Bernice M. Murphy

While I enjoyed this for what it was — a wide-ranging overview on a number of authors and their works — I wish the essays took more of a particular critical stance, or otherwise contained a thesis beyond 'This work is worth studying'.
The essay on George R R Martin in particular leaves a lot to be desired, as it brings up the point of his work's engagement (and lack thereof) with sexual violence against women, and yet glazes over it at the end in favour of a platitude-ish show more conclusion.
Having said that, it's quite clear that the purpose of the book is to act as one such overview, and so these voids are more of a springboard for the reader to perhaps contribute to these fields themselves.
Also also, there is somewhat of a tone issue in some of the essays — leave the jokes to the professionals! show less

what was I thinking? I hate literary criticism