Stone, Robert (Vol. 23) - Introduction

Robert Stone 1937?–

American novelist and screenwriter.

A decidedly pessimistic view of modern society dominates Stone's fiction. His characters desperately struggle in a brutal world where those with humanitarian tendencies perish. Stone combines his spare prose style with strong symbolism to reinforce his fiction of absolutes.

Although Stone's first novel, A Hall of Mirrors, received much critical praise and his second work, Dog Soldiers, was given the National Book Award in 1975, critics are divided on A Flag for Sunrise. A Conradian examination of corruption in contemporary society, the novel is given high marks as an adventure story but fails to convince on its moral level.

(See also CLC, Vol. 5 and Contemporary Authors, Vols. 85-88.)