John Hawkes Criticism
The critical scholarship surrounding John Hawkes highlights his reputation as a pioneering American novelist, playwright, and short story writer, renowned for his experimental and surrealistic narratives. Critics like Albert J. Guerard praise his evolution into masterful classical prose, even considering him "perhaps the most original American novelist since Faulkner." Hawkes's work is marked by its transformation of reality into unsettling dreamscapes, a quality that led Jonathan Baumbach to describe him as a "naturalist in reverse." His novels explore themes such as fascism, innocence, and the human psyche through surreal settings and complex characterizations.
Hawkes's ambition to renew the structure of the novel is evident across his oeuvre, beginning with his first work, The Cannibal. Critics like Robert Scholes highlight how The Owl examines the philosophical dimensions of fascism, while Ronald Wallace emphasizes the comedic elements in Second Skin. These works, along with others like The Passion Artist, where Edward R. Stephenson explores complex female relationships, showcase Hawkes’s exploration of human consciousness and morality.
Hawkes's fiction often blurs the boundaries between myth and reality, a technique observed in The Constructed Vision: The Fiction of John Hawkes. This work underscores his technical control and poetic imagery, which he uses to critique societal norms and delve into existential themes. According to James L. Green, novels like Charivari use fairy-tale fantasies to discuss mortality and repression, reflecting his innovative redefinition of literary conventions.
Hawkes's engagement with controversial themes, such as those explored by Helen S. Garson regarding his integration of pornographic elements, and Donald J. Greiner on his approach to comic novels, demonstrates his fearless challenge to conventional morality. Paul Rosenzweig notes a 1970s shift towards more explicit content, while Charles Champlin and Angela Carter discuss his playful yet profound take on erotica and identity in Virginie: Her Two Lives. Through his essays, Hawkes himself discusses these themes with a Conradian moral center, consistently pushing the boundaries of conventional narratives.
Contents
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Hawkes, John (Vol. 15)
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John Hawkes As Novelist: The Example of 'The Owl'
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In the following essay, Robert Scholes argues that John Hawkes's novel "The Owl" is a masterful exploration of the philosophical and emotional underpinnings of fascism, utilizing surrealism to reveal deeper truths about human experience through its imaginative setting, complex narrator, and themes of death and authoritarianism.
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The Rarer Action: Comedy in John Hawkes's 'Second Skin'
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In the following essay, Ronald Wallace argues that John Hawkes's novel "Second Skin" should be interpreted through its comic elements, emphasizing protagonist Skipper's role as a comic hero who, despite his apparent innocence and inaction, ultimately embodies inner strength and grace by rejecting conventional heroism and societal norms.
- Josephine Hendin
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Fiction: 'The Passion Artist'
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In the following essay, Edward R. Stephenson analyzes John Hawkes's The Passion Artist as a vivid exploration of a male protagonist's quest for meaning through complex female relationships, highlighting Hawkes's skillful narrative style and character development, particularly through the character of Konrad Vost, likened to Kafka's "hunger artist."
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The Novelists: John Hawkes
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In the following essay, John Hawkes argues that his fiction, marked by a Conradian moral center, explores humanity's darkest potentials through themes of innocence, eroticism, and comedy, while challenging conventional morality by presenting isolated, imaginative extremes that provoke reflection on the nature of consciousness, imagination, and the power of women.
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Books and the Arts: 'The Passion Artist'
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In the following essay, Albert J. Guerard contends that John Hawkes's novel The Passion Artist returns to the bleak and powerful imaginative territory of his earlier work The Cannibal, exploring themes of misogyny and sexuality, while contrasting its initial stylistic conventionality with its later dynamic and visionary prose.
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John Hawkes As Novelist: The Example of 'The Owl'
(summary)
- Hawkes, John (Vol. 7)
- Hawkes, John (Vol. 2)
- Hawkes, John (Vol. 1)
- Hawkes, John (Vol. 4)
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Hawkes, John (Vol. 14)
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The Constructed Vision: The Fiction of John Hawkes
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In the following essay, Marc Ratner examines John Hawkes's novels, highlighting his mastery over technical control and poetic imagery, his experimental and symbolic approach to narrative, and his deft integration of myth and reality, which collectively position Hawkes as both an innovator and a challenger of traditional literary conventions.
