Combining a career in live radio performances and equally lively
short story writing for the "New Yorker, " Garrison Keillor has
continually charmed fans and readers with his homespun wit and
warmth. While acknowledging his career highlights, this full-length
critical study supports Keillor's own view of himself as writer
rather than performer, by examining his literary accomplishments
and giving serious analysis of his fictional works. In order to
understand his tremendous popular appeal, Songer situates Keillor
within the rich literary heritage associated with American
humorists such as Mark Twain, James Thurber, and Will Rogers. This
volume treats each collection of stories as a cohesive literary
entity, from the early works "Happy to be Here "and "Lake Wobegon
Days," whose familiar characters concerned themselves with social
pressures and teenage angst, to "The Book of Guys," which wryly
examines the pitfalls of the modern male experience. In analyzing
Keillor's most recent work, the novel "Wobegon Boy, " Songer
expertly explores Keillor's humorous handling of real life lessons
to be learned from the small town legacy.
This full-length critical study gives readers a close-up view of
Garrison Keillor as he reinvents himself from a shy, small town
Minnesota native son, to a successful New York writer who is
internationally recognized as the voice of everyman. The well
documented biographical and literary heritage chapters familiarize
readers with the myriad of literary, social, religious and moral
influences that would become thematic materials for Keillor's
fiction writing. Each chapter in this Critical Companion examines
closely the character development, plot structure, and thematic
concerns that tie together each of Keillor's major works and short
story collections. Literature students and teachers alike will also
find very useful the extensive bibliography with a complete list of
all of Keillor's writings as well as reviews, criticism, and
further biographical information about this delightful writer.
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