Obscure invitations : the persistence of the author in twentieth-century American literature / Benjamin Widiss.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Widiss, Benjamin Leigh.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

American literature.

Authorship in literature.

Authorship--History--20th century.

Authorship.

Authors and readers--History--20th century.

Authors and readers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (222 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Literary studies in the postwar era have consistently barred attributing specific intentions to authors based on textual evidence or ascribing textual presences to the authors themselves. Obscure Invitations argues that this taboo has blinded us to fundamental elements of twentieth-century literature. Widiss focuses on the particularly self-conscious constructions of authorship that characterize modernist and postmodernist writing, elaborating the narrative strategies they demand and the reading practices they yield. He reveals that apparent manifestations of ""the death of the aut

Contents:

Fit and surfeit : As I lay dying (seesawing)

You know me, Alice : The autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (driving)

See monkey, do monkey : Lolita (aping)

The gospel according to Dave : A heartbreaking work of staggering genius (imbibing)

The death of Kevin Spacey : Seven and The usual suspects (envisioning).

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780804780681

0804780684

OCLC:

754581699