The fiction of postmodernity / Stephen Baker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baker, Stephen, 1969- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Fiction.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (226 pages)

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2000]

Summary:

The Fiction of Postmodernity is a significant and accessible new study of the relation of postmodern fiction to theories of the postmodern. Contemporary works of fiction by novelists such as Don DeLillo, Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Thomas Pynchon and Martin Amis are viewed in relation to critiques of the 'culture industry', analyses of the 'postmodern condition' and theories of simulacra. The work of influential theorists of the postmodern - such as Theodor Adorno, Jean-François Lyotard, Fredric Jameson and Jean Baudrillard - is explained and compared.The book offers descriptions of the postmodern from both the Marxist critical tradition and from the perspective of postmarxism. Key features in both these definitions are explained in relation to modernist and postmodern works of fiction. Issues relating to the postmodern representation of history and the development of a postmodern politics are also addressed in relation to works of contemporary fiction.Key FeaturesSubstantial readings of fiction by major contemporary authors (e.g. Thomas Pynchon, Salman Rushdie, Don DeLillo)Introduces influential theories of the postmodern (Fredric Jameson, Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard)Analysis of the relationships of modernism and the avant-garde to postmodernismFocuses on the critical potential of postmodernism and postmodern fiction

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

I The Broken Promise: Ideology and the Ageing of the New

II Postmodern Reflections: Thinking after Marxism

III Postmodernity and the Historical Novel

IV Postmodern Political Fictions

V Postmodern Inadequacies: Adorno contra Jameson

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781474464109

1474464106