Peter Wolfe

Reviews Mishima's life and times, discusses, his major works, and looks at important themes in his novels

Yukio Mishima

John le Carré is viewed by many critics as one of the best spy and espionage novel writers. His most famous works are The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; and The Little Drummer Girl. Peter Wolfe has produced an informative study of le Carré's works, showing how le Carré's five years in the Service (British Intelligence) helped him become a keen observer, social historian, and expert in bureaucratic politics. He has supplanted the technological flair marking much of today's spy fiction with moral complexity and psychological depth. He shows us what spies are like, how they feel about spying, and how spying affects their minds and hearts.

The World of John Le Carré

Corridors of Deceit

Terence Rattigan examines the ways in which Rattigan's works turn audiences into participants, encouraging intellectual independence and freeing them to decide for themselves the deeper meanings of the works. It examines the unique methods by which he conveys meaning to audiences within a changing sociocultural context.

The Playwright as Battlefield

Terence Rattigan

Until 1970, Graham Greene made a sharp distinction between his novels and his lighter fiction, which he called entertain­ments. The use of the two categories seems to indicate that the latter books are trivial and inferior; yet Peter Wolfe shows that the entertainments are more than escape fiction; they are, rather, an almost distinct new genre. Wolfe focuses on seven books, from Orient Express (1932) to Our Man in Havana (1958), showing recurring themes as well as the evolution of the entertainment form. Graham Greene enthusiasts will find this new book particularly valuable for its long and careful look at the less-discussed works, while readers of thrillers will appreciate Wolfe’s analysis of them as a literary genre.

The Entertainer

Graham Greene

John Gribbin

Christopher G. Nuttall

Steve Harrison

Douglas Thompson

Rhys Hughes

Sanem Ozdural

Tej Turner

Ira Nayman

Robin Moran

Tanya Reimer

Dave Weaver

Peter R. Ellis

Susan Oke

J.A. Christy

Edwin Hayward

Stefan Jackson

Andy McKell

Siobhan McVeigh

Chloe Skye

The title, Existence is Elsewhen, paraphrases the last sentence of André Breton’s 1924 Manifesto of Surrealism, perfectly summing up the intent behind this anthology of stories from a wonderful collection of authors. Different worlds… different times. It’s what Elsewhen Press has been about since we launched our first title in 2011. Here, we present twenty science fiction stories for you to enjoy. We are delighted that headlining this collection is the fantastic John Gribbin, with a worrying vision of medical research in the near future. Future global healthcare is the theme of J A Christy’s story; while the ultimate in spare part surgery is where Dave Weaver takes us. Edwin Hayward’s search for a renewable protein source turns out to be digital; and Tanya Reimer’s story with characters we think we know, gives us pause for thought about another food we take for granted. Evolution is examined too, with Andy McKell’s chilling tale of what states could become if genetics are used to drive policy. Similarly, Robin Moran’s story explores the societal impact of an undesirable evolutionary trend; while Douglas Thompson provides a truly surreal warning of an impending disaster that will reverse evolution, with dire consequences. On a lighter note, we have satire from Steve Harrison discovering who really owns the Earth (and why); and Ira Nayman, who uses the surreal alternative realities of his Transdimensional Authority series as the setting for a detective story mash-up of Agatha Christie and Dashiel Hammett. Pursuing the crime-solving theme, Peter Wolfe explores life, and death, on a space station; while Stefan Jackson follows a police investigation into some bizarre cold-blooded murders in a cyberpunk future. Going into the past, albeit an 1831 set in the alternate Britain of his Royal Sorceress series, Christopher G. Nuttall reports on an investigation into a girl with strange powers. Strange powers in the present-day is the theme for Tej Turner, who tells a poignant tale of how extra-sensory perception makes it easier for a husband to bear his dying wife’s last few days. Difficult decisions are the theme of Chloe Skye’s heart-rending story exploring personal sacrifice. Relationships aren’t always so close, as Susan Oke’s tale demonstrates, when sibling rivalry is taken to the limit. Relationships are the backdrop to Peter R. Ellis’s story where a spectacular mid-winter event on a newly-colonised distant planet involves a Madonna and Child. Coming right back to Earth and in what feels like an almost imminent future, Siobhan McVeigh tells a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of using technology to deflect the blame for their actions. Building on the remarkable setting of Pera from her LiGa series, and developing Pera’s legendary Book of Shadow, Sanem Ozdural spins the creation myth of the first light tree in a lyrical and poetic song. Also exploring language, the master of fantastika and absurdism, Rhys Hughes, extrapolates the way in which language changes over time, with an entertaining result.

Existence is Elsewhen

The work of English playwright Simon Gray (1936–2008) has always resisted ideological and stylistic labels. His artistic independence has also had an unwelcome side effect: It cost him the critical attention garnered by his peers. This book, the first monograph on Gray, examines his oeuvre from the early plays, which hack away at the formalism and humanism of traditional English satire, to the later ones, in which he explores English professionals and their problems connecting with each other. If Gray remains the least known major English dramatist of his day, he’s also one of the boldest and best.

The Journey of a Dramatist

Simon Gray Unbound

Besides pointing out the contrasts between Ambler's late and early work, Peter Wolfe's subtle, insightful Alarms and Epitaphs also develops the continuities. Most notable among these is a fear and hatred of male authority rivaling that of Kafka; no self-starter, the archetypal Ambler hero drifts into danger and finds himself, despite his resolutions, doing the bidding of strong, decisive men who care little about him. A unique feature of Wolfe's study is a chapter on the five novels, beginning with Skytip (1951), published under the name of Eliot Reed. These collaborations with the Australian detective-story writer Charles Rodda capture both the spirit and style Graham Greene admired in Ambler when he called him "our best 'thriller' writer."

