CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE
as well as from literature (such as
Robinson Crusoe). Both comic and
satirical, the work touches on the
cultural and political aspects of
Native American land issues.SELECTED STORIES
(1996), ALICE MUNROCanadian author Alice Munro has
written novels, but it is her short
stories that are regarded as her
supreme achievement, as can be
seen in this collection from eight of
her books. Mostly set in HuronCounty, southwestern Ontario,
they typically show a mastery of
structure, switching back and forth
in time. They also feature a
preoccupation with moral ambiguity
and messiness in relationships, and
also with the responsibility people
assume for parents, children, and
in-laws at different times of life.INFINITE JEST
(1997), DAVID FOSTER WALLACEA torrent of zany humor and
surreal incident, Infinite Jest is the
masterpiece of Wallace (1962–2008),
an American writer whose suicide
cemented his cult status. An
ambitious novel that explores
addiction, recovery, and the
American Dream, the book is set in
a dystopian near future. Multilayered
and nonchronological in style, it
features a huge cast of characters,
such as the residents of a Boston
halfway house, students at a nearby
tennis academy, and a gang of
homicidal Quebec terrorists in
wheelchairs. The addictions it
examines include entertainment,
sex, nationalism, and drugs.company due to its industry
connections. The founder of this
community, whose father was a
freed slave, tells her family story,
beginning in the early 1820s. The
narrative is punctuated by excerpts
from her notebooks, diaries, and
letters. At the heart of the book is
the struggle between colonizer and
colonized, and between official
history and oral storytelling, both of
which are mirrored in the interplay
of languages: French and Creole.THE ROCK OF TANIOS
(1993), AMIN MAALOUFLebanese author Amin Maalouf
(1949–), who writes in French, won
the Prix Goncourt for The Rock of
Tanios. The novel is set in the late
1880s, when Lebanon was caught in
the conflict between Europe and the
Ottoman Empire. It tells the story of
Tanios, the illegitimate son of a
sheikh, who flees his homeland with
his adoptive father to escape political
enemies. Tanios is soon embroiled in
the wider conflict and becomes an
unlikely intermediary between the
Western and Middle Eastern powers.GREEN GRASS,
RUNNING WATER
(1993), THOMAS KINGAmerican-Canadian novelist and
broadcaster King (1943–), who is
part Cherokee, writes about Native
American culture in spare, colloquial
prose. Green Grass, Running Water
is set in the Blackfoot territory of
Alberta, Canada. The novel’s
structure is complex, with four
plot lines each interspersed with
a different creation myth. One
strand features figures from Native
American and Christian traditions,337
Alice Munro
A writer of exquisitely crafted,
compelling, and emotionally
rich stories, Alice Munro has
developed and advanced the art
of short-story writing over the
course of six decades. Born in
Ontario, Canada, in 1931, she
had her first writing published
in 1950 while studying English
and journalism at the University
of Western Ontario. Her first
collection of short stories, Dance
of the Happy Shades, appeared
in 1968, featuring the lives of
women in small-town Ontario(although Munro had moved
from her home province ten years
earlier). Writing an impressive
range of short stories and novels
over the decades since, she has
pioneered a narrative style that
is simultaneously rich in imagery
yet also lyrical, sparse, and
intense in its description of the
complexities of ordinary lives.Key works1978 Who Do You Think You Are?
1996 Selected Stories (see above)
1998 The Love of a Good Woman
2004 RunawayWhat that Coyote dreams,
anything can happen.
Green Grass,
Running Water
Thomas KingUS_332-339_FR_CH7.indd 337 08/10/2015 13:11