Background
Wolfe, Peter was born on August 25, 1933 in New York City. Son of Milton Berlinger and Mae (Salius) Wolfe.
( One of the foremost expository prose writers of the twe...)
One of the foremost expository prose writers of the twentieth century, Rebecca West has had a varied literary career spanning more than a half-century. Her works range over the fields of political journalism, literary criticism, biography, history, travel, and fiction. In assessing Miss West’s multi-faceted literary achievement Peter Wolfe provides a thoughtful examination of the process of civilization which has preoccupied Miss West’s attention and provided the substance of her works.
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(Peter Wolfe's study of Penelope Fitzgerald's canon illumi...)
Peter Wolfe's study of Penelope Fitzgerald's canon illuminates writings he characterizes as possessing unerring dramatic judgment, a friendly and fluid style, and lyrical and precise descriptive passages. In this survey of Fitzgerald's life and career, Wolfe explains how the British novelist brings resources of talent and craft, thought and feeling, courage and vulnerability, to the biographies and novels that have earned her renown. With readings of a broad range of her published works, including her final novel, The Blue Flower, Wolfe describes the unfolding of Fitzgerald's writing as a subtle, ongoing process. He maintains that the novels, though plain and rambling at first glance, grow fuller, stranger, and more stirring the more we invest in them. He details Fitzgerald's skill at sequencing events so as to unsettle readers and her ability to enhance motifs by not leaning too hard on them. Wolfe suggests that Fitzgerald's refusal to overplay effects and emotions, while at first puzzling in its disdain for drama, turns out to be one of her chief virtues, for she enables larger associations to emerge as she keeps big dramatic scenes from interfering with wider patterns. While enumerating Fitzgerald's many talents, Wolfe ultimately attributes much of her success to her style. He concludes that her exceptionally disciplined prose, which gives voice to her candor and compassion, imbues her work with a sense of mood, place, and character.
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(An analysis of the artist and his creations that asserts ...)
An analysis of the artist and his creations that asserts that Fowles, like any good novelist, discovers himself through his characters' self-discoveries. Dr. Wolfe treats each of the novels in a separate chapter and traces the power and philosophy of Fowles through his developing artistry.
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(In Understanding Alan Bennett, Peter Wolfe conveys Bennet...)
In Understanding Alan Bennett, Peter Wolfe conveys Bennett's originality, complexities of thought, and creative vigor while examining Bennett in his various roles as actor, director, playwright, and lyricist. As Wolfe illustrates, Bennett's success in his many spheres was no fluke. Bennett's theatrical eminence has been accompanied by awards and professional recognition. His play Single Spies won ...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BIOYVA/?tag=2022091-20
( Until 1970, Graham Greene made a sharp distinction betw...)
Until 1970, Graham Greene made a sharp distinction between his novels and his lighter fiction, which he called entertainments. The use of the two categories seems to indicate that the latter books are trivial and inferior; yet Peter Wolfe shows that the entertainments are more than escape fiction; they are, rather, an almost distinct new genre. Wolfe focuses on seven books, from Orient Express (1932) to Our Man in Havana (1958), showing recurring themes as well as the evolution of the entertainment form. Graham Greene enthusiasts will find this new book particularly valuable for its long and careful look at the less-discussed works, while readers of thrillers will appreciate Wolfe’s analysis of them as a literary genre.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809305801/?tag=2022091-20
(The classic television show The Twilight Zone explored th...)
The classic television show The Twilight Zone explored the possibilities inhering in the ordinary. A Twilight Zone episode moved us by being poignant and intimate, rambunctious or thought provoking. But whether it takes place on an asteroid, in a city pool room, or in the backwoods, it will usually convey both a folklorist’s eye for detail and the born raconteur’s sense of pace. Rod Serling, the show’s originator, main scriptwriter, and artistic director, knew how much burden he could place on his rhetorical and dramatic gifts. Deservedly celebrated as a pioneer fiction writer for television, Serling always grounded his work in the human condition: he wrote movingly about history and loyalty, the grip of everyday reality, and the dangers of both forgetting about one’s ghosts and giving them the upper hand.
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(In 1973 the Australian novelist Patrick White won the Nob...)
