Multiple Narratives, Versions and Truth in the Contemporary Novel

Description

Multiple Narratives, Versions and Truth in the Contemporary Novel considers the shifting perception of truth in fiction. Nicholas Frangipane examines the narrative technique of telling multiple versions of the same sets of events, presenting both true and false versions of the events within a fictional work. This book looks closely at these “Reflexive Double Narratives” in order to understand the way many contemporary writers have attempted to work past postmodernism without forgetting its lessons. Frangipane explores how writers like Ian McEwan, Yann Martel and Alice Munro have departed from the radical experimentation of their predecessors and instead make sincere attempts to find ways that fictional writing can reveal enduring truths, and in so doing, redefine the meaning of “truth” itself and signal the emergence of post-postmodernism. Front Matter ....Pages i-viii Introduction (Nicholas Frangipane)....Pages 1-9 Shifting Attitudes Toward the Verisimilitude of Narrative in Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Literature (Nicholas Frangipane)....Pages 11-36 The Quality of Qualia: Truth and Ethics in Reflexive Double Narratives (Nicholas Frangipane)....Pages 37-69 Joyful Solipsism: Implied Multiple Narratives in the Contemporary Novel (Nicholas Frangipane)....Pages 71-84 Double Memories: Multiple Versions of Memories as a Way to Understand Characters and Ourselves (Nicholas Frangipane)....Pages 85-104 Conclusion: A Dark Turn and Other Manifestations (Nicholas Frangipane)....Pages 105-109 Back Matter ....Pages 111-122