Stages of the Clown; Perspectives on Modern Fiction from Dostoyevsky to Beckett.

In this illuminating study of the grotesque and black comedy, Mr. Pearce traces the classic clown tradition in the works of Beckett, Flannery O'Connor, Kafka, Faulkner, William Burroughs, Nabokov, Gunter Grass, and other modern writers. The "stages" of the title refer to the historical development and concept of the clown from classical to modern literature. The author's radical perspective on the clown as the hero in a world of the absurd is especially important.Pearce, Richard is the author of 'Stages of the Clown; Perspectives on Modern Fiction from Dostoyevsky to Beckett.' with ISBN 9780809304493 and ISBN 080930449X.