The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern American Fiction

Description

Few previous periods in the history of American literature could rival the richness of the postmodern era - the diversity of its authors, the complexity of its ideas and visions, and the multiplicity of its subjects and forms. This volume offers an authoritative, comprehensive, and accessible guide to the American fiction of this remarkable period. It traces the development of postmodern American fiction over the past half-century and explores its key aesthetic, cultural, and political contexts. It examines its principal styles and genres, from the early experiments with metafiction to the most recent developments, such as the graphic novel and digital fiction, and offers concise, compelling readings of many of its major works. An indispensable resource for students, scholars, and the general reader, the Companion both highlights the extraordinary achievements of postmodern American fiction and provides illuminating critical frameworks for understanding it. 03.0_pp_iv_iv_Copyright_page 04.0_pp_v_vi_Contents 05.0_pp_vii_vii_Contributors 06.0_pp_viii_xviii_Chronology introduction postmodern-precursors prolonged-periodization-american-fiction-after-1960 postmodern-american-fiction-and-global-literature philosophical-skepticism-and-narrative-incredulity-postmodern-th history-and-fiction gender-and-sexuality-postmodern-constructions pluralism-and-postmodernism-the-histories-and-geographies-of-eth the-zombie-in-the-mirror-postmodernism-and-subjectivity-in-scien postmodern-styles-language-reflexivity-and-pastiche between-word-and-image-the-textual-and-the-visual-in-postmodern- electronic-fictions-television-the-internet-and-the-future-of-di 19.0_pp_198_220_Index 20.0_pp_221_221_Cambridge_Companions_To