Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgments
1. "A Sum of Private Frequencies"
2. When Stanley Elkin Was a Little Boy: New York and Chicago, 1930-48
3. College, Graduate School, and the Army, 1948-57
4. Family Crises, Graduate School, and a Literary Career, 1957-60
5. "Become a Strong Man": St. Louis, Europe, First Base, Full Houses, and the Big Time, 1960-65
6. "Convicted of His Character": Kibitzers, A Bad Man, Additions, and Catastrophe, 1965-68
7. "Strange Displacements of the Ordinary": Recovery and The Dick Gibson Show, 1968-70
8. "Blessèd Form": Novellas, a Sabbatical Year Abroad, and a Death Sentence, 1971-73
9. "Making America Look Like America": Hollywood Beckons, a Breakthrough Novel, and a Cane, 1974-77
10. Heaven and Hell, St. Louis and Mexico, the First Crusade, and South America: Life's Greatest Hits and a Major Disappointment, 1978-82
11. Disney World and Alaskan Rabbis: A Masterpiece, a Flop, the Elkin Essay, and More Bad Medical News, 1983-88
12. "But I Am Getting Ahead of Myself": Back to the Movies, Another Trilogy, More Awards, and the Last Years, 1989-94
13. "The Stanley Elkin Chair": The Silence Descends, Posthumous Fiction, and Awards
Notes
Bibliography
Index