"The true bones of my life" : essays on the fiction of Jim Harrison / Patrick A. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Patrick A., 1967-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Harrison, Jim, 1937-2016--Criticism and interpretation.

Harrison, Jim, 1937-2016.

Criticism and interpretation.

Michigan--In literature.

Michigan.

Physical Description:

x, 246 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

East Lansing : Michigan State University Press, [2002]

Summary:

Jim Harrison's fiction is diverse in its genres, protagonists, and settings: from novel to novella; from the comically masculine rogue to the psychically scarred female; from wilderness to city. This study examines the metaphors Harrison uses to offer critical entrance into his fiction -- food, place, ecology, journey, "soul history," and region. Harrison's fiction contains the underlying currents of alienation and lost identity, and he uses these currents imbedded in modern life to explore the viability of the mythic quest and the American Dream. This study, the first full-length critical analysis of Harrison's work, illuminates Harrison's diversity and range, placing him in the top tier of contemporary American authors.

Through personal association with Harrison and a passionate attachment to his work, Smith uses close readings and contemporary literary theory to produce criticism that sketches the scope of Harrison's work.

Contents:

"...no woods to travel far back into" : last great places in Jim Harrison's Wolf: a false memoir

"Thoreau only pretended to loaf" : philosophies of conservation in Jim Harrison's A good day to die and Sundog

"...the Orient was totally out of the question" : conflict, place, and the regional novel in Jim Harrison's Farmer

"...to eat well and not die from it" : the dubious art of consumption in Jim Harrison's Warlock

"To what degree are these people dead?" : the weight of history and the care of the soul in Jim Harrison's Dalva and The road home

"They headed west" : postmodernism, Twain, and a reassessment of the American myth and the American dream in Jim Harrison's Brown dog series

"Whose myth is it, anyway?" : the evolution of the myth-figure in Jim Harrison's novellas.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-234) and index.

ISBN:

0870136143

OCLC:

48967776