The Popular Culture Association conference will be held at the Marriott
Hotel in New Orleans, 19-22 April 2000. A special session will be
devoted to John Fante and Charles Bukowski. Proposals for papers on any
aspect of these "cult" writers, considered alone or together, are
requested.
The Fante revival of the 1980s, which saw the publication of all of
Fante's novels and two volumes of his correspondence by Black Sparrow
Press, has now passed into a new phase of critical appreciation. In the
next several months, at least four new books are scheduled to appear:
JOHN FANTE: A LITERARY PORTRAIT by Richard Collins (Toronto: Guernica
Editions); JOHN FANTE: A CRITICAL GATHERING edited by Stephen Cooper and
David Fine (Fairleigh Dickinson UP); FULL OF LIFE: A BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN
FANTE by Stephen Cooper (FS&G); and THE BIG HUNGER: STORIES 1932-1959 by
John Fante (Black Sparrow Press). These books should provide fresh new
contexts in which to discuss the work of a neglected master of the
American novel.
As the writer who is credited with starting the Fante revival with his
1980 preface to ASK THE DUST, Charles Bukowski has long been considered
an important figure of contemporary literature and popular culture but
has yet to receive sustained critical attention, especially in terms of
his acknowledged debt to Fante.
Dan Fante, the son of John Fante, has also written an autobiographical
novel, CHUMP CHANGE (1998), which follows in the tradition of his father
and Bukowski, and would certainly be worthy of attention.
Abstracts of up to 250 words should be sent to Richard Collins,
Department of English, Xavier University, New Orleans, LA 70125, or by
e-mail to rnlcoll@bellsouth.net. Deadline: 5 September 1999.
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