This is our backup site. Click here to visit our main site at MellenPress.com
Craniford, Ada
1993 0-88946-018-3This study analyzes Richler's use of biblical and literary sources as ironic subtexts for his tales. Identifying hitherto unnoticed sources, it also shows that Richler uses them to compare and judge both the world he imitates and the one he creates. Another important aspect of the study of Richler's nine novels shows that even the first novel (now out of print) is cast in the same mold as the more successful ones where he fashions his protagonist on a biblical or literary mode only to blast holes in both his hero and the model he represents. Thus he achieves his own peculiar moral density by pushing accepted conventions and beliefs to their logically absurd extremes, while keeping the realistic level intact.