David R. Johnson is Professor of English at Lafayette College, USA.
“This is a well-researched and well-written psychological profile
of an insecure, superstitious, but nonetheless rather appealing
man. Johnson knows how to tell a story, describing in detail
Richter’s unlikely path toward becoming an important writer.”—Fred
Hobson, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
“Johnson has produced a thorough, well-informed, and readable
account of Richter, who clearly ranks among the important American
novelists of his time. Johnson knows Richter’s territory, and
writes about it with real authority.”—Scott Donaldson
“Biographer Johnson portrays Richter through letters and diaries as
a serious, self-castigating artist, one as worried about his income
as his storytelling. . . . Richter’s self-doubt and his prickly
relationship with his publisher, Alfred Knopf, continued throughout
his career, even when his autobiographical novel, The Waters of
Kronos, won the National Book Award in 1961. In the brief
acceptance speech that the pathologically shy author had Knopf read
for him, Richter described ‘hardship into gain’ as the theme of his
pioneer novels, but it could apply equally to his life, well and
thoroughly depicted here by Johnson.”—Publishers Weekly
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