The Art of Eric Ambler

Alarms and Epitaphs

This first book-length work on Terrence McNally shows how his decades in the theater have refined his thoughts on subjects like growing up gay in mannish, homophobic Texas, Shakespeare’s legacy in contemporary drama, and the life-giving power of forgiveness. McNally believes that the ability to forgive—a challenge to even the most high-minded—confirms our humanity because the wrongs done to us usually don’t deserve to be forgiven. The author shows how McNally’s impeccable timing, his instinct for a good laugh line, and his preference for physical sensation and character over plot helps him reveal both what’s important to his people and why his people are important. These revelations can shake up audiences while providing a great evening at the theater.

A Critical Study

The Theater of Terrence McNally

Critical Essays on Patrick White

The first book published on Hammett since 1969, Wolfe interprets leading themes, considers important social issues raised by them and fills in the necessary historical background.

The Art of Dashiell Hammett

Beams Falling

John Fowles, Magus and Moralist

John le Carré is viewed by many critics as one of the best spy and espionage novel writers. His most famous works are The Spy Who Came in from the Cold; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; and The Little Drummer Girl. Peter Wolfe has produced an informative study of le Carré’s works, showing how le Carré’s five years in the Service (British Intelligence) helped him become a keen observer, social historian, and expert in bureaucratic politics. He has supplanted the technological flair marking much of today's spy fiction with moral complexity and psychological depth. He shows us what spies are like, how they feel about spying, and how spying affects their minds and hearts.

Peter Wolfe's new book isn't just a groundbreaking introduction to one of today's leading American playwrights; it's also a subtle, carefully nuanced critique. This first book-length monograph on Terrence McNally shows how McNally's decades in the theater have both deepened and refined his thoughts on subjects like growing up gay in mannish, homophobic Texas, Shakespeare's legacy in contemporary drama, and the life-giving power of forgiveness. McNally believes that the ability to forgive confirms our humanity because the wrongs perpetrated against us usually don't deserve to be forgiven. Putting them behind us, he knows, too, challenges the most high-minded. He likens this to the idea, from Edward Albee's Zoo Story, of having to go a great distance out of our way to cover a short distance correctly. This journey, he views as vital. Wolfe shows how his impeccable timing, his instinct for a good laugh line, and his preference for physical sensation and character over plot helps him reveal both what's important to his people and why his people are important. These revelations will shake up your preconceptions. Often shaking your sides with laughter, too, they leave you in a better place?while providing, to boot, a great evening at the theater.

In 1973 the Australian novelist Patrick White won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the year that his great novel of family ties and change, The Eye of the Storm, was published and became a bestseller in America and Europe. Yet White is still not widely known or read, and few writers of today have provoked so many contradictory judgments. Now Peter Wolfe has written the first book-length study of the work of this brilliant and haunting novelist. The study offers a subtle, penetrating examination of White's style, his skill in building narrative tension, and also the depth and complexity reflected in his characterization, which, in his novels, always dominates action. Fittingly, for a writer whose novels bear the indelible stamp of Australia, the study also examines White's psychological use of setting and the intense sense of place found in his work. No other critical study of White covers such a broad range of his writing. Peter Wolfe considers here the entire canon of the novels. The Tree of Man, Voss, The Vivisector, The Eye of the Storm, A Fringe of Leaves, and The Twyborn Affair (White's most recent novel) are all discussed. White's themes and settings range from the power and immensity of the wilderness of the Australian outback to the dislocations wrought in traditional values by postwar industrialization and urban sprawl. Laden Choirs makes accessible to an American audience a writer of the first rank, whose work lies at the heart of modernist concerns. Literary students and scholars who wish to explore the world of Patrick White will find this book an essential key.

The Fiction of Patrick White

Laden Choirs

Provides in-depth analysis of the life, works, career, and critical importance of Mary Renault.

Mary Renault

Often more disturbing than entertaining, James Ellroy is an author who never shies away from the ugly or repellent. Eminent crime fiction scholar Peter Wolfe examines how Ellroy transcends the genres of pulp and neo-noir fiction to write stories that are both psychologically haunting and culturally relevant. Wolfe skillfully combines biography-including the unsolved murder of Ellroy's mother-with literary analysis to provide a fascinating and readable study of this popular author. The first in-depth companion to the work of James Ellroy, Like Hot Knives to the Brain will interest students of popular culture, mystery readers, and crime buffs everywhere.

James Ellroy's Search for Himself

Like Hot Knives to the Brain

Of this now legendary troupe Bennett had the most dubious professional future in the mid-1960s. Yet in January 1992 this theatrical genius had two plays running in London's West End and had recently acted in one of his own teleplays. His suite of monologues, Talking Heads, was also opening in London's Comedy Theatre.

Understanding Alan Bennett

By mid-career, many successful writers have found a groove and their readers come to expect a familiar consistency and fidelity. Not so with Henry Green (1905-1973). He prefers uncertainty over reason and fragmentation over cohesion, and rarely lets the reader settle into a nice cozy read. Evil, he suggests, can be as instructive as good. Through Green's use of paradoxical and ambiguous language, his novels bring texture to the flatness of life, making the world seem bigger and closer. We soon stop worrying about what Hitler's bombs have in store for the Londoners of Caught (1943) and Back (1946) and start thinking about what they have in store for each other. Praised in his lifetime as England's top fiction author, Green is largely overlooked today. This book presents a comprehensive analysis of his work for a new generation of readers.

Peter Wolfe

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