English 5550
CONTEMPORARY
LITERATURE

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RESOURCES
updated 14 December 2006

General Resources (contemporary literature sites)
Authors' Sites
Cultural & Literary Contexts
Related Course Sites

  indicates audio presentations requiring a RealAudio player.
  indicates review of videotape or film version of text.

General Resources
(Contemporary Literature Sites)

ACADEMIC INFO: American Literature
African-American Literature Book Club
American Literature on the Web: American Lit. since 1945
Bookwire
BUBL Link: Contemporary Fiction
Contemporary Literature
Contemporary Postcolonial Literature in English
LITERARY RESOURCES: 20th Century British & Irish
Modern & Contemporary American Poetry (extensive links page)
MostlyFiction.com
New York Review of Books
Postmodernism in/is Fiction
Some Characteristics of Contemporary Theory (John Lye)
Twentieth-Century Poetry in English
Women of Color. Women of Words
The Write Stuff (interviews)

Authors' Sites
DISCLAIMER: Unless otherwise indicated, the following sites have not been authorized by the writers concerned.   Some of these sites are sponsored by publishers or universities; others are the work of students and/or admirers.  Several sites contain outdated links.   Caveat emptor.  As always when researching (particularly researching on the web), peruse with profound skepticism.  Please visit the ICYouSee Guide to Critical Thinking About What You See on the Web.

American Authors
Richard Ford (b. 1946)
Allegra Goodman (b. 1967)
Joseph Heller (1923-1999)
Toni Morrison (b. 1931)
Philip Roth (b. 1933)
Kurt Vonnegut (b. 1922)

English Authors
Martin Amis (b. 1949)
Anita Brookner (b. 1928)
Nick Hornby (b. 1957)
P. D. James (b. 1920)

Irish Authors
Maeve Binchy (b. 1940)
Dermot Bolger (b. 1959)
Roddy Doyle (b. 1958)
Jennifer Johnston (b. 1930)
Neil Jordan (b. 1950)
Mary Lavin (1912-1996)
Patrick McCabe (b. 1955)
Edna O'Brien (b. 1932)
Eithne Strong (1923-1999)

World Authors
at Contemporary World Literature

--------------------------------------------------------

Martin Amis (Money, London Fields, et al.)
--Guardian reviews and interviews
--Interview with Martin Amis, by Linda Richards (January Magazine, June 2000)
--Interview with Martin Amis (Powells.com)
--The Martin Amis Web
--"No More Illusions," interview by Alexander Laurence and Kathleen McGee (The Write Stuff)
____________________

Maeve Binchy  (Tara Road, Nights of Rain and Stars, et al.)
--Interview with Maeve Binchy (BookReporter.com, 1999)
--Interview with Maeve Binchy, by Ellen Kanner (BookPage, 2006)
--Maeve Binchy (ReadIreland)
--Maeve Binchy Bibliography (FantasticFiction, 2006)
--Official Web Site of Maeve Binchy
____________________

Dermot Bolger (Finbar's Hotel, Journey Home, The Family on Paradaise Pier, et al.)
--"Airbrushing the Heroes from History: Dermot Bolger and The Family on Paradaise Pier," by Berit Haugan Keyes, May 2005)
--Dermot Bolger and The Family on Paradise Pier (Three Monkeys Online, May 2005)
--"The Finbar's Hotel Project" (Themis-Athena, 2001)
--Harper-Collins
--Interview with Dermot Bolger (HarperCollins)
--Irish Writers Online
--Review of Finbar's Hotel, by Katherine Weber (New York Times, May 1999)
--Themis-Athena

----------------------------

Anita Brookner  (Hotel du Lac)
--AllReaders.com review of Hotel du Lac
--"Just Don't Mention Jane Austen: Interview," by R. McCrum
--Reading Group Center: Hotel du Lac (study questions et al.)

