Discusses black novelists' use of white lead characters in their novels in the years between 1845 and 1945. Reasons cited include ambition, financial concerns, expansion of readership base, vicarious experiencing, approval of the white literary establishment, quest for universality, freedom of expression, and meeting the challenge. (MMU)

A paper presented at Workshop on Literary Sexual Stereotypes at annual convention of Modern Language Association of America (New York, December 27, 1970). (Editor)

Discusses the riddle posed by the dying grandfather of the narrator in Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" in terms of its language, the way it functions in the narrative, and the way in which an understanding of its solutions provides an important key to the novel. (GW)

Author quotes O'Connor's defense of her frequent use of poor people as fictional characters; a paper presented at annual convention of National Council of Teachers of English (60th, Atlanta, November 27, 1970). (Editor/SW)

An essay which grew out of a paper presented at Forum on the Status of Women in the Profession at annual convention of Modern Language Association of America (New York, December 27, 1970). (Editor)

Discusses Hemingway's use of animals and animal imagery, in The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," as a standard against which to measure and evaluate his human actors." (Author/RD)

Discusses the idea that Flannery O'Connor presents Black characters not as people but as "issues" who never change and never are explored on more than a superficial level. (JM)

Presents a brief review of the portrayals of adolescents in children's books written from 1776 to the present. Excerpts are used freely and several trends in the literary characterizations of adolescents are identified. (JMB)

Author emphasizes attitudes toward slavery in his analysis of the relationships among the characters in Melville's story. (SP)

Explains the adaptation of the novel version of Midnight Cowboy" to the file one; reprinted from Film & Literature: Contrasts in Media" by Fred Marcus (Chandler, 1971). (Editor/SW)

An answer to those who charge the book is obscene, racist or immoral, the article has general applications as well. (SP)

Through the mid-1980s, resistance to contemporary literary theory (especially Jacques Derrida's philosophy of deconstruction) took the form of a bitter debate that enlivened literary journals and Modern Language Association meetings. The debate continues even today, with traditional literary critics rejecting deconstruction as nihilistic and…

The theme of homosexual officers lusting after innocent enlisted men has frequently appeared in English and American fiction since "Billy Budd"--almost always leading to tragic outcomes. (JH)