Alternate Worlds: A Study of Postmodern Antirealistic American Fiction - Softcover

Kuehl, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0814746144 ISBN 13: 9780814746141

Publisher: New York University Press, 1991

Synopsis

"Plot, character, setting and theme", according to John Hawkes, perhaps the first post-World War II antirealist, constitute "the true enemies of the novel". Working from that position, John Kuehl looks at 11 literary traits the post modern antirealist finds user friendly, in a pattern search through the works of some of today's most imaginative writers - Barth, Barthelme, Coover, Gass, Pynchon and Vonnegut, to name only a few - from some who have made it to the top of the bestseller lists to other barely known outside academic circles. Framing the study are an introduction by James W. Tuttleton, grouding the contemporary works in the context of early American writings by such countertraditionalists as Irving, Poe, Howells and Twain, and an interview in which the editor challenges the author as devil's advocate fro the realists, thrus enriching both points of view.

About this edition

• Publisher: New York University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0814746144
• ISBN 13: 9780814746141
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 373