Michael Gorra Libri

Michael Gorra, one of America's most preeminent literary critics, asks how we read William Faulkner in the twenty-first century.

A revelatory biography of the American master as told through the lens of his greatest novel.

Over the course of a career that spanned six decades, the southern novelist and short story writer Elizabeth Spencer established herself as one of the finest literary artists of a generation that included Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, and Eudora Welty. This definitive volume brings together three remarkable novels: The Voice at the Back Door, her powerful masterpiece about racial politics in the world of Jim Crow Mississippi; the beloved classic The Light in the Piazza, a celebration of the possibilities of love set amidst the splendors of Florence; and its "dark companion," Knights and Dragons, about a woman working in Rome who is obsessed with the enigmatic specter of her ex-husband. A selection of nineteen stories reveals Spencer, as Richard Ford writes, as "a rare and true master" of the form

Exploring the tension between Germany's complex history and the genre of travel writing, Michael Gorra delves into why the country is often overlooked in this literary form. Combining research with personal narrative, he navigates themes of the "German problem," including World War II, the Holocaust, and reunification. Gorra's unique perspective provides insights into the cultural landscape of Germany while reflecting on the challenges of capturing its essence in a travelogue format.