{"product_id":"9781611176445","title":"Understanding Edward P. Jones","description":"\u003cb\u003eA comprehensive survey of the works of an acclaimed African American writer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eUnderstanding Edward P. Jones\u003c\/i\u003e, James W. Coleman analyzes Jones's award-winning works as well as the significant influences that have shaped his craft. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Jones has made that city and its African American community the subject of or background for most of his fiction. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThough Jones's first work was published in 1976, his career developed slowly. While he worked for two decades as a proofreader and abstractor, Jones published short fiction in such periodicals as\u003ci\u003e Essence, the New Yorker,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eParis Review.\u003c\/i\u003e His first collection,\u003ci\u003e Lost in the City, \u003c\/i\u003ewon the PEN\/Hemingway Award, and subsequent books, including \u003ci\u003eThe Known World \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e All Aunt Hagar's Children\u003c\/i\u003e, received similar accolades, including the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing an overview of Jones's life, influences, and career, Coleman provides an introduction to the technique of Jones's fiction, which he likens to a tapestry, woven of intricate, varied, and sometimes disparate elements. He then analyzes the formal structure, themes, and characters of \u003ci\u003eThe Known World\u003c\/i\u003e and devotes a chapter each to the short story collections\u003ci\u003e Lost in the City\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAll Aunt Hagar's Children\u003c\/i\u003e. His discussion of these volumes focuses on Jones's narrative technique; the themes of family, community, and broader tradition; and the connections through which the stories in each volume collectively create a thematic whole. In his final chapter, Coleman assesses Jones's encompassing outlook that sees African American life in distinct periods but also as a historical whole, simultaneously in the future, the past, and the present.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of South Carolina Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47063026827504,"sku":"9781611176445","price":41.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781611176445_p0.jpg?v=1763841458","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781611176445","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}