----------------------------

Roddy Doyle (The Barrytown Trilogy)
--Biography and Bibliography (Andrew Keiler, 1999)
--Powells' Interview: Roddy Doyle (with Dave Welch, 1999)
--Guardian Interview: Roddy Doyle (with Emma Brockes, 2004)
--Guardian Interview: Roddy Doyle (with Nicci Gerard, 2001)
--The Salon Interview: Roddy Doyle (with Charles Taylor, 1999)
----------------------------

Richard Ford (Rock Springs)
--"About Richard Ford," by Don Lee (Ploughshares, 1996)
--"Crazy for Stories," Richard Ford (NY Times, 1992)
--"The Internal Optimist," by Jim Yardley
--NPR interview with Richard Ford (RealAudio)
--On Independence Day (Reading Group Center)
--"Richard Ford" (web page by Mississippi Writers Project)
--"Richard Ford's Uncommon Characters" Bruce Weber (1988)
--"Stop Blaming Baseball," Richard Ford (NY Times)
--"What a Sea of Stories Taught Me," Richard Ford (1990)
--"Where Does Writing Come From?"  Richard Ford (Granta)

----------------------------
Allegra Goodman  (The Family Markowitz)
--"About Time," Allegra Goodman's review of Henry Roth's Requiem for Harlem
--Allegra Goodman's Home Page
--"The Art Biz," an early story by Allegra Goodman
--Author Notebook: Goodman on Kaaterskill Falls (1998)
--"Capturing the Rich Tradition of Jewish Life," by Sarah Tomlinson
--Chapter One of The Family Markowitz (HoustonChronicle.com)
--Chapter One of Kaaterskill Falls (USA Today)
--excerpt from Kaaterskill Falls (BookBrowse.com)
--"Ghost Stories: The New Wave of Jewish Writing,"  M. Dickstein
--"Jewish American Pastoral: Review of Kaaterskill Falls,"
   Aryeh Lev Stollman (Forward, 1998)
--"Marriage of Two Minds," article by Allegra Goodman
--"Retrospective," story from Total Immersion
--Salon Review of The Family Markowitz, Dwight Garner
--"Talking with Allegra Goodman," by Aida Kabatznick Press
--"Ties That Comfort and Confine," Lindy Washburn (Dec. 2000)
--Wandering Jews: Review of The Family Markowitz, M. Lowenthal
_________________

Joseph Heller  (Catch-22)
--The Buddha and Catch-22 (by Sámanera Bodhesako)
--Catch-22 (SparkNotes)
--Catch-22 Notes at BookRags (context, summary, analysis)
--Catch-22: Cadets Hails a Chronicler of the Absurd (NY Times)
--Catch-22 Fan Page
--Catch-22 Lesson Plan & Resources, Discovery Channel
--Catch-22 Plus: A Conversation with Joseph Heller (1994)
--ClassicNotes on Catch-22 (summary, analysis)
--Joseph Heller (Encarta)
--Joseph Heller (profile)
--Joseph Heller Reads from Catch-22
--"Looking Back at Catch-22," by N. Podhoretz
--"The Loony Horror of It All: Catch-22 Turns 25" (J. W. Aldridge)
--Mike Nichols' Catch-22, by Dr. David Hart 
--obituaries (12 Dec. 1999): SeniorSite, Associated Press.
--Playboy Interview with Joseph Heller & Kurt Vonnegut (1992)
--Radio National Interview with Joseph Heller (Australia, 1998)
--University of Maryland Interview

----------------------------

Nick Hornby (High Fidelity)
--"About a Writer" (Salon.com)
--"About Nick's Boy," by Matt Seaton (Guardian, Nov. 2000)
--"The Conformist," by Sarah Kerr (Slate, May 1998)
--Chapter One of Hornby's About a Boy (1998)
--Comments on Nick Hornby's About a Boy
--High Fidelity (official film site)
--Interviewed by Francis Leach (Headspace, 1998)
--Joan & John Cusack on film version of High Fidelity
--Review of About a Boy (Literary Review)
--Saloncom Interview with Nick Hornby, by Cynthia Joyce
--Stephen Frears and Nick Hornby Interviewed at the Barbican
--"Too Cool For Words," by Hal Espen
--Yahoo Discussion Group on Nick Hornby
----------------------------

