Word: mallon
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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That is not to say that Mallon's novel lacks pretension--it doesn't Mallon is an academic by profession and it shows. Few pages are without allusions. Art's love for Keats has earned him the nickname "Urn Man," and Mallon peppers his novel with frequent allusions to the romantic poet. The book starts with a description of Artie's Greek homework, later quoted, and the text has the requisite invocations of Matthew Arnold, Shakespeare and Joyce. Moreover, Mallon throws in details about contemporary political events, such as Pattie Hearst's kidnapping...
Which raises the question as to whether Mallon should be writing fiction at all. In Segal's case, his work made bestseller lists, whatever its literary merits. But Mallon will not achieve similar popularity. And though he should not be shamed out of academia for his fictional foray, he should consider whether he wants to taint his critical reputation by writing schlock...
With its caricatured characters, the relentless chronicling of Artie an Angela's relationship--from inception to ride-off-in-the-sunset ending--Arts and Sciences is at best uninspired and only mildly amusing. And though it may quote Greek and allude to Keats, Mallon's novel remains a mainstream work. Let it float...
...Great American Novel--it may be the dream of every English professor to write it. And although Thomas Mallon, a teacher at Vassar for the past nine years, would scarely call his first fictional work such a novel, he says the motivation is much the same...
...Mallon says every English teacher harbors a desire to write creatively, perhaps because they are closer to their critical subject than other scholars, since they are writing about other people's writing...