Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-252) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Introduction: The problem of reality and the new rationale for romance -- pt. 1. The waste land as institution: The grail knight arrives: Ken Kesey, One flew over the cuckoo's nest -- The fisher king turns warden: Stanley Elkin, A bad man -- The grail knight goes to college: John Barth, Giles goat-boy -- The grail knight departs: Joseph Heller, Catch-22 -- pt. 2. The waste land as conspiracy: The illusion and the possibility of conspiracy: Thomas Pynchon, V. and The crying of Lot -- Conspiracy from without and within: John Hawkes, The lime twig; Stanley Elkin, Boswell -- pt. 3. From waste land to fable land: Out of the waste land and into the fire: cataclysm or the cosmic cool: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., The sirens of Titan; Mother night; Cat's cradle; God bless you, Mr. Rosewater; Slaughterhouse-five or The children's crusade -- Out of the waste land: Peter S. Beagle, The last unicorn.
Book
