Publisher's Synopsis
This study gives a novel-by-novel analysis of Rudolph Wurlitzer's works, relating his fiction to the writings of the Beats, Beckett, and other influences. Each of his novels centres around a literal or metaphorical West where the cultural bearings of the protagonists are brought under pressure, returning again and again to issues of cultural breakdown and isolation. A separate chapter is devoted to his work for the cinema and the strong continuity between his "road movies" and his fiction. This is the first critical study of Wurlitzer's work and has been prepared with the help of the novelist himself.
