Robert Stone Criticism
Robert Stone stands as a pivotal figure in American literature, noted for his incisive exploration of moral and social decay in the modern world. His novels often center on disillusioned characters, such as cynical expatriates, Vietnam veterans, and those grappling with addiction, who seek spiritual significance amidst chaos. His National Book Award-winning novel, Dog Soldiers, is highly regarded for its thrilling narrative intertwined with existential and moral dilemmas, as examined by Maureen Karagueuzian and Frank W. Shelton.
Stone's profound engagement with religious themes is evident in novels such as A Flag for Sunrise and Damascus Gate. These works delve into complex spiritual crises, juxtaposing fervent belief against an unknowable deity. Critics like Jeff Danziger and Richard Eder have debated the ambition and intricate nature of his narratives, particularly in Children of Light, while acknowledging his mastery of dialogue and psychological insight.
As Stone's career progressed, his later works, including Bay of Souls and Damascus Gate, continued to probe the darker facets of human nature with detailed narratives and thematic depth. While critics such as Amy Wilentz have critiqued the complexity of his plots, others celebrate his vivid storytelling and precision.
Stone's debut novel, A Hall of Mirrors, received acclaim for its portrayal of societal outcasts, analyzed by critics like Granville Hicks and Ivan Gold. A Flag for Sunrise faced mixed reviews, as critics such as Michael Wood and Leonard Michaels compared it to the works of Conrad and Greene, while David Bosworth and Thomas Sutcliffe questioned its philosophical ambitions. Nonetheless, Stone's body of work remains a significant contribution to literature, illustrating the enduring struggle for meaning in an often indifferent world.
Contents
- Principal Works
- Stone, Robert (Vol. 5)
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Stone, Robert (Vol. 175)
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Irony in Robert Stone's Dog Soldiers
(summary)
In the following essay, Karagueuzian notes ironic parallels between Dog Soldiers and Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, asserting that Stone underscores the inadequacy of Hemingway's moral and aesthetic vision by contrasting the nihilism and dissipation of Vietnam-era American drug-runners with Hemingway's expatriate Americans.
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Robert Stone's Dog Soldiers: Vietnam Comes Home to America
(summary)
In the following essay, Shelton examines Stone's bleak evocation of moral disintegration and the demise of the American Dream in Dog Soldiers.
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Disappointing Tale of Hollywood from Critically Acclaimed Robert Stone
(summary)
In the following review, Danziger criticizes Children of Light, asserting that the novel is filled with disturbing, greedy characters and a grim and depressing plot.
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Children of Light
(summary)
In the following review, Eder asserts that Children of Light suffers from overwritten characters, poor dialogue, and a plot that dissolves as the book progresses.
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Suffering and Squalor
(summary)
In the following review, Meyers compares Children of Light to Kate Chopin's The Awakening but faults Stone's novel for lacking the “depth and power” of his earlier works such as Dog Soldiers.
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Against the Tides of Mediocrity
(summary)
In the following review, Eder alternately praises and faults Outerbridge Reach, calling the writing “lucid and thrilling” in its passages about the sea but “bombastic” in its development of certain characters and events.
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Fall of Valor
(summary)
In the following review, Adams offers a positive assessment of Outerbridge Reach, calling the work a “strong, unhappy novel.”
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America at Sea
(summary)
In the following review, Edmundson contends that the reductive characters in Outerbridge Reach limit the depth and authenticity of the novel.
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The Intrepid Traveler
(summary)
In the following review, Caldwell praises Outerbridge Reach, commending Stone's moral concerns but citing weaknesses in the novel's narrative structure.
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In Dangerous Waters
(summary)
In the following review, Sutherland criticizes Stone for failing to acknowledge his debt to the documented true story of ill-fated sailor Donald Crowhurst in Outerbridge Reach, upon which the novel is apparently based.
