American postmodernist fiction and the past
By: Theophilus Savvas
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 213
ISBN-13: 9780230298347
Subjects: Postmodernism (Literature); American fiction; History and criticism; Literature and history; History
Description: American Postmodernist Fiction and the Past offers a new way of thinking about how history and the past function in postmodernist fiction of America. Providing close-readings of key texts by Robert Coover, Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon, William T. Vollmann and E.L. Doctorow, the book traces the development of the postmodernist historical novel, and outlines both the commonalities and the differences in the ways in which these writers utilise the past in their fiction. In so doing, the book not only challenges received assumptions on the relationship between postmodernism and history, but also considers the reasons for the waning influence of postmodernism in contemporary American literature.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.