Mickelsson’s Ghosts (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Gardner
- First Published: 1982
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The fall of 1980
- Setting: Binghamton, New York, and Susquehanna, Pennsylvania
- Principal Characters: Peter J. Mickelsson, Jessica Stark, Michael Nugent, Donnie Matthews
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Philosophy or philosophers, Murder or homicide, Authors or writers, Prostitution or prostitutes, Ghosts or apparitions, 1980’s, Ethics, Colleges or universities, Mormons
- Locales: New York, Pennsylvania, Binghamton, NY, Susquehanna, PA
The Novel
In Mickelsson’s Ghosts, John Gardner sustains a 590-page dramatization of the daily life, increasing despair, and desperate desires of middle-aged Peter Mickelsson, a once-famous philosopher now sinking into obscurity at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Faced with his failures on several fronts—marital, financial, and professional—the previous master of academic truth must now engage less bookish but far more difficult problems. For setting, Gardner supplies the troubled Mickelsson with the doomed air of 1980, a climate of debate over the...
[The entire page is 2913 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
