In this hermeneutic analysis of seven literary texts, Stephanie Barbé Hammer studies the roles of criminal protagonists in the dramas of George Lillo (The London Merchant) and Friedrich Schiller (The Robbers) and in the narratives of Abbé de Prévost (Manon Lescaut), Henry Fielding (Jonathan Wild), Marquis de Sade (Justine), William Godwin (Caleb Williams), and Heinrich von Kleist (Michael Kohlhaas). Hammer reflects the current interest in cultural critique by utilizing the social theories of Michel Foucault and the feminist approaches of Hélène Cixous and Eve Sedgwick to redefine the Enlightenment as a movement of thought rather than as a strictly defined period synonymous with the eighteenth century. In addition, through the examination of the works of three post–World War II authors (Jean Genet, Anthony Burgess, and Peter Handke), Hammer suggests that the Enlightenment’s artistic representations of criminality are unparalleled by subsequent modern literature. Hammer explains that the seven works she focuses on have been dismissed as failures by readers who have misunderstood the texts’ aesthetic elements. While claiming that the form of these works breaks down under the pressure of their criminal protagonists, she asserts that this formal failure actually contributes to the success of the works as art. The works "fail" because, like the criminal characters themselves, they break laws. The criminal protagonist effectively sabotages the official story that the text seeks to tell by deflecting the plot, style, and formal requirements in question, subverting its message—be it moral, sentimental, or libertine— through a kind of structural undermining, forcing the text beyond its own formal boundaries. For example, Hammer maintains that the presence of the criminal figure, Millwood, in Lillo’s bourgeois tragedy actually makes the play covertly antibourgeois. Hammer insists that the criminal’s subversive presence in these seven works inaugurates new insight, and her analysis thereby challenges late twentieth-century readers to continue the investigation that the works themselves have begun. This book will prove indispensable to scholars of comparative literature, especially eighteenth-century specialists, as well as to all individuals interested in cultural critique.

"Schiller's Wound is an exciting work that will not only entice scholars but also serve as a useful resource for instructors who wish to reintroduce this important writer into their curricula. As the 200th anniversary of Schiller's death approaches, it will provide an invaluable context for further discussions of his work and its impact."--BOOK JACKET.

Sarassine Anfang, a precocious Los Angeles teen, is so fed up with her dysfunctional Jewish Hancock Park family that she decides to run away to her grandfather's Wilshire condo and become a plumber, but her chocolate-eating grandmother and her distracted parents have other ideas.

How Formal? takes readers on a wild but accessible ride through sestinas, haiku, sonnets and psalms with some stop-overs in free verse and prose poetry.

Are you fascinated (or maybe just intimidated!) by Gabriel García Márquez's 100 Years of Solitude? Do you love Kafka, George Saunders, Gogol, Leslie Marmon Silko, Colson Whitehead, Kathleen Alcalá, and Aimee Bender? All of these writers have one big feature in common: they are all working with a kind of writing called Magical Realism. What is it? And how do you write it? Fiction writer and award winning teacher Stephanie Barbé Hammer uses prompts, games, and simple explanations to demystify Magical Realism AND show writers how to have fun writing it. You'll learn how to mix language, points of view, and plot in new and exciting combinations that will result in stories that are flavorful, distinctive, deep, and unforgettable. Delicious Strangeness will add zest to your writing whether you are new to fiction writíing or are a seasoned (!) professional.

Stephanie Hammer's debut novel takes you to the eastern United States where strange characters converge to revitalize a small town and discover its history. Henry Holbein, the main player, is a simple man with a unique perspective that accidentally brings objects to life and inspires value within a community.

In this mini-collection of city/country poems in mostly free verse, Stephanie Barbé Hammer runs in and out of sprinklers in a Manhattan playground, picks up a slug by accident in the Cascades, reads about sequoia on 5th avenue, make an uncomfortable journey to the Hôpital américain in Paris, strolls a surprisingly sensual Geneva Switzerland at 2 am, encounters a mountain lion in Anaheim Hills, boards buses and trains In Los Angeles, and attempts repeatedly to make peace with living in rural Washington State, with the spiritual assistance of Eva Gabor.

In the New England town of Narrow Interior, 15-year-old cancer survivor Gomer Faithcutt prepares for the practical Junior Life Saving Test while exploring both his own sexuality and the spectral secrets of a forgotten religious sect that once flourished in the town. As his father worries about his son's health, Gomer learns about desire, friendship, and self-preservation. He glimpses who he can become because of (or despite?) his parents and forges a surprising connection with a mysterious neighbor.