Ham on Rye (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Charles Bukowski
- First Published: 1982
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman, Autobiographical fiction
- Subjects: Child rearing or parenting, United States or Americans, Parents and children, Twentieth century, Depression, economic, Class consciousness, Writing, Alcoholism or alcoholics, Fathers, Drinking or drunkenness
- Locales: Los Angeles, CA
Ham on Rye (1982) is not only a loosely constructed autobiographical novel of Bukowski's distressingly poor childhood during the Depression, but it also qualifies as the novelist's version of both a Bildungsroman and Künstlerroman. A Bildungsroman is a literary genre that usually deals with a young protagonist's growth, development, and education into the sometimes harsh realities of life—a fall from innocence into experience, from a condition of blissful ignorance into the potential agony of self-consciousness. D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers...
[The entire page is 997 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
See Also