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Nightmare and Fairy Tale in Hawkes' 'Charivari'
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In the following essay, James L. Green examines John Hawkes' 'Charivari,' arguing that the work explores the destructive cycles of dream and nightmare within human existence, critiquing Western society's denial of reality through fairy-tale fantasies and highlighting existential themes of mortality and repression.
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The Constructed Vision: The Fiction of John Hawkes
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Hawkes, (Jr.), John (Clendennin Burne)
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John Hawkes: A Longish View
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In the following essay, Albert J. Guerard argues that John Hawkes, through his innovative and audacious use of language and structure, transitions from a radical stylist to a master of classical prose, profoundly impacting contemporary literature with themes of psychology and art, culminating in the sophisticated and controlled narrative of "Travesty."
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John Hawkes and the Elements of Pornography
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In the following essay, Helen S. Garson examines how John Hawkes integrates elements of pornography in his works, such as "Second Skin" and "The Lime Twig," to depict a world filled with absurdity, darkness, and death, while challenging simplistic labels of pornography akin to those applied to D. H. Lawrence and James Joyce.
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Comic Terror: The Novels of John Hawkes
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In the following essay, Donald J. Greiner argues that John Hawkes's work, often overshadowed by his peers, is a pivotal example of modern American comic novel that emphasizes technique over realism, using humor to navigate the absurdities and chaos of contemporary life, and deserves greater recognition for its innovative narrative style and exploration of human experience.
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John Hawkes's Novels of the Seventies: A Retrospective
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In the following essay, Paul Rosenzweig analyzes John Hawkes's literary evolution during the 1970s, highlighting a shift towards explicit sexual content intertwined with violence and gothic themes, while also noting Hawkes's growing emphasis on formal structure and psychological pattern, as seen in his novels such as "The Blood Oranges" and "The Passion Artist."
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An Innocence at Play in Erotica
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In the following essay, Charles Champlin examines John Hawkes's "Virginie: Her Two Lives" as a parodic, inventive exploration of erotic prose that juxtaposes innocence against prevailing erotic themes, all while providing a poignant commentary on the evolution of literary morality and style.
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Sade Cases
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In the following essay, Bertha Harris explores John Hawkes's literary style, highlighting his ability to create unique, unsettling narratives that juxtapose terror and eroticism, and argues that his works often alienate readers due to their complex themes, anti-mainstream vision, and underlying feminist critiques.
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John Hawkes' Dialogue of Sex and Soul
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In the following essay, Angela Carter analyzes John Hawkes' novel Virginie: Her Two Lives, arguing that it serves as a metaphorical exploration of sexuality and self-awareness, challenging conventional perceptions through its allegorical narrative and the protagonist's interactions with male creators of female identity.
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Straw Dogs
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In the following essay, James Wolcott critiques John Hawkes's Virginie: Her Two Lives for its dark, erotic themes and heavy reliance on sadomasochism, arguing that Hawkes's work often becomes a stagnant exploration of mortification, with its excessive focus on debasement overshadowing any hint of genuine adoration.
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Pleasure and Pain
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In the following essay, Alan Friedman critiques John Hawkes's novel "Virginie" as an ambitious yet flawed eclectic anthology of erotica that attempts to merge disparate literary forms, ultimately serving as a love letter to Hawkes's admirers while exploring themes of eroticism, sadism, and the decay of love.
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Patrick O'Donnell
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In the following essay, Patrick O'Donnell argues that John Hawkes's novels, characterized by stylistic innovation and a fascination with language, disrupt literary tradition and emphasize the power and dangers of the imagination, sharing thematic concerns with contemporaries like Nabokov, while uniquely confronting readers with unsettling visions of human potential and failure.
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Doubling the Ecstasy
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In the following essay, Peter Kemp analyzes John Hawkes's novel Virginie as an exploration of eroticism through parallel narratives and thematic symmetry, highlighting its lush prose and intricate balance between historical and contemporary stories.
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Spoils of Erotic Parody
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In the following essay, Lorna Sage analyzes John Hawkes's Virginie, highlighting its intricate erotic tableaux that focus on pleasure through an 'innocent consciousness,' while underscoring the novel's systematic style that paradoxically constrains its characters' pursuit of pleasure.
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John Hawkes: A Longish View
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