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When Stanley Elkin died in 1995, he had already fallen into the dreaded category of "a writer's writer." Although literary critics and fellow novelists continued to celebrate his daring, zany innovations in fictional form, his books were falling rapidly out of print in his later years. He was eager for public acceptance and good sales, but he steadfastly refused to compromise his art and vision to gain the public recognition he craved. Even as his earlier books drifted out of and back into print, he continued to produce the kind of idiosyncratic, funny, and thoughtful novels that had been the source of his reputation among the writers and critics who looked to his stylistic innovations for inspiration. He responded to a question about literary influences with uncharacteristic modesty in an interview for a special issue of Delta (February 1985), saying that he hoped no one was doing what he was doing, but that he hoped at least he was doing what he was doing.
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