Richard Powers, Operation Wandering Soul

Martin Kich (Wright State University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1993

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Like the protagonists of Powers’ first three novels, the protagonist of

Operation Wandering Soul

is a loner, an ascetic -- a psychological recluse even if he has not retreated entirely from social connections. But, unlike Hobbes, Kraft has no family to provide a buffer between his interior and exterior worlds to soften their collisions. Kraft is a physician, but unlike many doctors and medical professionals who maintain some emotional distance from the horrors that they confront by focusing on them scientifically -- by concentrating on symptoms, diagnoses, treatment options, and expected outcomes -- Kraft cannot stop himself from measuring the limits of the science against the immensity of the horrors.

In its structure and scope, Operation Wandering Soul does broadly resemble

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2159 words

Citation: Kich, Martin. "Operation Wandering Soul". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 April 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21623, accessed 03 May 2024.]

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