Publisher's Synopsis
Often compared to Joyce and Faulkner, Kennedy examines the people in his native community to make observations and revelations about the dynamics of life in general. The result is a portrait of the author's vision of the American experience, a portrait shaded toward the experience of the disenfranchised - the immigrant and the ethnic (especially Irish) American, the striker, the outlaw, the bum. Kennedy received critical acclaim and a Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for his depiction of the homeless in his novel, "Ironweed". This study examines all of Kennedy's works to his most recent novel, "Quinn's Book " (1988).