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The Tragedy of a Valour-Ruined Man
(summary)
In the following review, King extols the passages concerning the high-seas adventure in Outerbridge Reach and commends the “noble and grand scale” of the novel.
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Where Mine Is At
(summary)
In the following review, Burn discusses the links between Stone and Tom Wolfe and criticizes Stone's uncredited use of a published account of the Donald Crowhurst story in Outerbridge Reach.
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Making Sense of What Takes Place
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Phillips argues that Outerbridge Reach is a successfully engaging narrative due to Stone's use of meticulous detail.
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Review of Outerbridge Reach
(summary)
In the following review, Saari contends that Stone is a “writer of rare power” who successfully examines the darker side of human nature in works such as Outerbridge Reach. This novel continues the themes that run through all of Stone's books and reinforces why he is regarded as a writer of rare power. He persuades through his understanding of the darker side of human motivation, and his literary progenitors are clearly Melville and Hawthorne. In this new novel the classic themes of obsession and confrontation with the unknown and evil take a new twist when atypical Stone protagonists—upright Owen Browne and his wife, Anne—leave their sheltered middle-class existence and seek a future of risk and danger.
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Robert Stone: The Funny Apocalypse
(summary)
In the following essay, Packer provides an overview of Stone's novels, thematic concerns, and character types, noting that although Children of Light and Outerbridge Reach are weaker than his first three novels, Stone's visionary critique of American society remains underappreciated by a majority of critics.
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The Moral Vision of Robert Stone: The Transcendent in the Muck of History
(summary)
In the following essay, Finn provides an overview of Stone's novels and examines the strengths and weaknesses of his writing style, social and political concerns, and underlying religious sentiment.
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Cultural Capital and Contrarian Investing: Robert Stone, Thom Jones, and Others
(summary)
In the following essay, Bloom discusses Stone's intertextual commentary on the uses and abuses of literary art in Outerbridge Reach, Children of Light, and A Flag for Sunrise. Bloom contends that Stone's fiction, like that of authors Thom Jones, Marilynne Robinson, and Don DeLillo, addresses the problematic legitimacy and interpretation of canonic writings and creative idols when appropriated by artists, critics, and filmmakers as a form of cultural capital.
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An Interview with Robert Stone
(summary)
In the following interview, Stone discusses his novel Outerbridge Reach, reflecting on its themes, character development, and his writing process, while also expressing his views on the moral and political landscape, his pessimistic yet hopeful philosophy on life, and the challenges and emotional complexities of being a writer.
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Robert Stone's Decadent Leftists
(summary)
In the following essay, Fredrickson examines Stone's presentation of cynical, disillusioned left-wing sympathizers and amoral leftist revolutionaries in his novels, particularly Dog Soldiers and A Flag for Sunrise.
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Larger Concerns
(summary)
In the following excerpt, McGraw lauds Bear and His Daughter, contending that Stone writes concisely and powerfully in stories containing familiar themes from his novels such as morality and motivation.
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Seasick
(summary)
In the following review, Eder claims that the character and plot development in Bear and His Daughter is uneven and faults Stone for failing to compel readers to care about the protagonists.
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Desperate Characters
(summary)
In the following review, Edwards provides an overview of Stone's fiction and offers a positive assessment of Bear and His Daughter.
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Actual Fiction
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Pritchard praises the descriptive passages and dark humor in Bear and His Daughter, contending that Stone is a competent short story writer but that his abilities are more suited to longer narratives.
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Messed-Up but Macho
(summary)
In the following review, Miller praises Bear and His Daughter, asserting that Stone is a careful, polished writer who deserves to be read.
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An Explosion of Truth
(summary)
In the following review, Connolly offers a positive assessment of Bear and His Daughter, noting the critical trend to compare Stone's writing to that of Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Carver.
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A Lost Soul in Israel
(summary)
In the following review, Hynes contends that Damascus Gate is ambitious, powerful, and “Dickensian” in its scope.
