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Great Science-Fiction
& Fantasy Works
a critical list with discussions
Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books by
Mark Helprin
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Standard Disclaimer:
This is a brief discussion of Mark Helprin and, of course, of some speculative-fiction books by Mark Helprin This discussion and list does not necessarily include every book by Helprin: it includes only those books that I both know and like. Just as with the author list itself, omission of a particular item may mean I didn't think highly enough of the omitted item, or it may simply mean that I have not yet sufficient familiarity with it. (In a very few cases, I have listed some books merely on the strength of my opinion of the author: all such books are clearly marked below, as throughout these lists, with a hash mark (#) before the title so you know what's what.) I don't pretend that this discussion is a deep analysis. My intent is no more than to give you a rough idea of what kinds of tales Helprin tells, how those tales are usually told, and what makes them and Helprin worthy; in sum, to help you rank Helprin (and the works by Helprin listed here) on your personal literary "to do" list. |
A Few Words About Mark Helprin
Regrettably, I have not yet had an opportunity to write an essay on this author, but the "Other Resources" section below will lead you to some information about the "Notable Books" listed farther down this page.
Other Mark Helprin Resources
(Finding critical material on Helprin is not made easier by the fact that Helprin is a widely net-published writer of political-opinion pieces, whose listings tend to clog up most Helprin-related search-result sets.)
For starters, there's Helprin's own site, Mark Helprin. Other useful overview pages include "The Novels of Mark Helprin" by Colin Glassey at the Teleologic site; "Mark Helprin" an overview at Blowhards; "Mark Helprin: The Gates to the City", an analysis of his style by Curtis Edmonds at Epinions; and "Literary analysis: Mark Helprin and the use of fantasy and realism" by "Melissa N-E" at Helium.
There are some moderately useful reviews of particular books. For Winter's Tale, the more useful include Benjamin de Mott in The New York Times, and FantasyBookSpot. Memoir From Antproof Case (which did not make these lists) was looked at by David Edelman and by Heidi N. Sjostrom in the Milwaukee Journal. Of Helprin's books nominally "for children" (which await reading here), Peter Neumeyer's "Children's Books; who needs Tchaikovsky?" in The New York Times reviews Swan Lake, while some readers offer comments at the Literary Connections site.
There are also several long interviews with Helprin available, including: "Rewriting Bob Dole", an undated interview with Mark Schapiro at Salon; "Literary Warrior" a 2005 interview with Craig Lambert at Harvard Magazine; and a Mark Helprin Interview, 2005, with Mark Flanagan at About.com.
Notable Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books by Mark Helprin ***
(For more possible titles by this author, see the "Unrated Books by Rated Authors" page.)You loaded this page on Tuesday, 7 October 2008, at 09:13 GMT
it was last modified on Friday, 15 August 2008, at 10:47 GMT
