Robert Stone Summary

Robert Anthony Stone (born 1937) was an American novelist whose preoccupations were politics, the media, and the random, senseless violence and cruelty that pervade contemporary life both in the Unite... Read more

In the following essay, Karagueuzian notes ironic parallels between Dog Soldiers and Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, asserting that Stone underscores the inadequacy of Hemingway's... Read more

In the following review, Danziger criticizes Children of Light, asserting that the novel is filled with disturbing, greedy characters and a grim and depressing plot. Strangers to Robert Stone... Read more

In the following review, Meyers compares Children of Light to Kate Chopin's The Awakening but faults Stone's novel for lacking the “depth and power” of his earlier works su... Read more

In the following review, Adams offers a positive assessment of Outerbridge Reach, calling the work a “strong, unhappy novel.” The new book by Robert Stone is a tough Irish-American no... Read more

In the following review, Caldwell praises Outerbridge Reach, commending Stone's moral concerns but citing weaknesses in the novel's narrative structure. Robert Stone's characte... Read more

In the following review, King extols the passages concerning the high-seas adventure in Outerbridge Reach and commends the “noble and grand scale” of the novel. In these days of radio... Read more

In the following excerpt, Phillips argues that Outerbridge Reach is a successfully engaging narrative due to Stone's use of meticulous detail. “I know of almost no pleasure greater th... Read more

In the following essay, Packer provides an overview of Stone's novels, thematic concerns, and character types, noting that although Children of Light and Outerbridge Reach are weaker than his f... Read more

In the following essay, Bloom discusses Stone's intertextual commentary on the uses and abuses of literary art in Outerbridge Reach, Children of Light, and A Flag for Sunrise. Bloom contends th... Read more

In the following essay, Fredrickson examines Stone's presentation of cynical, disillusioned left-wing sympathizers and amoral leftist revolutionaries in his novels, particularly Dog Soldiers an... Read more

In the following review, Eder claims that the character and plot development in Bear and His Daughter is uneven and faults Stone for failing to compel readers to care about the protagonists. Like t... Read more

In the following excerpt, Pritchard praises the descriptive passages and dark humor in Bear and His Daughter, contending that Stone is a competent short story writer but that his abilities are more su... Read more

In the following review, Connolly offers a positive assessment of Bear and His Daughter, noting the critical trend to compare Stone's writing to that of Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Carver. ... Read more

In the following review, Gitlin argues that Damascus Gate is “overlong and overstuffed” with characters and subplots. It would be much too simple to say that a lot of Robert Stone�... Read more

In the following review, Halkin criticizes Stone's superficial understanding of Israel and Jewish religious nationalism in Damascus Gate. Robert Stone is a first-rate writer of fiction. He m... Read more

In the following review, Garvey argues that Damascus Gate succeeds both as a thriller and as an examination of spirituality, extolling its use of such elements as dark humor, adventure, and the quest ... Read more

In the following review, Wood faults Damascus Gate for being an amalgam of “techniques and conventions” aimed at maintaining simplicity, grouping Stone with a number of contemporary Amer... Read more

In the following review, Hulse criticizes Damascus Gate, claiming that Stone fails to “come to terms” with his religious subject matter in the novel and that the narrative is unconvincin... Read more

In the following review, Saunders offers praise for both Stone's ability to tie up loose plot threads in Damascus Gate and for clearly delineating a large cast of characters in a political thri... Read more

In the following review, the critic calls Bay of Souls “a small masterpiece,” contending that the novel is spare, intense, and clear. Faulknerian intensity and a narrative economy rem... Read more

In the following interview, Stone discusses his past and the inspirations behind Bay of Souls. On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Le Meridien Hotel in Beverly Hills looks like a setting from a Robert S... Read more

Critical Essay by A. Alvarez Robert Stone has published only three novels in 14 years, but they have established him as one of the most interesting and gifted novelists in America. He is also slightl... Read more

Critical Essay by Francis King Robert Stone's Dog Soldiers, made into a successful film, dealt with what his publishers termed 'post Vietnam trauma'; and although A Flag for Sunr... Read more

Critical Essay by Ivan Gold It is almost impertinent to say that the 30-year-old author of this first novel has talent, and it is impertinent to try and relate his gifts to his age or publishing hist... Read more

Critical Essay by Prairie Schooner On the jacket of Robert Stone's Hall of Mirrors, Wallace Stegner says that Stone "writes like a bird, like an angel"—which is not at all... Read more

Critical Essay by Michael Wood Squalid, spectacular, agitated, littered with ancient ruins and riddled with more spies than you can shake a cloak at, Central America seems almost too much of a good t... Read more

Critical Essay by Geoffrey Stokes Stone's characters wear their emblematic responsibilities so naturally that A Flag for Sunrise works as an adventure yarn, but on the level at which it aspire... Read more