''A
bold, serious,
vigorously
partisan exercise
in reading
literary history
backwards."*
By
RICHARD POIRIER
editor,
Partisan Review
"RICHARD POIRIER is one of the
ablest critics now writing un–
der the banner of radical modernism.
. . • One of the great virtues of A
WORLD ELSEWHERE is the unguarded
way in which it exposes the philo–
sophic underpinnings of our new
estheticism. To my knowledge, there
is no book that is quite so explicit
about the basic rationale for the
comic-apocalyptic fiction of today."
-*
LEO MARX,
Book Week
"A profoundly penetrating study that
exposes the very roots of the Ameri–
can literary imagination and it does
this with extraordinary subtlety and
sensitivity."- MARK SCHORER, Uni–
versity of California, Berkeley
"A notable experiment in the criti–
cism of American fiction, an un–
usually successful union of 'close
reading' with a power to bring out
modes of thought and expression
characteristic of individual writers
and of American literature since
Emerson." - REUBEN A. BROWER,
Harvard University
"Poirier's discussions have all the
qualities one would expect of him,
from the tough and wide-eyed clear–
mindedness to the imaginative sensi–
tivity towards the controlling but
often tacit premises of the writers
dealt with. ... A fascinating, impor–
tant and fruitful book."-lAN WATT,
Center for Advanced Study
in
the Behavioral Sciences
A
World Elsewhere
THE PLACE OF STYLE IN AMERICAN LITERATURE
At all bookstores·
$5.75
~
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
I
New York
