Repression and realism in post-war American literature
By: Erin Mercer
Series: American literature readings in the twenty-first century; American literature readings in the 21st century
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 249
ISBN-13: 9780230111660
Subjects: American fiction; History and criticism; Repression (Psychology) in literature; Realism in literature
Description: Despite the devasation of combat in WWII, the Holocaust, and the atomic bomb, the fiction produced in America in the decade following resolutely avoided the events and their implications. Repression and Realism in Postwar American Literature challenges popular notions regarding the ability of fantasy genres to force a confrontation with repressed horror by exploring the ways realist literature became a subversive site of reified taboo in America following World War II.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [225]-245).
Table of contents: title: Missing in action: repression, return, and the postwar uncanny; title: Automatons and the atomic abyss: Norman Mailer's The naked and the dead; title: Haunting and race: Ralph Ellison's Invisible man; title: The sacred other: Flannery O'Connor's Wise blood; title: The dubious double: Saul Bellow's The victim; title: The familiar made strange: Paul Bowles' The sheltering sky; title: Repression and confession: Jack Kerouac's On the road; title: The concealment that fails to conceal.