American Fictions, 1980-2000

American Fictions, 1980-2000 PDF Author: Frederick Robert Karl
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781401016593
Category : American fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
American Fictions: 1980-2000–Whose America Is It Anyway? is a successor volume to my American Fictions: 1940-1980, published in 1983. Like the preceding book, it analyzes what has happened to American fiction (short stories as well as novels) in the last twenty years against a background of social, political, and general cultural events and change, down to the end of the century. It includes most of the major trends in fiction and attempts to be inclusive. Several novels which did not receive their due when they appeared are given extended treatment, such as Brodkey’s The Runaway Soul and McElroy’s Women and Men; many other novels which were passed by because they were too difficult or too bizarre are discussed in some depth. This book does not include summaries; everything is analyzed extensively. Major movements such as Minimalism, the New Realism, the very long novel (which I call the Mega-Novel), the Vietnam War novel (as compared and contrasted with its World War Two predecessors), the Short Story and its languages are part of the study. The book also introduces a long chapter on the spate of autobiographical-fictional-memoirs which appeared in the 1980s and early 90s; as well as a comparison of Roth’s America with Updike’s, with the former’s Nathan Zuckerman and the latter’s Rabbit. Another chapter attempts to show that while Black, Jewish, and Women writers may have differing agendas, they overlap to a great extent as “American writers,” not as separate entities. The book concludes with a long chapter on the 1990s and where we are going. A distinctive part of that chapter includes current literature by Latino, Asian-American, and Native-American writers, who in the last two decades or so have entered profoundly into American fictions.

American Fictions, 1980-2000

American Fictions, 1980-2000 PDF Author: Frederick Robert Karl
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781401016593
Category : American fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
American Fictions: 1980-2000–Whose America Is It Anyway? is a successor volume to my American Fictions: 1940-1980, published in 1983. Like the preceding book, it analyzes what has happened to American fiction (short stories as well as novels) in the last twenty years against a background of social, political, and general cultural events and change, down to the end of the century. It includes most of the major trends in fiction and attempts to be inclusive. Several novels which did not receive their due when they appeared are given extended treatment, such as Brodkey’s The Runaway Soul and McElroy’s Women and Men; many other novels which were passed by because they were too difficult or too bizarre are discussed in some depth. This book does not include summaries; everything is analyzed extensively. Major movements such as Minimalism, the New Realism, the very long novel (which I call the Mega-Novel), the Vietnam War novel (as compared and contrasted with its World War Two predecessors), the Short Story and its languages are part of the study. The book also introduces a long chapter on the spate of autobiographical-fictional-memoirs which appeared in the 1980s and early 90s; as well as a comparison of Roth’s America with Updike’s, with the former’s Nathan Zuckerman and the latter’s Rabbit. Another chapter attempts to show that while Black, Jewish, and Women writers may have differing agendas, they overlap to a great extent as “American writers,” not as separate entities. The book concludes with a long chapter on the 1990s and where we are going. A distinctive part of that chapter includes current literature by Latino, Asian-American, and Native-American writers, who in the last two decades or so have entered profoundly into American fictions.

Mathematics in Postmodern American Fiction

Mathematics in Postmodern American Fiction PDF Author: Stuart J. Taylor
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031486714
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description


Samuel Beckett’s Legacies in American Fiction

Samuel Beckett’s Legacies in American Fiction PDF Author: James Baxter
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030815722
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
Samuel Beckett’s Legacies in American Fiction provides an overdue investigation into Beckett’s rich influences over American writing. Through in-depth readings of postmodern authors such as Robert Coover, Donald Barthelme, Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Paul Auster and Lydia Davis, this book situates Beckett’s post-war writing of exhaustion and generation in relation to the emergence of an explosive American avant-garde. In turn, this study provides a valuable insight into the practical realities of Beckett’s dissemination in America, following the author’s long-standing relationship with the countercultural magazine Evergreen Review and its dramatic role in redrawing the possibilities of American culture in the 1960s. While Beckett would be largely removed from his American context, this book follows his vigorous, albeit sometimes awkward, reception alongside the authors and institutions central to shaping his legacies in 20th and 21st century America.

The Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Fiction, 2 Volumes

The Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Fiction, 2 Volumes PDF Author: Patrick O'Donnell
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119431719
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 1607

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Book Description
Fresh perspectives and eye-opening discussions of contemporary American fiction In The Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Fiction: 1980-2020, a team of distinguished scholars delivers a focused and in-depth collection of essays on some of the most significant and influential authors and literary subjects of the last four decades. Cutting-edge entries from established and new voices discuss subjects as varied as multiculturalism, contemporary regionalisms, realism after poststructuralism, indigenous narratives, globalism, and big data in the context of American fiction from the last 40 years. The Encyclopedia provides an overview of American fiction at the turn of the millennium as well as a vision of what may come. It perfectly balances analysis, summary, and critique for an illuminating treatment of the subject matter. This collection also includes: An exciting mix of established and emerging contributors from around the world discussing central and cutting-edge topics in American fiction studies Focused, critical explorations of authors and subjects of critical importance to American fiction Topics that reflect the energies and tendencies of contemporary American fiction from the forty years between 1980 and 2020 The Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Fiction: 1980-2020 is a must-have resource for undergraduate and graduate students of American literature, English, creative writing, and fiction studies. It will also earn a place in the libraries of scholars seeking an authoritative array of contributions on both established and newer authors of contemporary fiction.

