"Mellard is courageous in applying French and Freudian concepts to a literature that openly disavows the psychoanalytical, making his approach the kind of eye-opening exercise that makes teaching criticism so important and worthwhile. As Mellard integrates advances in criticism with specific readings of the texts he treats, we must recognize that this is no small task, and others have found it more than daunting and done it less thoroughly."

James M. Mellard is Presidential Teaching Professor Emeritus at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of many books, including Using Lacan, Reading Fiction.