One of America's best young writers pre sents a critical appreciation of voice in short fiction, using drama and poetry to frame his discussion. Discussing contemporary voice in American fiction, Stephens says: "There is a cadence which the writer steals from the actual, shaping this rhythm into the voice of fiction. When tension enters into the equation of speech and voice, drama turgical moments occur. Actors trans form words into living moments. So do writers." Stephens draws on world literature to illustrate his ...
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One of America's best young writers pre sents a critical appreciation of voice in short fiction, using drama and poetry to frame his discussion. Discussing contemporary voice in American fiction, Stephens says: "There is a cadence which the writer steals from the actual, shaping this rhythm into the voice of fiction. When tension enters into the equation of speech and voice, drama turgical moments occur. Actors trans form words into living moments. So do writers." Stephens draws on world literature to illustrate his concept of voice. He dis cusses early influences such as Beckett, Kafka, Borges, and Babel. He focuses on Paul Blackburn, Joel Oppenheimer, Gil bert Sorrentino, Hubert Selby, Jr., Viet nam war fiction writers (Larry Heine mann, Gustav Hasford, Stephen Wright, W. D. Ehrhart, Robert Auletta, among others), Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Stephen Dixon, Harold Pinter, Sam Shepard, David Mamet, and a host of others.
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