The Cambridge introduction to postmodern fiction / Bran Nicol.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nicol, Bran, 1969- author.

Series:

Cambridge introductions to literature.

Cambridge introductions to literature

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

Fiction.

Postmodernism (Literature).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 220 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Postmodern fiction presents a challenge to the reader: instead of enjoying it passively, the reader has to work to understand its meanings, to think about what fiction is, and to question their own responses. Yet this very challenge makes postmodern writing so much fun to read and rewarding to study. Unlike most introductions to postmodernism and fiction, this book places the emphasis on literature rather than theory. It introduces the most prominent British and American novelists associated with postmodernism, from the 'pioneers', Beckett, Borges and Burroughs, to important post-war writers such as Pynchon, Carter, Atwood, Morrison, Gibson, Auster, DeLillo, and Ellis. Designed for students and clearly written, this Introduction explains the preoccupations, styles and techniques that unite postmodern authors. Their work is characterized by a self-reflexive acknowledgement of its status as fiction, and by the various ways in which it challenges readers to question common-sense and commonplace assumptions about literature.

Contents:

Preface: reading postmodern fiction

Introduction: postmodernism and postmodernity

Postmodern fiction: theory and practice

Early postmodern fiction: Beckett, Borges, and Burroughs

US metafiction: Coover, Barth, Nabokov, Vonnegut, Pynchon

The postmodern historical novel: Fowles, Barnes, Swift

Postmodern-postcolonial fiction

Postmodern fiction by women: Carter, Atwood, Acker

Two postmodern genres: cyberpunk and 'metaphysical' detective fiction

Fiction of the 'postmodern condition': Ballard, DeLillo, Ellis.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-21009-7

0-511-70001-6

0-511-81694-4

0-511-64161-3

0-511-63917-1

0-511-63810-8

0-511-64025-0

OCLC:

609846231