Chance and the modern British novel from Henry Green to Iris Murdoch Julia Jordan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jordan, Julia, Dr, author.

Series:

Continuum literary studies.

Continuum literary studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

English fiction.

Chance in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (186 p.)

Edition:

Pbk. edition.

Place of Publication:

London New York Continuum 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Chance, and its representation in literature, has a long and problematic history. It is a vital aspect of the way we experience the world, and yet its function is frequently marginalised and downplayed. Offering a new reading of the development of the novel during the mid-twentieth century, Jordan argues that this simple novelistic paradox became more pressing during a period in which chance became a cultural, scientific and literary preoccupation - through scientific developments such as quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle, the influence of existential philosophy, the growth of gambling, and the uncertainty provoked by the Second World War. In tracing the novel's representation of chance during this crucial period, we see both the development of the novel, and draw wider conclusions about the relationship between narrative and the contingent, the arbitrary and the uncertain. While the novel had historically rejected, marginalised or undermined chance, during this period it becomes a creative and welcome co-contributor to the novel's development, as writers such as Samuel Beckett, B.S. Johnson, Henry Green and Iris Murdoch show.

Contents:

A fine thing: a history of chance

Swear to tell me everything that goes wrong: Henry Green and free will in the novel

I admire the will to welcome everything, the stupid violence of chance: Samuel Beckett and the representation of possibility

Let's celebrate the accidental: B.S. Johnson, the aleatory and the radical generation

The incomprehensible operation of grace: mess, contingency, and the example of Iris Murdoch

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

1. A Fine Thing: A History of Chance

2. 'Swear to tell me everything that goes wrong': Henry Green and Free Will in the Novel

3. 'I admire the will to welcome everything - the stupid violence of chance': Samuel Beckett and the Representation of Possibility

4. 'Let's Celebrate the Accidental': B.S. Johnson, the Aleatory and the Radical Generation.

5. 'The incomprehensible operation of grace': Mess, Contingency, and the Example of Iris Murdoch.

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [152]-168) and index

ISBN:

9786612655012

9781472542304

1472542304

9781282655010

1282655019

9781441109712

1441109714

OCLC:

650305527