John Saul: A Critical Companion (Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers) - Hardcover

Bail, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0313295751 ISBN 13: 9780313295751

Publisher: Greenwood, 1995

Synopsis

This is the first book-length study of best-selling writer John Saul's psychological and supernatural thrillers. Author Paul Bail compares John Saul's novels to a cocktail: (mix) one part

About this title

Review:

"A thorough, comprehensive study of the horror writer and his body of work. Beginning with an overview of Saul's life and the literary genre, Bail then provides a detailed analysis of Saul's 10 novels, from Suffer the Children to Black Lightning. Each book is analyzed according to plot, characters, and theme, as well as other pertinent elements, such as suspense, irony, and humor. Finally, the titles are discussed according to a particular point of view...These interpretations should add a new dimension of understanding of and appreciation for the author's works for his many readers...the text is engaging and interesting. Hand this book to any student trying to convince a skeptical English teacher that horror fiction is suitable for book reports or research papers."-School Library Journal

?A thorough, comprehensive study of the horror writer and his body of work. Beginning with an overview of Saul's life and the literary genre, Bail then provides a detailed analysis of Saul's 10 novels, from Suffer the Children to Black Lightning. Each book is analyzed according to plot, characters, and theme, as well as other pertinent elements, such as suspense, irony, and humor. Finally, the titles are discussed according to a particular point of view...These interpretations should add a new dimension of understanding of and appreciation for the author's works for his many readers...the text is engaging and interesting. Hand this book to any student trying to convince a skeptical English teacher that horror fiction is suitable for book reports or research papers.?-School Library Journal

"Paul Bail's immensely readable book is a wonderful feast, not only for John Saul's legion of fans but for anyone--young and older--interested in the workings of a writer's mind. Bail skillfully dissects Saul's major novels while, at the same time, dissecting a genre that ranges from Edgar Allan Poe to Stephen King."-Robert Cormier

"John Saul is an informative, superbly written exploration of one of America's foremost writers of the macabre. The beauty of Dr. Bail's book is its lucid and captivating prose. Aside from capturing Saul's profundity, the book itself is a penetrating study of fear. Students of psychology, sociology, the arts, and film, all will find wisdom here, and so will students of life."-Kirk J. Schneider, Ph.D. Saybrook Institute

About the Author:

PAUL BAIL teaches graduate courses on the psychology of crime at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts. He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan. He has reviewed crime novels for The Drood Review of Mystery and was a contributor to the Edgar-nominated Great Women Mystery Writers: Classic to Contemporary, edited by Kathleen Gregory Klein (Greenwood, 1994).

About this edition

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0313295751
• ISBN 13: 9780313295751
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224