Understanding Jane Smiley

In this comprehensive study of Jane Smiley's fiction, Neil Nakadate offers insight into the strikingly imaginative and intellectual range of a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer best known for A Thousand Acres. He provides close readings - from the early Barn Blind to The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton - and presents the first extended account of the connections between her life and her work. Drawing on the critical record, previously unpublished interviews with the novelist, and Smiley's own prolific commentary on literature, writing, and American culture, Nakadate examines her…