The Literature Book

POSTWAR WRITING

THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S

WOMAN

(1969), JOHN FOWLES

This popular and highly acclaimed

novel by British author John Fowles

(1926–2005) is often labeled as a

postmodern historical fiction. It

tells the story of naturalist Charles

Smithson and Sarah Woodruff, a

former governess, in a style that

comments upon Victorian romances,

while dealing with topics such as

gender issues, history, science,

and religion. The narrator, who

also becomes a character, allows

for multiple possible endings to

the story, destabilizing the linear

narrative of the texts it is imitating.

I KNOW WHY THE

CAGED BIRD SINGS

(1969), MAYA ANGELOU

The first book of a seven-volume

aut obio g raphy, I Know Why the

Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

(1928–2014)—the African-American

Pulitzer Prize winner and activist—

expresses the author’s changing

responses to the violence of racism.

A powerful and influential literary

work as well as a candid memoir

of Angelou’s early life in Arkansas

from ages three to 16, the book

explores issues of childhood, trauma,

and motherhood, and proclaims the

power of belief in one’s self, and of

literature and the written word.

CROW

(1970), TED HUGHES

Often regarded as the most

important collection of British poet

Ted Hughes (1930 –98), Crow: From

the Life and Songs of the Crow was

inspired by American artist Leonard

Baskin’s illustrations of the bird.

Some poems are traditional in style,

while others take more experimental

forms. They follow the character of

Crow, weaving elements of world

mythologies and religions into an

ongoing epic folktale. While

incomplete—Hughes was unable to

continue after the suicide of his

lover Assia Wevill in 1969—the

ambitious collection is a noteworthy

philosophical and literary reflection

on mythology and the natural world.

“Master”—in Jerusalem at the time

of Christ. Through both story lines,

the book can be seen as a historical

validation of religious tenets, a

critique of overly bureaucratic rules,

and a satire of the Soviet authorities,

catalyzed in the characters of

Professor Woland—an anarchic but

scholarly manifestation of Satan—

and his devilish entourage.

THE ARMIES OF THE NIGHT

(1968), NORMAN MAILER

Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The

Armies of the Night: History as a

Novel/The Novel as History, by

journalist, playwright, novelist, and

filmmaker Norman Mailer, was a

key work in the rise and acceptance

of creative nonfiction in the literary

landscape. The text is a historicized,

political, journalistic recollection of a

Vietnam War protest in Washington,

DC, in 1967, interspersed with self-

reflections, novelizations, and

personal thoughts on the subject

matter and the author himself.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE

(1969), KURT VONNEGUT

Written by American author

Vonnegut (1922–2007),

Slaughterhouse-Five or The

Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance

with Death is a key example of

speculative fiction and surreal

political satire. It meshes together

time travel and its paradoxes, alien

creatures, and semiautobiographical

notes about the author’s service in

World War II, including the bombing

of Dresden. The result is a critique of

the horrors of war, the publishing

industry, and the status of literature,

and is a thoughtful, almost comic,

meditation on death and mortality.

291

Norman Mailer

Born in New Jersey, in 1923,

Mailer grew up in New York. He

went to Harvard University at

the just 16 years old, initially to

study aeronautical engineering,

but soon became interested in

writing. One of his stories won

a competition in 1941, which

led him to pursue writing

seriously—an ambition that he

argued (unsuccessfully) should

exempt him from military

service. His first novel The

Naked and the Dead (1948) is

based on his war experience

in the Philippines. In 1955 he

cofounded the political arts

magazine The Village Voice. A

cultural commentator and critic,

Mailer also wrote biographies of

Picasso, Lee Harvey Oswald, and

Marilyn Monroe. His creative

nonfiction, political activism,

and two Pulitzer prizes ensured

his fame. He died in 2007.

Key works

1957 “The White Negro”

1968 The Armies of the Night

(see left, above)

1979 The Executioner’s Song

US_286-291_FR_CH6.indd 291 08/10/2015 13:10