Working deliberately against the grain of dominant critical assumptions, this book examines the work of authors such as Grass, Garcia Marquez, Solzhenitsyn, and Kundera, and argues that it is necessary to speak of character, ethics, and philosophical purpose if one is to understand these works.

In this penetrating study, Boyers not only illuminates some of the major novels of our time, but makes an important contribution to contemporary political thought.

A rara avis in modern literary academia....It speaks well for both Boyers' critical intelligence and his integrity that he never uses simplistic labels...as a basis for his aesthetic judgment. He evaluates not the writer's views, but the literary use he makes of them....The strength of his book lies in his approach to each writer, regardless of his or her particular views.