The quiet contemporary American novel / Rachel Sykes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sykes, Rachel, author.

Series:

Contemporary American and Canadian writers.

Contemporary American and Canadian writers

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American fiction--21st century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 226 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Manchester [England] : Manchester University Press, 2018.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This book defines quiet as an aesthetic of narrative that is driven by reflective principles and places Marilynne Robinson's work within a vibrant contemporary American trend. It makes two critical interventions. First, it maps the neglected history of quiet fictions and argues that from Hester Prynne to Clarissa Dalloway, from Bartleby to William Stoner, quiet characters fill the novel in the Western tradition. Second, it demonstrates how the novel's quiet undercurrent functions as an aesthetic in contemporary American fiction. The book engages with the problem of 'event' as a noisy narrative device and discusses the opposition of quiet texts to narratives written in the aftermath of 11 September 2001, an event that heralded to many the beginning of a noisy century. It discusses the subjective depictions of temporality portrayed in the fiction of Marilynne Robinson and Paul Harding. The book then argues that cognitive fictions by Richard Powers and Lynne Tillman expand the focus of the quiet novel. By expanding the focus, it uncovers the complex and often discordant recesses of human consciousness and challenges the traditional division between what is internally and externally felt. The book brings together the strands of this monograph to discuss what happens to the quiet novel when Teju Cole and Ben Lerner set their quiet novels in the noisy environment of the city. By paying attention to the quieter aspects of everyday experience, the quiet novel also reveals how quiet can be a multi-faceted state of existence, which is communicative and expressive.

Contents:

Introduction

1 The quiet novel

2 '9/11' and the aesthetic of noise in contemporary fiction

3 Quiet in time and narrative

4 The quiet novel of cognition

5 The novel of '(dis)quiet'

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 25 Mar 2026).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 196-221) and index.

ISBN:

9781526163615

1526163616

9781526132444

1526132443

9781526108890

1526108895

OCLC:

1020066649