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A comprehensive anthology and guide to English literature of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Seventeenth Century, Restoration and Eighteenth Century

This is part two in a continuing series of articles all of which are designed to inform and guide anyone who might want to know a little bit more about the rich tradition of art, letters and philosophy we have inherited from those who came before us. This article looks specifically at some of the best and most important works of 20th Century American Postmodernism. It discusses authors such as Joseph Heller, John Barth, Kurt Vonnegut, Don DeLilo, and David Foster Wallace.

Kurt Vonnegut, one of the most prolific if not best American writers of the second half of the twentieth century, first earned a reputation for himself as a science-fictionist with his early works, The Sirens of Titan and Cat's Cradle. This reputation, however much it vastly underestimates and misunderstands Vonnegut's work and its significance to the modern era, has been difficult for Vonnegut to escape. It does, however, provide insight into the aspects of the modern situation that Vonnegut sees as central and meaningful. Bluebeard, which trades a more traditionally Vonnegut mad scientist for a retired, eccentric expressionist painter, the same painter from Breakfast of Champions, tackles the issues which have traditionally blurred Vonnegut's role in the literary and popular fiction traditions. This article explores these issues within Vonnegut's version of the fairytale, Bluebeard.

When William Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949, his works in the United States had been out of print for almost a decade. While writers like Steinbeck and Hemingway dominated the American literary landscape, Faulkner was, at best, an afterthought. This article examines how someone who was out of print in their own country could win a Noble Prize years and years before his American contemporaries.

In his "The Philosophy of Composition" Poe tells us that he begins writing with "the consideration of an effect" (1598). Almost all of Poe's poetry and fiction give evidence to support Poe's claim that the intended effect, upon the reader, is indeed central to his creative work. This article explores that intended effect and its centrality in Poe's famous short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher".

This article explores Nick Hornby's brilliant short story, "Nipple Jesus". In it, Hornby tackles religion, politics, sex, family and financial responsibility, art and its relationship with the individual, the artist, and society through a "six foot two and fifteen stone" security guard whose only skill is being big, to profound and entertaining\neffect.

This article discusses William Faulkner's novel, Light in August. It examines specifically the character of Joe Christmas, one of Faulkner's mos enigmatic and tragic characters. The article examines how the real tragedy in the story of Joe Christmas is the racial prejudice of his family and his fellow man. The article presents the discussion within the context of understanding Faulkner's work and it's significance as a whole.