The Cambridge Companion to Twenty-First Century American Fiction

The Cambridge Companion to Twenty-First Century American Fiction
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 347
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781108838276
ISBN-13 : 1108838278
Rating : 4/5 (76 Downloads)

Synopsis The Cambridge Companion to Twenty-First Century American Fiction by : Joshua Miller

This volume explores the most exciting trends in 21st century US fiction's genres, themes, and concepts.

Contemporary Novelists and the Aesthetics of Twenty-First Century American Life

Contemporary Novelists and the Aesthetics of Twenty-First Century American Life
Author :
Publisher : University of Iowa Press
Total Pages : 221
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781609386757
ISBN-13 : 1609386752
Rating : 4/5 (57 Downloads)

Synopsis Contemporary Novelists and the Aesthetics of Twenty-First Century American Life by : Alexandra Kingston-Reese

Contemporary Novelists and the Aesthetics of Twenty-First Century American Life gives us a new way to view contemporary art novels, asking the key question: How do contemporary writers imagine aesthetic experience? Examining the works of some of the most popular names in contemporary fiction and art criticism, including Zadie Smith, Teju Cole, Siri Hustvedt, Ben Lerner, Rachel Kushner, and others, Alexandra Kingston-Reese finds that contemporary art novels are seeking to reconcile the negative feelings of contemporary life through a concerted critical realignment in understanding artistic sensibility, literary form, and the function of the aesthetic. Kingston-Reese reveals how contemporary writers refract and problematize aesthetic experience, illuminating an uneasiness with failure: firstly, about the failure of aesthetic experiences to solve and save; and secondly, the literary inability to articulate the emotional dissonance caused by aesthetic experiences now.

Twenty-First-Century Southern Writers

Twenty-First-Century Southern Writers
Author :
Publisher : Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages : 191
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781496833358
ISBN-13 : 149683335X
Rating : 4/5 (58 Downloads)

Synopsis Twenty-First-Century Southern Writers by : Jean W. Cash

Contributions by Destiny O. Birdsong, Jean W. Cash, Kevin Catalano, Amanda Dean Freeman, David Gates, Richard Gaughran, Rebecca Godwin, Joan Wylie Hall, Dixon Hearne, Phillip Howerton, Emily D. Langhorne, Shawn E. Miller, Melody Pritchard, Nick Ripatrazone, Bes Stark Spangler, Scott Hamilton Suter, Melanie Benson Taylor, Jay Varner, and Scott D. Yarbrough Twenty-First-Century Southern Writers: New Voices, New Perspectives, an anthology of critical essays, introduces a new group of fiction writers from the American South. These fresh voices, like their twentieth-century predecessors, examine what it means to be a southerner in the modern world. These writers’ works cover wide-ranging subjects and themes: the history of the region, the continued problems of the working-class South, the racial divisions that have continued, the violence of the modern world, and the difficulties of establishing a spiritual identity in a modern context. The approaches and styles vary from writer to writer, with realistic, place-centered description as the foundation of many of their works. They have also created new perspectives regarding point of view, and some have moved toward the inclusion of “magic realism” and even science fiction in their work. The nineteen essays in Twenty-First-Century Southern Writers feature a handful of fiction writers who are already well known, such as National Book Award–winner Jesmyn Ward, Tayari Jones, Michael Farris Smith, and Inman Majors. Others deserve greater recognition, and, in many cases, works in this anthology will be the first pieces of analysis dedicated to writers and their work. Twenty-First-Century Southern Writers aims to alert scholars of southern literature, as well as the reading public, to an exciting and varied group of writers, while laying a foundation for future examination of these works.

Literary Publishing in the Twenty-First Century

Literary Publishing in the Twenty-First Century
Author :
Publisher : Milkweed Editions
Total Pages : 202
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781571319227
ISBN-13 : 1571319220
Rating : 4/5 (27 Downloads)

Synopsis Literary Publishing in the Twenty-First Century by : Travis Kurowski

Gutenberg’s invention of movable type in the fifteenth century introduced an era of mass communication that permanently altered the structure of society. While publishing has been buffeted by persistent upheaval and transformation ever since, the current combination of technological developments, market pressures, and changing reading habits has led to an unprecedented paradigm shift in the world of books. Bringing together a wide range of perspectives—industry veterans and provocateurs, writers, editors, and digital mavericks—this invaluable collection reflects on the current situation of literary publishing, and provides a road map for the shifting geography of its future: How do editors and publishers adapt to this rapidly changing world? How are vibrant public communities in the Digital Age created and engaged? How can an industry traditionally dominated by white men become more diverse and inclusive? Mindful of the stakes of the ongoing transformation, Literary Publishing in the 21st Century goes beyond the usual discussion of 'print vs. digital' to uncover the complex, contradictory, and increasingly vibrant personalities that will define the future of the book.