Philip Roth

Philip Roth PDF Author: David Brauner
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1847796613
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
This is a groundbreaking study of the most important contemporary American novelist, Philip Roth. Reading the author alongside a number of his contemporaries, and focusing particularly on his later fiction, this book offers a highly accessible, informative and persuasive view of Roth as an intellectually adventurous and stylistically brilliant writer who constantly reinvents himself in surprising ways. At the heart of this book are a number of detailed and nuanced readings of Roth’s works both in terms of their relationships with each other and with fiction by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Thomas Pynchon, Tim O’Brien, Brett Easton Ellis, Stanley Elkin, Howard Jacobson and Jonathan Safran Foer. Brauner identifies as a thread running through all of Roth’s work the use of paradox, both as a rhetorical device and as an organising intellectual and ideological principle.

Coming of Age in Contemporary American Fiction

Coming of Age in Contemporary American Fiction PDF Author: Kenneth Millard
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
ISBN: 0748629548
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
This book explores the ways in which a range of recent American novelists have handled the genre of the 'coming-of-age' novel, or the Bildungsroman. Novels of this genre characteristically dramatise the vicissitudes of growing up and the trials and tribulations of young adulthood, often presented through depictions of immediate family relationships and other social structures. This book considers a variety of different American cultures (in terms of race, class and gender) and a range of contemporary coming-of-age novels, so that aesthetic judgements about the fiction might be made in the context of the social history that fiction represents. A series of questions are asked:* Does the coming-of-age moment in these novels coincide with an interpretation of the 'fall' of America?* What kind of national commentary does it therefore facilitate?* Is the Bildungsroman a quintessentially American genre?* What can it usefully tell us about contemporary American culture? Although the focus is on the conte

International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004

International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004 PDF Author: Europa Publications
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9781857431797
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 644

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Book Description
Accurate and reliable biographical information essential to anyone interested in the world of literature TheInternational Who's Who of Authors and Writersoffers invaluable information on the personalities and organizations of the literary world, including many up-and-coming writers as well as established names. With over 8,000 entries, this updated edition features: * Concise biographical information on novelists, authors, playwrights, columnists, journalists, editors, and critics * Biographical details of established writers as well as those who have recently risen to prominence * Entries detailing career, works published, literary awards and prizes, membership, and contact addresses where available * An extensive listing of major international literary awards and prizes, and winners of those prizes * A directory of major literary organizations and literary agents * A listing of members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century PDF Author: Sorrel Kerbel
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135456062
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1716

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Book Description
Now available in paperback for the first time, Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century is both a comprehensive reference resource and a springboard for further study. This volume: examines canonical Jewish writers, less well-known authors of Yiddish and Hebrew, and emerging Israeli writers includes entries on figures as diverse as Marcel Proust, Franz Kafka, Tristan Tzara, Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Arthur Miller, Saul Bellow, Nadine Gordimer, and Woody Allen contains introductory essays on Jewish-American writing, Holocaust literature and memoirs, Yiddish writing, and Anglo-Jewish literature provides a chronology of twentieth-century Jewish writers. Compiled by expert contributors, this book contains over 330 entries on individual authors, each consisting of a biography, a list of selected publications, a scholarly essay on their work and suggestions for further reading.

Contemporary Fiction

Contemporary Fiction PDF Author: Jago Morrison
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415194563
Category : American fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
A much-needed introduction to the field of contemporary fiction studies. Introduces key areas of debate and offers in-depth discussions of the most significant texts. An ideal guide for those studying contemporary fiction for the first time.

The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction

The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction PDF Author: Darryl Dickson-Carr
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231124724
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
In both the literal and metaphorical senses, it seemed as if 1970s America was running out of gas. The decade not only witnessed long lines at gas stations but a citizenry that had grown weary and disillusioned. High unemployment, runaway inflation, and the energy crisis, caused in part by U.S. dependence on Arab oil, characterized an increasingly bleak economic situation. As Edward D. Berkowitz demonstrates, the end of the postwar economic boom, Watergate, and defeat in Vietnam led to an unraveling of the national consensus. During the decade, ideas about the United States, how it should be governed, and how its economy should be managed changed dramatically. Berkowitz argues that the postwar faith in sweeping social programs and a global U.S. mission was replaced by a more skeptical attitude about government's ability to positively affect society. From Woody Allen to Watergate, from the decline of the steel industry to the rise of Bill Gates, and from Saturday Night Fever to the Sunday morning fervor of evangelical preachers, Berkowitz captures the history, tone, and spirit of the seventies. He explores the decade's major political events and movements, including the rise and fall of détente, congressional reform, changes in healthcare policies, and the hostage crisis in Iran. The seventies also gave birth to several social movements and the "rights revolution," in which women, gays and lesbians, and people with disabilities all successfully fought for greater legal and social recognition. At the same time, reaction to these social movements as well as the issue of abortion introduced a new facet into American political life-the rise of powerful, politically conservative religious organizations and activists. Berkowitz also considers important shifts in American popular culture, recounting the creative renaissance in American film as well as the birth of the Hollywood blockbuster. He discusses how television programs such as All in the Family and Charlie's Angels offered Americans both a reflection of and an escape from the problems gripping the country.