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Crazy in Jerusalem
(summary)
In the following review, Gitlin argues that Damascus Gate is “overlong and overstuffed” with characters and subplots.
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Millennium's Pursuit
(summary)
In the following review, Eder commends the action, plot, and suspense in Damascus Gate but notes weaknesses in Stone's presentation of the novel's religious zealots.
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The Jerusalem Syndrome
(summary)
In the following review, Halkin criticizes Stone's superficial understanding of Israel and Jewish religious nationalism in Damascus Gate.
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Apocalypse Now
(summary)
In the following review, Gardner provides a favorable assessment of Damascus Gate but notes shortcomings in the novel's lackluster protagonist and stereotyped characters.
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Bleak, Thrilling, and Funny
(summary)
In the following review, Garvey argues that Damascus Gate succeeds both as a thriller and as an examination of spirituality, extolling its use of such elements as dark humor, adventure, and the quest for truth.
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A Parable for the Millennium
(summary)
In the following review, Hower asserts that Stone employs a wide myriad of characters, settings, and motifs in a successful blending of the thriller genre and the spiritual quest in Damascus Gate.
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Ceaseless Anythings
(summary)
In the following review, Wood faults Damascus Gate for being an amalgam of “techniques and conventions” aimed at maintaining simplicity, grouping Stone with a number of contemporary American realists preoccupied with this goal.
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All Things to All Men
(summary)
In the following review, Quinn claims that Damascus Gate contains flat language, too many plots and characters, and fails in its aspirations as a thriller.
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All Fortune Cookies to Him
(summary)
In the following review, Hulse criticizes Damascus Gate, claiming that Stone fails to “come to terms” with his religious subject matter in the novel and that the narrative is unconvincing.
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‘What about a Problem That Doesn't Have a Solution?’ Stone's A Flag for Sunrise, DeLillo's Mao II, and the Politics of Political Fiction
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Bull discusses the political dimension of the novel form and examines the presence of ideological impasses in Stone's A Flag for Sunrise and Don DeLillo's Mao II, wherein crises of politics, religion, and morality are shown to have no apparent solutions.
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From New Orleans to Jerusalem
(summary)
In the following review, Saunders offers praise for both Stone's ability to tie up loose plot threads in Damascus Gate and for clearly delineating a large cast of characters in a political thriller.
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Robert Stone's Opium of the People: Religious Ambivalence in Damascus Gate
(summary)
In the following essay, Fredrickson examines Stone's religious preoccupations and spiritually bereft protagonists in Damascus Gate, as they represent a reprise and elaboration of Stone's theological speculations and portraits of alienated leftists in previous novels.
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Review of Bay of Souls
(summary)
In the following review, the critic calls Bay of Souls “a small masterpiece,” contending that the novel is spare, intense, and clear. Faulknerian intensity and a narrative economy reminiscent of Hemingway distinguish Stone's bloodcurdling seventh outing, a tale that charts a midwestern college professor's compulsive path toward self-destruction.
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Voodoo But No Real Magic
(summary)
In the following review, Wilentz compliments Stone's abilities as a writer but faults Bay of Souls for what she contends is a weak plot and a preoccupation with spirituality.
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Considering Chaos
(summary)
In the following interview, Stone and Ulin discuss the themes of chaos and spiritual quest in Stone's work, particularly in his novel Bay of Souls, exploring how characters navigate existential challenges in a disordered world, and how concepts of soul and divine presence inform their struggles.
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Irony in Robert Stone's Dog Soldiers
(summary)
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Stone, Robert (Vol. 23)
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Nine Bright Beginnings
(summary)
In the following essay, Granville Hicks commends Robert Stone's novel A Hall of Mirrors for its powerful portrayal of societal misfits, emphasizing the author's passionate style and the novel's exceptional ability to render these characters both significant and comprehensible.
