Background
Rabkin, Eric S. was born on March 8, 1946 in Queens, New York, United States. Son of Joseph and Annette Rabkin.
( What exactly is the fantastic? In the twentieth-century...)
What exactly is the fantastic? In the twentieth-century world, our notions of what is impossible are assaulted every day. To define the nature of fantasy and the fantastic, Eric S. Rabkin considers its role in fairy tales, science fiction, detective stories, and religious allegory, as well as in traditional literature. The examples he studies range from Grimm's fairy tales to Agatha Christie, from Childhood's End to the novels of Henry James, from Voltaire to Robbe-Grillet to A Canticle for Leiboivitz. By analyzing different works of literature, the author shows that the fantastic depends on a reversal of the ground rules of a narrative world. This reversal signals most commonly a psychological escape, often from boredom, to an unknown world secretly yearned for, whose order, although reversed, bears a precise relation to reality. Originally published in 1976. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691607443/?tag=2022091-20
("When Slim Turned Sideways . . ."—this is narrative suspe...)
"When Slim Turned Sideways . . ."—this is narrative suspense, and if well done propels the reader on into and through a novel, or folktale, or printed play, or epic poem. How does it work? Is it a matter of plot only? Why do some works rivet our attention from the first page, while others obviously do not? These are among the deceptively simple questions taken up in Eric Rabkin's seminal study of narrative suspense. Using the insights afforded by structuralism, linguistics, and modern criticism—and basing his discussion on close readings of many well-known works—Rabkin provides at once an original work in literary theory and a remarkably practical account of how successful narrative establishes and sustains interest on several levels. Suspense, Rabkin shows, is involved not only in the plot of a narrative, but in its thematic development, character development, and style as well. This broad understanding enables the author to develop a coherent theoretical description of suspense, using the terminology of rhetoric. The most startling result of this approach is a schematic representation for literary genres that, though arrived at theoretically, corresponds almost exactly to our intuitive categorization of literary works. Narrative Suspense can be read with ample profit by interested layman and professional critic alike. With wit and intelligence, the book clarifies an oft-perceived phenomenon—the fundamental importance of suspense, broadly defined, in all great works of literature.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0472751883/?tag=2022091-20
Rabkin, Eric S. was born on March 8, 1946 in Queens, New York, United States. Son of Joseph and Annette Rabkin.
Bachelor of Arts in English, Cornell Univercity, 1967; Doctor of Philosophy in English, U. Iowa, 1970.
Assistant professor department English, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1970-1974; associate professor department English, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1974-1977; director Collegiate Institute Values and Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1976-1982; associate dean long-range planning College Literature, Science and Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1979-1983; interim director English Language Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1982-1984; interim department chairman linguistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1982-1984; professor department English, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, since 1977; Arthur F. Thurnau professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1990-1993.
( What exactly is the fantastic? In the twentieth-century...)
("When Slim Turned Sideways . . ."—this is narrative suspe...)
(Narrative Suspense:)
Married Elizabeth J. Backer, July 1, 1967. Children: David Ivan, Rachel Annual.