Contemporary women writers look back from irony to nostalgia Alice Ridout.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ridout, Alice, author.

Series:

Continuum literary studies.

Continuum literary studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature--Women authors--History and criticism.

Literature.

Authorship.

Women and literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (200 p.)

Place of Publication:

London New York Continuum 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Long before John Barth announced in his famous 1967 essay that late twentieth-century fiction was 'The Literature of Exhaustion,' authors have been retelling and recycling stories. Barth was, however, right to identify in postmodern fiction a particular self-consciousness about its belatedness at the end of a long literary tradition. This book traces the move in contemporary women's writing from the self-conscious, ironic parodies of postmodernism to the nostalgic and historical turn of the twenty-first century. It analyses how contemporary women writers deal with their literary inheritances, offering an illuminating and provocative study of contemporary women writers' re-writings of previous texts and stories. Through close readings of novels by key contemporary women writers including Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith, Emma Tennant and Helen Fielding, and of the ITV adaptation, Lost in Austen, Alice Ridout examines the politics of parody and nostalgia, exploring the limitations and possibilities of both in the contexts of feminism and postcolonialism"--Publisher description

Long before John Barth announced in his famous 1967 essay that late 20th-century fiction was 'The Literature of Exhaustion,' authors have been retelling and recycling stories. Barth was, however, right to identify in postmodern fiction a particular self-consciousness about its belatedness at the end of a long literary tradition. This book traces the move in contemporary women's writing from the self-conscious, ironic parodies of postmodernism to the nostalgic and historical turn of the 21st century. It analyses how contemporary women writers deal with their literary inheritances, offering an illuminating and provocative study of contemporary women writers' re-writings of previous texts and stories. Through close readings of novels by key contemporary women writers including Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith, Emma Tennant and Helen Fielding, and of the ITV adaptation, Lost in Austen, Alice Ridout examines the politics of parody and nostalgia, exploring the limitations and possibilities of both in the contexts of feminism and postcolonialism

Contents:

Introduction : Contemporary women's re-writing

The politics of parody : Toni Morrison's The bluest eye

'Some books are not read in the right way' : parody and reception in Doris Lessing's The golden notebook

Parodic self-narratives : Margaret Atwood's Lady oracle and The blind assassin

Inheritances : Zadie Smith's On beauty

The politics of nostalgia : Jane Austen recycled

Afterword : belatedness

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction: Contemporary Women's Re-writing

1. The Politics of Parody: Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

2. 'Some books are not read in the right way': Parody and Reception in Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook

3. Parodic Self-Narratives: Margaret Atwood's Lady Oracle and The Blind Assassin

4 Inheritances: Zadie Smith's On Beauty

5 The Politics of Nostalgia: Jane Austen Recycled

6 Afterword: Belatedness

Endnotes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [165]-182 ) and index

ISBN:

9786613004390

9781472542373

1472542371

9781283004398

1283004399

9781441168658

1441168656

OCLC:

703137739