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Apocalypse in New Orleans
(summary)
In the following essay, Ivan Gold argues that Robert Stone's debut novel "A Hall of Mirrors" is a masterful exploration of American society, blending rich language, complex characters, and a compelling narrative to create a unique fusion of personal and political commentary comparable to the works of Lowry, West, and Dos Passos.
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'A Hall of Mirrors'
(summary)
In the following essay, Emile Capouya praises Robert Stone's A Hall of Mirrors for its rich portrayal of marginalized characters, examining the novel's exploration of the relationship between official society and its underworld while critiquing Stone's occasional excessive narrative length and highlighting the contemporary challenge of the hero archetype in American literature.
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Review: 'Hall of Mirrors'
(summary)
The critic praises Robert Stone's Hall of Mirrors for its skillful writing and credible characters within a compelling narrative that reflects societal issues, portraying it as a novel of significant merit and expressing anticipation for Stone's future works.
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The Undersea World of Robert Stone
(summary)
In the following essay, L. Hugh Moore argues that Robert Stone's novel A Hall of Mirrors presents a deeply pessimistic vision of modern American society, where survival depends on moral detachment and evolutionary adaptability, and human values are rendered obsolete, leading to inevitable despair and demise.
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A Novel of Lost Americans
(summary)
In the following essay, Michael Wood examines Robert Stone's novel "A Flag for Sunrise," highlighting its exploration of American extremism and international affliction through its complex characters and vivid setting in Central America, while also noting Stone's literary style and thematic resonance with writers like Conrad and Greene.
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A Chilling Tale of Good and Evil
(summary)
In the following essay, Leonard Michaels examines Robert Stone's A Flag for Sunrise, highlighting its complex narrative, spiritual journeys of its characters, and the tension between faith and brutality, while commending Stone's prose style and thematic exploration of violence, paranoia, and existential despair akin to the works of Hemingway and Mailer.
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God or Nothing: Robert Stone's Blood Offering
(summary)
In the following essay, Geoffrey Stokes argues that Robert Stone's A Flag for Sunrise uniquely intertwines adventure with theological discourse, using powerful language to compel readers into confronting philosophical and religious themes, despite the narrative's anachronistic elements and the author's controversial approaches.
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Robert Stone: Gunrunning and Jungle Fighting
(summary)
In the following essay, Jonathan Yardley criticizes Robert Stone's novel A Flag for Sunrise for its predictable plot and overbearing rhetoric, asserting that Stone's focus on political preaching overshadows his otherwise strong writing and character development, ultimately trivializing the complex issues of Central America.
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Hearts of Darkness
(summary)
In the following essay, A. Alvarez argues that Robert Stone's novels, influenced by his Vietnam experience, stand out in American literature for their gripping narratives and exploration of moral complexities akin to Conrad's works, characterized by black comedy and a profound sense of foreboding and nostalgia.
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Intruders
(summary)
In the following essay, Richard Poirier argues that Robert Stone’s novels, particularly A Flag for Sunrise, use human movement as a metaphor for intrusion and its resultant suffering, critiquing American history and power through a narrative style that emphasizes violent action over traditional storytelling comforts.
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Symptoms of Crumbling-Down
(summary)
In the following essay, Thomas Sutcliffe critiques Robert Stone's novel A Flag for Sunrise for its lack of resolution and stylistic shortcomings, despite its ambitious themes of American political guilt and introspection, as well as its exploration of confession and the anxieties surrounding America's historical and moral decisions.
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In Greeneland
(summary)
In the following essay, Francis King examines Robert Stone's novel A Flag for Sunrise, highlighting its vivid portrayal of a fictional Central American setting while critiquing its comparison to the works of Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad in terms of thematic depth and moral perspective.
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Books in Brief: 'A Flag for Sunrise'
(summary)
In the following essay, David Bosworth critiques Robert Stone's A Flag for Sunrise for its overemphasis on philosophical ideas and excessive violence, arguing that these elements undermine the novel's dramatic impact and diminish its potential power.
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Nine Bright Beginnings
(summary)
- Further Reading