In search of heresy

Since the publication of his highly influential first book, After the Lost Generation, John W. Aldridge has been recognized as a master of contemporary literary criticism. In this selection of brilliant essays he turns his creative critical mind toward some of the major figures of modern literature-- Ernest Hemingway and Malcolm Cowley most prominently. Throughout his career, Aldridge has been deeply concerned with the relation of society to literature. While the changing editorial policies of the major book reviews and magazines threaten to make serious literary criticism a thing of the past, Aldridge still believes that books and their ideas have a living relation to daily life, as well as the evolution of contemporary literature.