The Naked I: Fictions For The Seventies

by Frederick R. Karl

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 1972

About the author

Along with his biographies, Frederick Karl wrote several volumes of literary criticism, among them American Fictions: 1940-1980. He also was general editor and volume co-editor of the Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, five volumes of which have appeared. He taught at City College of New York, Columbia, and NYU. Karl died in 2004.

Reviews

[Robert Morgan Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I searched and searched for this collection for years after hearing Anne Enright mention it in her New Yorker Fiction Podcast reading/discussion of John Cheever's "The Swimmer." There is no Cheever but there is Coover—she got confused. I was confused as well because I thought it was The Naked EYE.

Very interesting if not chauvinistic look at 70s short fiction—only one woman, Sylvia Plath, and she was dead. Lots of sex, some explicit, many talented writers I've never heard of. A few classics. Could've done without the "non-fiction" section at the end—both pieces, including one from Kesey, are either incoherent and/or boring as fuck. An important collection to have for anyone interested in short stories from that era.

[Baarbaara Baaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for fans of Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath and the wonderfully shocking Leonard Cohen amongst many other great writers, the stories are creative and thought provoking, easy to read and extremely descriptive, thoroughly enjoyed every one of them.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

includes earlier fiction from Nabokov and Richard Wright, the contemporary ones include Barth and Barthelme, Cohen (Leonard) & Coover.