P. D. James (Original Sin)
-- AllReaders.com: review of Original Sin, P. D. James main page
-- "A Certain Writer: P. D. James," by Marion Long
   (HomeArts)
-- "A Conversation with P. D. James," (Amazon.com)
-- "Crime and Place in P. D. James's Detective Fiction,"
   by Delphine Kresge (May 1997) 
-- "In Mystery Fiction, Rooms Furnished One Clue at a Time"
   by P. D. James (New York Times, 1983)
-- "No Gore, Please--They're British" (New York Times, 1988)
--"P. D. James" (Encarta)
--"Phyllis Dorothy White Uncovers The Secret Face of P. D. James"
   (Nan Robertson, New York Times Interview, 1977)
-- "The Queen of Crime: P. D. James," by Julian Symons
  (New York Times, 1986)
-- Review of Original Sin (Tangled Web)
--Salon interview with P. D. James, by Jennifer Reese.
-- "The Snake in the Archives: Review of Original Sin,"
  by Michael Malone (New York Times, 1995)

___________________

Jennifer Johnston (The Gates, Shadows on Our Skin, The Railway-Station Man, et al.)
--Jennifer Johnston (Irish Writers Online)
--Jennifer Johnston (Aosdana)
--Jennifer Johnston (British Council)
--"The Quiet Woman," by Rosie Cowan (Guardian, 2004)
___________________

Neil Jordan (novels:The Past, The Dream of the Beast; films: The Company of Wolves; The Crying Game; Michael Collins; The Butcher Boy)
--The Breakfast on Pluto Interview with Neil Jordan (FutureMovies)
--"In the Company of Neil Jordan," by Michael Dare (L.A. Weekly, April 1985)
--Interview with Neil Jordan and Pat McCabe (John Maguire, Irish Independent," Dec. 2005)
--"Neil Jordan: The History Man"--by Robert Sellers (The Independent, 2006)
--The Official Neil Jordan Website
___________________

Mary Lavin (The House in Clewe Street and Mary O'Grady, plus 18 volumes of short stories)
--Mary Lavin (Aosdana)
--"Sacrificial Women in Short Stories by Mary Lavin and Edna O'Brien," by Jeanette Roberts Shumaker (Studies in Short Fiction, Spring 1995)
--"Words That Do Not Speak Themselves: Mary Lavin's 'Happiness,'" by Mark D. Hawthorne (Studies in Short Fiction, Fall 1994)

___________________

Patrick McCabe (The Butcher Boy, The Dead School, Breakfast on Pluto, Emerald Germs of Ireland, et al.)
--Interview with Neil Jordan and Pat McCabe (John Maguire, Irish Independent," Dec. 2005)
--Interview with Pat McCabe, by Pat Collins
--"King of Bog Gothic," by John O'Mahoney  (Guardian, 2003)
--Patrick McCabe (British Council Arts)

----------------------------
Toni Morrison  (Sula)
--Anniina's Toni Morrison Page
--Distinguished Women (biography)
--EducETH: Toni Morrison
--Nobel Lecture (Nov. 1993)
--Nobel Prize Internet Archive
--The Pain of Being Black, by Bonnie Angelo.  Time, 22 May 1989.
--Salon interview with Toni Morrison, by Zia Jaffery.  Feb. 1998.
--SparkNotes on Sula
--Toni Morrison page
--"Two Selves: The Search for Identity in Sula"
   essay by by Yuri Yurichuk
--Sula: Study Questions & Answers
--Sula: A Modern Folktale, book review by Michael Carden

---------------------------

Edna O'Brien (The Country Girls Trilogy, The Fanatic Heart, 
In the Forest, et al.)
--Audio Interview with Edna O'Brien   (Don Swaim, 1992)
--"The Country Girl's Home Truths" (Ronan Bennett, 2002)
--Edna O'Brien (Books & Writers)
--Edna O'Brien (Seattle Arts & Letters)
--Edna O'Brien (LitWeb.net)
--"Happy Anniversary, Edna O'Brien," by Lesley McDowell  (Sunday Herald, August 2002)
--"Love Objects: Love and Obsession in the Stories of Edna O'Brien," Kiera O'Hara (Studies in Short Fiction,  Summer 1993)
--"The Rotten Luck of  Kate and Baba" (A. Broyard, New York Times)
--"Sacrificial Women in Short Stories by Mary Lavin and Edna O'Brien," by Jeanette Roberts Shumaker (Studies in Short Fiction, Spring 1995)

