John Edgar Wideman: A Study of the Short Fiction

Explores Wideman's use of modern and postmodern devices to produce "urgent" fiction that demands that readers pay attention to the troubled and often desperate voices of the African-American community. The author discusses the short fiction, the writer, and the critics in terms of Wideman's blending of past and present, his distinct modes of discourse, and his different narrative techniques which bring tradition to bear on contemporary concerns and characters. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.