Edgar Allan Poe is unique for being at once so firmly entrenched within the American literary tradition and yet so questionable in the eyes of the very critics whose attentions strengthened his position. Harold Bloom wonders if Poe's longevity suggests that literary merit and canonical status aren't inseparable.
John Steinbeck was a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962. He wrote such classics as "The Grapes of Wrath", "Of Mice and Men", The Red Pony", and "East of Eden". This title introduces a collection of critical essays about this author.
F. Scott Fitzgerald (Bloom's Modern Critical Views)
Fitzgerald has been referred to as a 20th-century John Keats. This text examines some of his short stories, including "May Day" and "Babylon Revisited." This title also features a biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald, a user guide, a detailed thematic analysis of each short story, a list of characters in each story, a complete bibliography of Fitzgerald’s works, an index of themes and ideas, and editor’s notes and introduction by Harold Bloom.
Herman Hesse's introspective, lyrical writing won him praise from the literary world, while his sense of estrangement from industrialized civilization and endorsement of pacificism brought him wide popular approval. Winner of the Nobel Prize for The Glass Bead Game, Hesse renders life's callings in a way that has called readers to a renewed sense of purpose and possibility.