SEE ALSO Edna O'Brien, Independent Study Page.
_________________

Philip Roth  (American Pastoral, The Human Stain, The Plot Against America, Everyman, et al.)
--Featured Author: Philip Roth (New York Times)
--Guardian Interview, by Martin Krasnik (Dec. 2005)
--"The Long Road Home," by Al Alvarez (Guardian, 2004)
--Philip Roth (Books & Writers)
--Philip Roth Discusses Everyman (NPR audio, May 2006)
--The Philip Roth Society
--Philip Roth: The Zuckerman Books, by Ken Gordon (Salon.com, 2002)

_________________

Eithne Strong (Degrees of Kindred and The Love Riddle)
--Eithne Strong (Irish Writers Online)
--Eithne Strong Bibliography
_________________

Kurt Vonnegut  (Slaughterhouse Five)
--The Christian Century Interview with Kurt Vonnegut
--Contemporary Authors: Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
--Initial Study Questions for Slaughterhouse Five , pdf file
   (Dr. E. K. Sparks, Clemson University)
--Kurt Vonnegut Chronology, by
--Kurt Vonnegut: So It Goes, by Shawn Rider
--Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Lights Comic Paths of Despair, by I. Shenker
--"Mad Humanist," by Frank Houston   (Salon.com, 1999)
--Marek Vit's Kurt Vonnegut Corner (not updated since 1998)
--New York Times review of Slaughterhouse Five (1969)
--Playboy Interview with Joseph Heller & Kurt Vonnegut (1992)
--Salon.com Interview with Kurt Vonnegut, Frank Houston (1999)
--SparkNotes on Slaughterhouse Five
--Slaughterhouse Five: Study Questions & Answers
--The Vonnegut Web
--Yahoo's Kurt Vonnegut Links

Cultural & Literary Contexts

--The Book Market II,
by John Unsworth, Columbia History of the American Novel
(the literary marketplace in the period of postmodernism)
--Modernism and the Modern Novel,
at The Electronic Labyrinth, by C. Keep et al.
(brief discussion of the modernist "movement")
--Our Postmodern Life
(considers some characteristics of the fractured experience known awkwardly and vaguely as postmodernism)
--Postmodernism and Its Critics ,
by S. Weiss & K. Wesley, University of Alabama
(site for course in social anthropology, includes basic premises, key works, and some defintions of modernism and postmodernism)

Related Course Sites updated June 2006

--Automobility in Contemporary Film & Fiction
   (Dr.  Katie Mills)

--The British Novel Today
   (Dr. Jim English, University of Pennsylvania)

--Contemporary American Fiction: Postmodern Travelers
   (Dr. Ursula K. Heise, Columbia University)

--Contemporary British & American Literature
   (Dr. E, K, Sparks, Clemson University)

--Contemporary British Fiction
   (Dr. Suzanne Keen,  Washington & Lee University)

--Contemporary Literature & Theory
   (Prof. John Unsworth, University of Virginia)

--The Fiction of Postmodern America
   (Dr. T. V. Reed. Washington State University)

--Jewish-American Fiction
   (Prof. Dona Mandel, University of Wisconsin)

--John Lye's Course and Source Page
   (Dr. John Lye, Brock University)

--Modern Irish Literature
   (Dr. Jim Shanahan, Boston University)

--Pain & Laughter in African-American Short Fiction
   (Professors Nikolova & Osovsky)

--Postcolonial and Post-Imperial Literature in English since 1980
   (Dr. George P. Landow, Brown University)

--Postmodernism & the Culture of Cyberspace
   (Dr. Jay Clayton, Vanderbilt University)

--Representing Mothers: Contemporary Fiction & Theory
   (Dr. Gail Sherman)

--Twentieth Century American Literature
   (Dr. John Unsworth, Virginia University)