Everything you need to understand or teach Pages from a Cold Island by Frederick Exley.
"The death of literature" makes for a less overt theme than did that of A Fan's Notes, the "death of the American Dream." Moreover, Exley's tone in this "memoir" is less shrill and angry than before, more simpering, stuttering, almost resigned. With the eloquent markings of an elegy, the author of Pages from a Cold Island laments the loss of what he holds most dear: the (perceived) ability of literature to move the...