland examines adaptations sparked by these two seminal novels to understand what 'voice' means in each medium, and its importance in the process of adaptation.

Walker Percy's novels are fraught with characters struggling toward a destiny and purpose in life who must sort through conflicting inner voices and the voices of family, friends, therapists, and mentors until they finally find their own paths. Through trial, error, and retrial, Percy's characters continuously reinvent themselves, struggling until they reach solutions, satisfaction, and maturity. In this multifaceted work, Michael Kobre analyzes Walker Percy's major fiction works--The Moviegoer, The Last Gentleman, Love in the Ruins, Lancelot, The Second Coming, and The Thanatos Syndrome--in terms of the Russian philosopher and literary scholar Mikhail Bakhtin's critical theory. Kobre begins with an introduction to Percy's view of language and consciousness and a clear, accessible explanation of Bakhtin's ideas. His subsequent discussion of the novels connects each work in turn with Percy's advancing career and explores the deepening conflict in Percy's fiction between his desire to express his own religious and moral beliefs and his commitment to the essential freedom of his art--the play of many voices in his narratives.

This collection provides a rare glimpse into the writing lives of 15 contemporary authors, including Charles Baxter, Elizabeth McCracken, and Charles Johnson. How-to sidebars on improving prose and breaking into publishing to guide readers in getting a jump start on publication.

In 2030, an old man who has survived the holocaustic destruction of civilization in the 1980's illuminates the events of the past by portraying the lives of his cousin, a journalist during the 1970 war measures act, and his stepfather, a German caught up in the madness of the Hitler era.

A selection of essays and reviews published over the past twenty-five years in the Berkshire Eagle, Chicago Review, the Chicago Tribune, Magill's Literary Annual, The World & I, and other journals and collections, Voices and Visions offers engaging discussions of a wide range ...