Author: Ada Craniford

Publisher: Lewiston, N.Y. ; Queenston, Ont. : E. Mellen Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13:

This study analyzes Richler's use of biblical and literary sources as ironic subtexts for his tales. In addition, it aims to show that Richler uses these sources to compare and judge both the world he imitates and the one he creates. This work, a study of his nine novels, seeks to prove that even the first novel is cast in the same mould as the more successful ones where he fashions his protagonist on a biblical or literary mode only to blast holes in both his hero and the model he represents. Thus he achieves his own peculiar moral density by pushing accepted conventions and beliefs to their logically absurd extremes, while keeping the realistic level intact.