Violence in the Contemporary American Novel: An End to Innocence

Front Cover
Univ of South Carolina Press, 2000 - Fiction - 161 pages
"Giles demonstrates that American writers have assumed a responsibility not only to record the plague of violence that so threatens the survival of the nation's children but also to seek explanations for its origins. He argues that the violence in these works, which is never portrayed as a positive form of revolutionary action but is instead represented as reactive effect, emerges largely out of ethnic antagonism, racial and gender division, and class oppression." "He contends that the novelists cumulatively offer diversity as an antidote to the initiation and spread of violence, and he concludes that they envision cultural diversity as urban America's opportunity for redemption and hope."--BOOK JACKET.

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Contents

The Ducky Boys and
44
A Postmodern Childrens Crusade
56
Nature Despoiled and Artificial
70
Violence and the Immanence
84
Redemptive Landscape Malevolent City
100
Discovering a Substitute for Salvation
113
Conclusion Girl X and the Country of Last Things
129
Notes
137
Bibliography
149
Index
155
Copyright

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