SOURCE: “Literature's Stepchild,” in Nation, Vol. 228, No. 5, February 10, 1979, p. 153.

In the following review, Shorris offers a favorable assessment of The New World.

The New World, by Russell Banks, is divided into two sections: “Renunciation,” in which his more conventional stories appear, and “Transformation,” where the writing is more experimental. “The Conversion,” which appears in the first section, tells of Alvin Stock, a 16-year-old New Hampshire boy, in the classic throes of tortured adolescence. Alvin hates himself for his masturbatory fantasies, his unending virginity and his doltishness in the presence of his father. At the same time he feels great tenderness toward his mother and younger sisters. Alvin's most excruciating sufferings are caused by his clumsiness with girls, and during one particularly painful school dance, he sees a vision of Christ which makes him decide to be a minister. We know, however, that this will not be the final...