William T. Vollmann

<p> Talking bugs electricity the founding of empires hobos Nazis whores violence drugs murder secret cabals Heaven Hell--William T. Vollmann is a writer of enormous novels that are stuffed with entire worlds of creation and destruction. This first ever book-length critical study traces his career to date with chapters devoted to each of his novels as well as his short stories and major nonfiction. Vollmann is a writer of obsessions and this study concentrates on three of them--freedom redemption and prostitution--while arguing that the author that dwells on them is worthy of being called one of our greatest living American writers. Also included are seven interviews spanning the years 1991-2007 that reinforce the persistence of Vollmann's attraction to these themes.</p>