SUSPENSE
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Hippolyte Taine
hief theoretical influence of French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism, and one of the
first practitioners of historicist criticism
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Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Poets was possibly the first
thorough-going exercise in biographical criticism.
Biographical criticism is a form of Literary criticism which analyzes a
writer's biography to show the relationship between the author's life
and their works of literature
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Stanley Fish
American literary
theorist
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BOOK
ILLUMINATIONS
From Merrimon Book Reviews
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Dominance
by Will Lavender
Thriller: Literary Theory in the Xtreme!
Jasper
College offers a totally new cutting edge, even outrageous,
class. Richard Aldiss, a specialist in the great new novelist
Paul Fallows, will be teaching the new course, Unraveling a Literary
Mystery and only a select few will be chosen to participate.
There is only one hitch. Aldiss was convicted for the murders of
two female grad students so he will be conducting the class with video
feed from his prison cell. Aldiss encourages his students to
solve the mystery of Paul Fallows, a man whose true identity is more
smoke and mirrors than true straightforward biography. The
subject matter so inspires the students that their studies become a
part of their lives. Fifteen years later, the body of one of the
class alumni is found chopped up with an axe surrounded by Fallows
novels. Now a Harvard professor, Alex Shipley, wonders
if somehow she made a mistake. Those many years ago she solved
thr mystery of Fallows identity as well as uncovering evidence that
exonerated Aldiss of the earlier murders. Can she use her
knowledge of Paul Fallows and his novels to find the identity of the
killer and prevent the murders of her classmates?
Will Lavender's academic thriller DOMINANCE takes literary studies to
an Xtreme level. In a narrative that alternates between past and
present, the author allows readers to feel the excitement of the
pursuit of literary studies, studies that become part of the inner life
of the students as well as the later life of the characters.
Carefully interweaving past and present, Will Lavender parcels out
clues in just the right measure to escalate the mystery and the edgy
academic and psychological suspense. Readers who have spent a
large chunk involved in the pursuit of literary studies will find a
certain humorous element as Will Lavender exaggerates certain familiar
elements to thriller level. The description of Jasper College
couldn't help but remind me of my own small college and graduate degree
program in one sense, although magnified resulting in an entirely
creepy tone. Even the literary exercise, The Procedure, could
easily be a new form of literary theory extolled by the newest trends
among academics. Will Lavender creates a discomforting yet
slightly humorous environment, a world both familiar and unfamiliar in
degree, for the literary insider.
DOMINANCE keeps a reader on the edge of the seat with twists and turns
to keep one guessing until the very shocking end. One part of the
maze opens to reveal another completely different direction. One
solved puzzle opens into another puzzle. Will Lavender blurs the
boundaries between truth and literary game (a game that on one level
seeks to reveal a different kind of truth), ramps up the level of
competition between the players, all the while tying together
intellectual choices and high stakes danger. I enjoyed this
thriller so much that I ordered his past work OBEDIENCE within hours of
finishing the last page to save for reading while I eagerly await the
author's next academic thriller. Superb!
Publisher: Simon &
Schuster (July 5,
2011)
Author
website
Reviewed by Merrimon,
Merrimon Book Reviews
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