American Absurd

American Absurd PDF

Author: Pierre Schlag

Publisher:

Published: 2016-03-15

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 9780692621448

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Mr. David Madden lives in L.A. He's an ordinary man. Every day, he gets up and drives to work. Only he never gets there. Instead, he drives from here to there, from Westwood to Santa Monica, Santa Monica to Venice . . . and so on. It seems he's always just going from point A to point B. Of course, driving from point A to point B--that's pretty much what people do in L.A. But then one day a mishap occurs, a breakdown of sorts, on Santa Monica Boulevard. Soon the media takes notice, and overnight Mr. Madden is transformed into a pioneering cultural figure as his "A-to-B thing" goes viral and becomes the defining issue of our time. Questions are asked, solutions offered, and blame assigned as therapists, academics, police, and lawyers all get involved. Safe to say, no one escapes unscathed in this caustic, irreverent, and hilarious social satire. Pierre Schlag is University Distinguished Professor and Byron R. White Professor of Law at the University of Colorado. He lives in the foothills of Boulder with his wife, the author Elisabeth Hyde. His three children have grown up and escaped relatively unharmed.

The Absurd Hero in American Fiction

The Absurd Hero in American Fiction PDF

Author: David D. Galloway

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 1981-06-01

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 0292703554

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Analyzes the ways in which four contemporary novelists depict the rebel and the world that rejects him. Bibliogs

Approaching Postmodernism

Approaching Postmodernism PDF

Author: Douwe Wessel Fokkema

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 9027221960

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Most of the essays collected in this volume deal with theoretical issues that dominate the international debate on Postmodernism, issues such as the shifting nature of the concept, the problem of periodization and the problem of historicity. Other essays offer readings of Postmodernist texts and relate practical criticism to a theoretical framework. Hans Bertens (Utrecht) sketches the historical development of the concept Postmodernism in American criticism, distinguishing between the various definitions that have been proposed over the last twenty-five years, in an attempt to bring some order to the field and to facilitate future discussion. Brian McHale (Tel Aviv) and Douwe Fokkema (Utrecht) offer models for the description of Postmodernist texts. Richard Todd (Amsterdam) argues convincingly that Postmodernism is much more of a presence in contemporary British fiction than has so far been assumed, and Herta Schmid (Munich) presents a similar argument with respect to Russian avant-garde theater. Elrud Ibsch (Amsterdam) presents a contrastive analysis of Thomas Bernhard and Robert Musil; Ulla Musarra (Nijmegen) writes on Italo Calvino. The relation between Existentialism and Postmodernism is examined by Gerhard Hoffman (Wurzburg); Theo D'haen (Utrecht) finds important parallels between Postmodernism in literature and in the visual arts; Matei Calinescu (Bloomington, Ind.) relates literary Postmodernism to a far more general cultural shift, rejecting, however, Foucault's notion of an epistemic break and arguing for both continuity and discontinuity. Finally, Helmut Lethen (Utrecht) and Susan Suleiman (Harvard) sharply question the concept of Postmodernism. Suleiman argues that the supposed Postmodernist reaction against Modernism may well be a critical myth or, if it isn't, a reaction limited to the American literary situation.

A History of American Literature

A History of American Literature PDF

Author: Richard Gray

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-09-23

Total Pages: 933

ISBN-13: 1444345680

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Updated throughout and with much new material, A History of American Literature, Second Edition, is the most up-to-date and comprehensive survey available of the myriad forms of American Literature from pre-Columbian times to the present. The most comprehensive and up-to-date history of American literature available today Covers fiction, poetry, drama, and non-fiction, as well as other forms of literature including folktale, spirituals, the detective story, the thriller, and science fiction Explores the plural character of American literature, including the contributions made by African American, Native American, Hispanic and Asian American writers Considers how our understanding of American literature has changed over the past?thirty years Situates American literature in the contexts of American history, politics and society Offers an invaluable introduction to American literature for students at all levels, academic and general readers

American Fiction Since 1940

American Fiction Since 1940 PDF

Author: Tony Hilfer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-09-25

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1317871243

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In this remarkable book, Tony Hilfer provides a major survey of the wealth of post-war American fiction. He analyses the major modes and genres of writing, from realist to postmodernist metafiction and black humour, the fiction of social protest, women's writing, and the traditions of African-American, Southern and Jewish-American fiction. Key writers discussed include William Faulkner, Norman Mailer, Ralph Ellison, Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, Vladimir Nabokov and Joyce Carol Oates. The book concludes by exploring contemporary trends through detailed case-studies of Donald Barthelme and Toni Morrison.

Critical Companion to Kurt Vonnegut

Critical Companion to Kurt Vonnegut PDF

Author: Susan Farrell

Publisher: Infobase Publishing

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 545

ISBN-13: 143810023X

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Kurt Vonnegut is one of the most popular and admired authors of post-war American literaturefamous both for his playful and deceptively simple style as well as for his scathing critiques of social injustice and war. Criti.

Samuel Beckett’s Legacies in American Fiction

Samuel Beckett’s Legacies in American Fiction PDF

Author: James Baxter

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-11-30

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 3030815722

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Samuel Beckett’s Legacies in American Fiction provides an overdue investigation into Beckett’s rich influences over American writing. Through in-depth readings of postmodern authors such as Robert Coover, Donald Barthelme, Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Paul Auster and Lydia Davis, this book situates Beckett’s post-war writing of exhaustion and generation in relation to the emergence of an explosive American avant-garde. In turn, this study provides a valuable insight into the practical realities of Beckett’s dissemination in America, following the author’s long-standing relationship with the countercultural magazine Evergreen Review and its dramatic role in redrawing the possibilities of American culture in the 1960s. While Beckett would be largely removed from his American context, this book follows his vigorous, albeit sometimes awkward, reception alongside the authors and institutions central to shaping his legacies in 20th and 21st century America.