Ross MacDonald — Bernard Schopen

In this study of Ross Macdonald, Bernard A. Schopen focuses on the manner as well as the matter in Macdonald's narrative art, analyzing the development of central themes like abandonment, victimization, and the sources of human evil. His study provides an overview of the american detective novel, placing the genre within the broader tradition of the American novel and assessing the artistic contribution of Macdonald's works. Schopen demonstrates how Macdonald transformed American detective fiction into a form that could give readers both the pleasure of a detective story and the psychological and artistic complexity of a novel.