Seven modes of uncertainty / C. Namwali Serpell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Serpell, Namwali, 1980- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fiction--History and criticism.

Fiction.

Literature and morals.

Ethics in literature.

Literature--Aesthetics.

Literature.

Physical Description:

viii, 393 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2014.

Summary:

"Seven Modes of Uncertainty makes major contributions to our understanding of the ethics of the novel and of the eight novels it analyzes. Serpell is not only well-informed about the relevant scholarship, but she also treats it with impressive intelligence as she carves out her own fresh and appealing approach to narrative ethics. She proves herself, again and again, to be a marvelously insightful reader and an engaging and accomplished writer." "Seven Modes of Uncertainty is quite an extraordinary accomplishment. Serpell is impressively learned and original; she writes with conspicuous ease, wit, elegance, and force. She brilliantly presents detailed readings of a series of novels and stories-from Nabokov's Lolita to Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49 to Ellis's American Psycho-as well as amazingly comprehensive accounts of the previous essays and reviews on those works. This book is consistently fascinating, page after page." Book jacket.

Contents:

I Mutual Exclusion 41

1 Oscillation: Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) 45

2 Enfolding: Rereading Ian McEwan's Atonement (2001) 79

II Multiplicity 115

3 Adjacency: Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987) 119

4 Accounting: Interreading William Empson's Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930), Shirley Jackson's "Seven Types of Ambiguity" (1943), and Elliot Perlman's Seven Types of Ambiguity (2003) 153

III Repetition 191

5 Vacuity: Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho (1991) 195

6 Synchronicity: Metareading Tom McCarthy's Remainder (2005) 230

7 Conclusion: Flippancy: Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2005) 269.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674729094

0674729099

OCLC:

859252937