{"product_id":"the-american-novel-now-reading-contemporary-american-fiction-since-1980-paperback-softback-9781405167550","title":"The American Novel Now; Reading Contemporary American Fiction Since 1980 (Paperback \/ softback) 9781405167550","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eThe American Novel Now\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eReading Contemporary American Fiction Since 1980\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"O'Donnell's authoritative organization of the field, capacious discussions of individual novels, and lucid prose will provide readers-from advanced students to the broad general audience for contemporary writing- with an engaging, judicious, and vastly well-informed survey of the American novel since 1980. In this invaluable new guide to the populous domain of contemporary US fiction O'Donnell brilliantly charts multiple tracks through hundreds of novels, identifying common aesthetic, social, and historical concerns through the period.  Reflecting O'Donnell's expertise as one of the field’s leading specialists, this is a confident, evolved, and utterly reliable consideration of one of the liveliest eras for fiction in the nation's history.  Readers will be grateful for it.\"\u003cbr\u003e —John T. Matthews, Boston University\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003ePatrick O'Donnell (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781405167550, Wiley\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 22 January 2010\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e248 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.3 x 2.1 cm, 0.381 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"More impressively comprehensive than encyclopedic, Patrick O'Donnell does not try to cover every literary novel published in the last thirty years, but instead offers a broad critical overview of contemporary US fiction in terms that make The American Novel Now more than just a survey\". (The Journal of American Studies, 2011)\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cp\u003e\"In this extremely accessible discussion, O'Donnell (Michigan State Univ.) reveals his as an authoritative voice on novels from the 1980s to present. His selections are, by his own admission, eclectic: he writes in the introduction that he \"chose to discuss, where appropriate, both widely read novels published by the mainstream commercial presses and less visible, often experimental work published by independent presses.\" He looks at work from more than 70 authors, including central figures of the American literary canon--Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, Louise Erdrich, and Don DeLillo, to name only a few. O'Donnell divides the book (and his approach) into five distinctive parts, discussing, respectively, work leading to the 1980s; realism and experimentation; identity, as it pertains to character--gender, ethnicity, and so on; historicity and \"end times\"; and social emergence within the novel. All this leads to an intriguing \"excursus that speculates on the future of the novel.\" This is a comprehensive discussion of the novel and present circumstances influencing it--an interesting study on many levels.\" \u003ci\u003e(CHOICE,\u003c\/i\u003e December 2010)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"The American Novel Now\u003c\/i\u003e provides an accessible introduction to the many strands of post-1980 American fiction.\" (\u003ci\u003eTLS,\u003c\/i\u003e June 2010)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe American Novel Now\u003c\/i\u003e navigates the vast terrain of the American novel since 1980, exploring issues of identity, history, family, nation, and aesthetics, as well as cultural movements and narrative strategies from over seventy different authors and novels.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003eDiscusses an exceptionally wide-range of authors and novels, from established figures to significant emerging writers\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eToni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, Louise Erdrich, Don DeLillo, Richard Powers, Kathy Acker and many more\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eExplores the range of themes and styles offered in the wealth of contemporary American fiction since 1980, in both mainstream and experimental writings\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eReflects the liveliness and diversity of American fiction in the last thirty years\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eWritten in a style that makes it ideal for students and scholars, while also accessible for general readers\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePreface viii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments xii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart I: Before 1980 1\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart II: From New Realisms to Postmodernism 34\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e“This American Life” 35\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e“Dirty Realisms” 46\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOnly Wor(l)ds 56\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMagnifying Reality, Multiplying Genre 67\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart III: Becoming Identities 80\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eReinventing Character 82\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRacing Identity 92\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEngendering Narrative 104\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eToward the Posthuman 115\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart IV: What Happened to History? 124\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Past is Prologue 126\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTunneling In 132\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eImagining Epoch 136\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnother History 146\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNarrating Vietnam 150\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCatastrophe: The Ends of History 162\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart V: Relations Stopping Nowhere 172\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Postnuclear Family 173\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Reach of Community 187\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrom There to Here: Migration and Nation 199\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEpilogue 213\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes 216\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eReferences 220\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndex 228\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Literature: history \u0026amp; criticism [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Literature: history \u0026amp; criticism\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Literature:%20history%20\u0026amp;%20criticism%20%5BDS%5D%22\"\u003eDS\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Wiley-Blackwell","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52437783806232,"sku":"9781405167550","price":30.78,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/files\/9781405167550.jpg?v=1784940011","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-american-novel-now-reading-contemporary-american-fiction-since-1980-paperback-softback-9781405167550","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}