Wunderkind

A detailed critical history of McCullers's reputation and the social crosscurrents that shaped it.

The critical reception of Carson McCullers, author of The Heart Is aLonely Hunter, The Member of the Wedding, and The Ballad of theSad Cafe has reflected the prevailing cultural preoccupations of thefive decades since the publication of her first novel in 1940. Jamesdistinguishes between pre and post-war criticism and furtheridentifies other critical approaches - that of New Criticism which sawher work as working in the shadow of Faulkner; the response to thepsychological and social rhythms of her fiction; and the recognition ofthe interplay of gender, race, and class in her life, and her texts.