Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction. “This Balancing of Urgent Forces”: Richard Ford’s Pragmatic Realism
One. The Lie of Literature and the Work of Mourning: The Sportswriter and Rock Springs
Two. Independence Day and the Limits of Pragmatism
Three. “Spoiled People”: Narcissism and the Decentered Self in Women with Men
Four. “What Was That Thing She Was?”: Realism, Postmodernism, and the Fragmented Body in A Multitude of Sins
Five. “Everything Good Is on the Highway”: Permanence and Transition in The Lay of the Land
Conclusion. Canada and the Hazards of Normality
Notes
Bibliography
Index