The Unabridged Pocketbook of Lightning is Jonathan Safran Foer on top form inventive, funny and full of surprises.

Celebration of the book drawing on the collections of the State Library of Victoria.

The novels of David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers and Jonathan Safran Foer are increasingly regarded as representing a new trend, an 'aesthetic sea change' in contemporary American literature. 'Post-postmodernism' and 'New Sincerity' are just two of the labels that have been attached to this trend. But what do these labels mean? What characterizes and connects these novels? Den Dulk shows that the connection between these works lies in their shared philosophical dimension. On the one hand, they portray excessive self-reflection and endless irony as the two main problems of contemporary Western life. On the other hand, the novels embody an attempt to overcome these problems: sincerity, reality-commitment and community are portrayed as the virtues needed to achieve a meaningful life. This shared philosophical dimension is analyzed by viewing the novels in light of the existentialist philosophies of S�ren Kierkegaard, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Albert Camus.

After a long period of neglect, emotions have become an important topic within literary studies. This collection of essays stresses the complex link between aesthetic and non-aesthetic emotional components and discusses emotional patterns by focusing on the practice of writing as well as on the impact of such patterns on receptive processes. Readers interested in the topic will be presented with a concept of aesthetic emotions as formative both within the writing and the reading process. Essays, ranging in focus from the beginning of modern drama to digital formats and theoretical questions, examine examples from English, German, French, Russian and American literature. Contributors include Angela Locatelli, Vera Nünning, and Gesine Lenore Schiewer.

This book proposes an extension of Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 1987, 1991, 2008) towards a cognitive discourse grammar, through the unique environment that literary stylistic application offers. Drawing upon contemporary research in cognitive stylistics (Text World Theory, deixis and mind-modelling, amongst others), the volume scales up central Cognitive Grammar concepts (such as construal, grounding, the reference point model and action chains) in order to explore the attenuation of experience – and how it is simulated – in literary reading. In particular, it considers a range of contemporary texts by Neil Gaiman, Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Safran Foer, Ian McEwan and Paul Auster. This application builds upon previous work that adopts Cognitive Grammar for literary analysis and provides the first extended account of Cognitive Grammar in contemporary fiction.

Presents an alphabetical reference guide detailing the lives and works of authors associated with the English-language fiction of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

This original study examines Jean-François Lyotard's philosophical concept of the differend and details its unexplored implications for literature. it provides a new framework with which to understand the discourse itself, from its Homeric beginnings to postmodern works by authors such as Michael Ondaatje and Jonathan Safran Foer.

The dynamic, precarious relationship between technology and imagination, or more broadly, between the sciences and the humanities, is a thrilling crux, offering possibilities scholars and artists of previous generations might have only hoped for in the most abstract way. No longer is technological advancement confined to the laboratory or to the pages of speculative fiction; it is an accepted, expected aspect of modern existence, including contemporary art, performance and literature. From the ways we communicate to the ways we create, technology has become a conduit as well as an inspiration for imaginative innovation. The advent and accessibility of new media, communication outlets and innovative software programs have democratized the creative landscape, building a community of professionals and amateurs who can freely discuss and shape the way literature, art and performance are created and perceived. Just as technology has been liberated from categorical confines, it has helped art and literature be realized as entities that occur in places besides galleries and libraries. Tablets and e-readers, for example, make it possible for literary enthusiasts to read books that are out of print, difficult to find or even self-published by amateur writers, which would have merely been a bibliophile’s dream as little as a decade ago. Correspondingly, the essays in this volume examine the intersection of technology and imaginative creation as it applies to and influences modern film, fiction, graphic novels and pedagogical practice. The contributors investigate how technology has indelibly changed the practice of literary and cultural analysis and even the most basic facets of contemporary society: communication, relation and creation.

“Will slip equally well into a pocket as a Christmas stocking.” – The Wall Street Journal, “What to Give,” holiday gift guide. Introducing Penguin Minis! #1 bestselling author John Green like you've never read him before. • Featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC's "The World," Real Simple, BuzzFeed, Bustle, and more! John Green's critically acclaimed debut, Looking for Alaska, is now available as a Penguin Mini edition. Complete and unabridged, the book's revolutionary landscape design and ultra-thin paper makes it easy to hold in one hand without sacrificing readability. Perfectly-sized to slip into a pocket or bag, Penguin Minis are ideal for reading on the go. About Looking for Alaska: Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist A Great American Reads selection A New York Times Bestseller A USA Today Bestseller Top Ten, NPR’s 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels TIME Magazine's 100 Best Young Adult Novels of All Time Before. Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words. He leaves for boarding school to seek what Rabelais called “The Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles, including clever and self-destructive Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps. After. Nothing will ever be the same. A modern classic, this stunning debut marked #1 bestselling author John Green’s arrival as a groundbreaking voice in contemporary fiction.

In May 2005 Penguin will publish 70 unique titles to celebrate the company's 70th birthday. The titles in the Pocket Penguins series are emblematic of the renowned breadth of quality of the Penguin list and will hark back to Penguin founder Allen Lane's vision of good books for all'. - a complete collection of previously unpublished poetry -political, tender, sexy, argumentative, passionate, and exposed.