After the end of history : American fiction in the 1990s / Samuel Cohen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cohen, Samuel S.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

Literature and history--United States--History--20th century.

Literature and history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (249 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this bold book, Samuel Cohen asserts the literary and historical importance of the period between the fall of the Berlin wall and that of the Twin Towers in New York. With refreshing clarity, he examines six 1990's novels and two post-9/11 novels that explore the impact of the end of the Cold War: Pynchon's Mason & Dixon, Roth's American Pastoral, Morrison's Paradise, O'Brien's In the Lake of the Woods, Didion's The Last Thing He Wanted, Eugenides's Middlesex, Lethem's Fortress of Solitude, and DeLillo's Underworld. Cohen emphasizes how these works reconnect the past to a present that is iro

Contents:

CONTENTS; Acknowledgments; Introduction: The End of History; 1. After Enlightenment: Mason & Dixon and the Ampersand; 2. After the Fall: Roth and the 1960's; 3. After Identity: Morrison and Genealogy; 4. How to Tell a True Cold War Story: O'Brien, Didion, and Closure; 5. History Is What Heals: 9/11 and Narrative in Eugenides and Lethem; Afterword: DeLillo and the Anticipation of Retrospection; Notes; Works Cited; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781587298905

1587298902

OCLC:

503172983