In the preface to her study of Reynolds Price's works, Constance Rooke claims that Price's vision is "darker than many of his readers have supposed." Perhaps one of the reasons for this dark vision is Price's philosophy about his life as a writer, specifically his belief that to be the artist he is, he must abandon many of the typical relationships that most people have. Price--much like Eudora Welty, one of his major influences and inspirations--has forgone marriage and family, finding purpose in his work. Rooke goes on to state that "at the heart of Reynolds Price's fiction is a dialogue between love and solitude," each of which is a blessing and a curse. Independence and the freedom it allows Price (and many of his characters) has a cost, most often the loss of love. Love of all kinds--familial, erotic, fraternal--plays an important role in the fiction of...