Literature after postmodernism : reconstructive fantasies Cover; Contents; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Introduction: Epitaph on a Ghost or the Impossible End of Postmodernism; Part I: Tracing Shifts; 1 Post post Beyond and Back: Literature in the Wake of Postmodernism; 2 Pragmatic Fantasies: From Subversion to Reconstruction; Part II: Reconstructive Readings; 3 Leaving the Postmodernist Labyrinth: Mark Z. Danielewskis House of Leaves; 4 The Quest for Narrative Reconstruction: Jonathan Safran Foers Everything is Illuminated; 5 Escaping Towards History: Michael Chabons The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay 6 Dreaming of Reconstruction: David Mitchells number9dreamConclusion: The Coming of Age of Reconstruction; Notes; Works Cited; Index. Literature after Postmodernism explores the use of literary fantastic storylines in contemporary novels which begin to think beyond postmodernism. They develop an aesthetic perspective that aims at creation and communication instead of subversion and can thus be considered no longer deconstructive but reconstructive Postmodernism deconstruction and subversion have been the buzzwords of the last few decades. But not any longer. Ever since the end of the millennium an increasingly perceptible desire to turn towards other concerns can be noted. Only what comes after postmodernism Where are we going now Irmtraud Huber suggests some answers to these questions focusing on novels by Michael Chabon Mark Z. Danielewski Jonathan Safran Foer and David Mitchell and highlighting the ways in which they go beyond postmodernism and turn from deconstruction to reconstruction. Approaching the question from an unusual direction by exploring the novelists particular use of the fantastic mode this book offers both further insights into the present aesthetic shift and a new perspective on the literary fantastic