Covers a wide range of authors up to the outbreak of World War II, among them Oscar Wilde, Joseph Conrad, Henry James, Langston Hughes, Samuel Beckett, HD, Virginia Woolf, Djuna Barnes, and Jean Rhys.

Mahaffey (modern literature, U. of York) dares readers to think of modern fiction not only as challenging to read but as a challenge to the fictions by which they live, She confronts a range of authors, from Doyle to Joyce, Woolf, Eliot, Djuna Barnes, Wilde and Rhys to explore modern occupations in partnering, whether as Holmes and Watson, author and reader, lover and loved, or husband and wife, in opacity and the uncontrollable urge to block understanding, and in those dark reaches within the reader's soul that are in fact the most opaque features of all. Combining commentary on literary works with that on art, gender, and society's restless for meaning after the decline of the need to be understood, Mahaffey provides a far-seeking and challenging read for those who nevertheless must be further challenged by the work in hand. Annotation 2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)