In 1973 the Australian novelist Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the year that his great novel of family ties and change, The Eye of the Storm, was published and became a bestseller in America and Europe. Yet White is still not widely known or read, and few writers of today have provoked so many contradictory judgments. Now Peter Wolfe has written the first book-length study of the work of this brilliant and haunting novelist. The study offers a subtle, penetrating examination of White's style, his skill in building narrative tension, and also the depth and complexity reflected in his characterization, which, in his novels, always dominates action. Fittingly, for a writer whose novels bear the indelible stamp of Australia, the study also examines White's psychological use of setting and the intense sense of place found in his work. No other critical study of White covers such a broad range of his writing. Peter Wolfe considers here the entire canon of the novels. The Tree of Man, Voss, The Vivisector, The Eye of the Storm, A Fringe of Leaves, and The Twyborn Affair (White's most recent novel) are all discussed. White's themes and settings range from the power and immensity of the wilderness of the Australian outback to the dislocations wrought in traditional values by postwar industrialization and urban sprawl. Laden Choirs makes accessible to an American audience a writer of the first rank, whose work lies at the heart of modernist concerns. Literary students and scholars who wish to explore the world of Patrick White will find this book an essential key.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0813115019/?tag=2022091-20
(A study of the actor, director, playwright and lyricist, ...)
A study of the actor, director, playwright and lyricist, Alan Bennett. Peter Wolfe demonstrates that Alan Bennett's success in many spheres was no fluke, and his theatrical eminence has always been accompanied by awards and professional recognition. His play "Single Spies" won the Oliver Award as England's Best Comedy in 1989. The casts of his plays, starting with "Forty Years On" in 1968, have included such luminaries as Sir John Gielgud, Sir Alec Guinness, Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, Alan Bates and Daniel Day Lewis. His screenwriting earned "The Madness of King George" a nomination for an Academy Award. This book seeks to illuminate the writer whose instinct for artistic choices has helped him to succeed on his own terms.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1570032807/?tag=2022091-20
( Raymond Chandler’s eminence as a mystery writer is unch...)
Raymond Chandler’s eminence as a mystery writer is unchallenged. Somerset Maugham and George Grella both rate him above Dashiell Hammett; Eric Partridge deems him “a serious artist and a very considerable novelist,” while praising him as “one of the finest novelists of his time.” Peter Wolfe examines the many sides of Chandler and his work—his apparent will to self-destruct, his obsession with beautiful women, and his apparent brush with homosexuality—and casts much new and needed light on this major American author.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0879722932/?tag=2022091-20
( As one of the most penetrating studies of Ross Macdonal...)
As one of the most penetrating studies of Ross Macdonald, this book analyzes one of America's most effective detective writers and his world.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0879720816/?tag=2022091-20
Wolfe, Peter was born on August 25, 1933 in New York City. Son of Milton Berlinger and Mae (Salius) Wolfe.
Bachelor, City College of New York, 1955; Master of Arts, Lehigh University, 1957; Doctor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, 1965.
Assistant professor English University Nebraska, Lincoln, 1964-1967. Professor English University Missouri, St. Louis, 1967—2000, Curator's professor, since 2000. Visiting professor University Windsor, Ontario, 1971, University Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand, 1980, University Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, 1980, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Republic of China, 1982, Moscow State University, 1984, University Karnataka, Dharwad, India, 1987, Catholic University Lublin, Poland, 1991, University Szczecin, Poland, 1992, Flinders University, South Australia, 1995.
(In 1973 the Australian novelist Patrick White won the Nob...)
(In Understanding Alan Bennett, Peter Wolfe conveys Bennet...)
(Peter Wolfe's study of Penelope Fitzgerald's canon illumi...)
(An analysis of the artist and his creations that asserts ...)
( One of the foremost expository prose writers of the twe...)
( As one of the most penetrating studies of Ross Macdonal...)
( Until 1970, Graham Greene made a sharp distinction betw...)
(The classic television show The Twilight Zone explored th...)
(A study of the actor, director, playwright and lyricist, ...)
( Raymond Chandler’s eminence as a mystery writer is unch...)
(Literature and Life: World Writers)
With United States Army, 1957-1959.
Married Marie Paley, December 22, 1962 (divorced 1969). Married Retta Cardwell, June 27, 1998. Children: Philip Graham, John Bennett.