This book is one of a series of Blackwell Literature Handbooks and consistent with the design of the series is intended as a guide both for the independent reader who wishes for an introduction to the major writers, texts, and issues of twentieth-century American fiction, and also for graduate students and upper-level undergraduates taking courses that focus upon this subject area. The book should also be helpful to students studying twentieth-century American literature more generally, as well as students of modern or contemporary fiction written in English.