The Franchiser (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Stanley Elkin
- First Published: 1976
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Picaresque fiction
- Subjects: 1970’s, United States or Americans, Traveling or travelers, Business or business people, Popular culture, Diseases, Multiple sclerosis
- Locales: United States
If Push the Bully represents one extreme of character in Elkin's fiction, then Ben Flesh, protagonist and narrator of The Franchiser, represents the other. “A Poetics for Bullies” and The Franchiser are also representative of two other aspects of Elkin's writing. One is generic; there is the story's depiction of “acute character” manifesting itself in a crisis situation versus the novel's presentation of “chronic character” manifesting itself over a serendipitously (or whimsically) developed series of episodes. The other difference is autobiographical. “A...
[The entire page is 724 words long]
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