The Cambridge Companion to Twenty-First-Century American Poetry

The Cambridge Companion to Twenty-First-Century American Poetry
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 273
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781108482097
ISBN-13 : 1108482090
Rating : 4/5 (97 Downloads)

Synopsis The Cambridge Companion to Twenty-First-Century American Poetry by : Timothy Yu

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to studying the diversity of American poetry in the twenty-first century.

Rough South, Rural South

Rough South, Rural South
Author :
Publisher : Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages : 273
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781496804969
ISBN-13 : 1496804961
Rating : 4/5 (69 Downloads)

Synopsis Rough South, Rural South by : Jean W. Cash

Essays in Rough South, Rural South describe and discuss the work of southern writers who began their careers in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. They fall into two categories. Some, born into the working class, strove to become writers and learned without benefit of higher education, such writers as Larry Brown and William Gay. Others came from lower- or middle-class backgrounds and became writers through practice and education: Dorothy Allison, Tom Franklin, Tim Gautreaux, Clyde Edgerton, Kaye Gibbons, Silas House, Jill McCorkle, Chris Offutt, Ron Rash, Lee Smith, Brad Watson, Daniel Woodrell, and Steve Yarbrough. Their twenty-first-century colleagues are Wiley Cash, Peter Farris, Skip Horack, Michael Farris Smith, Barb Johnson, and Jesmyn Ward. In his seminal article, Erik Bledsoe distinguishes Rough South writers from such writers as William Faulkner and Erskine Caldwell. Younger writers who followed Harry Crews were born into and write about the Rough South. These writers undercut stereotypes, forcing readers to see the working poor differently. The next pieces begin with those on Crews and Cormac McCarthy, major influences on an entire generation. Later essays address members of both groups—the self-educated and the college-educated. Both groups share a clear understanding of the value of working-class southerners. Nearly all of the writers hold a reverence for the South's landscape and its inhabitants as well as an affinity for realistic depictions of setting and characters.

Twenty-First Century American Playwrights

Twenty-First Century American Playwrights
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 235
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781108419581
ISBN-13 : 1108419585
Rating : 4/5 (81 Downloads)

Synopsis Twenty-First Century American Playwrights by : Christopher Bigsby

Introduces nine exciting and talented playwrights who have emerged in twenty-first century America, exploring issues of race, gender and society.

Toward the Geopolitical Novel

Toward the Geopolitical Novel
Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Total Pages : 359
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780231536318
ISBN-13 : 0231536313
Rating : 4/5 (18 Downloads)

Synopsis Toward the Geopolitical Novel by : Caren Irr

Caren Irr's survey of more than 125 novels outlines the dramatic resurgence of the American political novel in the twenty-first century. She explores the writings of Chris Abani, Susan Choi, Edwidge Danticat, Junot Díaz, Dave Eggers, Jeffrey Eugenides, Aleksandar Hemon, Hari Kunzru, Dinaw Mengestu, Norman Rush, Gary Shteyngart, and others as they rethink stories of migration, the Peace Corps, nationalism and neoliberalism, revolution, and the expatriate experience. Taken together, these innovations define a new literary form: the geopolitical novel. More cosmopolitan and socially critical than domestic realism, the geopolitical novel provides new ways of understanding crucial political concepts to meet the needs of a new century.

Twenty-First-Century Popular Fiction

Twenty-First-Century Popular Fiction
Author :
Publisher : Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages : 257
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781474414869
ISBN-13 : 1474414869
Rating : 4/5 (69 Downloads)

Synopsis Twenty-First-Century Popular Fiction by : Bernice M. Murphy

This groundbreaking collection provides students with a timely and accessible overview of current trends within contemporary popular fiction.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Author :
Publisher : Penguin
Total Pages : 540
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781101218808
ISBN-13 : 1101218800
Rating : 4/5 (08 Downloads)

Synopsis Special Topics in Calamity Physics by : Marisha Pessl

The mesmerizing bestseller that combines the storytelling gifts of Donna Tartt and the suspense of Alfred Hitchcock—A New York Times Ten Best Book of the Year Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a darkly hilarious coming-of-age tale and a richly plotted suspense story, told with dazzling intelligence and wit. At the center of the novel is clever, deadpan Blue van Meer, who has a head full of literary, philosophical, scientific, and cinematic knowledge. But she could use some friends. Upon entering the elite St. Gallway School, she finds some—a clique of eccentrics known as the Bluebloods. One drowning and one hanging later, Blue finds herself puzzling out a byzantine murder mystery. Nabokov meets Donna Tartt (then invites the rest of the Western Canon to the party) in this novel—with visual aids drawn by the author—that has won over readers of all ages.