Obscure invitations
Subtitle: the persistence of the author in twentieth-century American literature
By: Benjamin Widiss
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Stanford, California
Language: eng
Number of pages: 208
ISBN-13: 9780804773225; 9780804773232
Copyright date: 2011
Subjects: Authors and readers; Authorship in literature; Authorship; History and criticism; American literature; History
Description: "While literary studies in the postwar era have varied widely in emphasis and approach, they have consistently barred arguments attributing specific intentions to authors based on textual evidence or ascribing textual presences to the authors themselves. Obscure Invitations argues that this taboo has blinded us to many fundamental elements of twentieth-century literature. Widiss focuses on the particularly self-conscious constructions of authorship that characterize both modernist and postmodernist writing, elaborating the narrative strategies they demand and the reading practices they yield. He reveals that apparent manifestations of "the death of the Author" and of the "free play" of language are in fact carefully staged performances that ultimately affirm authorial vitality and control--of both text and reader."--Page 4 of cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Fit and surfeit : As I lay dying (seesawing); title: You know me, Alice : The autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (driving); title: See monkey, do monkey : Lolita (aping); title: The gospel according to Dave : A heartbreaking work of staggering genius (imbibing); title: The death of Kevin Spacey : Seven and The usual suspects (envisioning).