The Contemporary American Short-Story Cycle: The Ethnic Resonance of Genre

James Nagel offers the first systematic history and definition of the short-story cycle as exemplified in contemporary American fiction, bringing attention to the format's wide appeal among various ethnic groups. He examines in detail eight recent manifestations of the genre, all praised by critics while uniformly misidentified as novels. Nagel proposes that the short-story cycle, with its concentric as opposed to linear plot development possibilities, lends itself particularly well to exploring themes of ethnic assimilation, which mirror some of the major issues facing American society today.

Author: James Nagel
Publisher: LSU Press
Published: 04/01/2004
Pages: 297
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.94lbs
Size: 8.66h x 6.00w x 0.65d
ISBN: 9780807129616

About the Author
JAMES NAGEL is J. O. Eidson Distinguished Professor of American Literature at the University of Georgia, founder of the journal Studies in American Fiction, and cofounder of the American Literature Association. Among his previous books are Stephen Crane and Literary Impressionism; Ernest Hemingway: The Oak Park Legacy; and, with Henry S. Villard, Hemingway in Love and War: The Lost Diary of Agnes von Kurowsky.