American Postmodernist Fiction and the Past [Hardcover]

Through a close-reading of the work of five prominent American postmodernist writers, this book re-evaluates?the role of the past in recent American fiction, outlines the development of the postmodernist historical novel and considers the waning influence of postmodernism in contemporary American literature.Acknowledgements Introduction 'Nothing but words': Chronicling and Storytelling in Robert Coover's The Public Burning 'A world inside the world': Don DeLillo's Libra and Latent History Pynchon Plays Dice: Mason & Dixon and Quantum History 'A long list of regrettable actions': William T. Vollmann's Symbolic History 'There is only narrative': E.L. Doctorow Conclusion Bibliography Index

'American Postmodernist Fiction and the Past offers a new and thought provoking understanding of how a crucial strain of the American historical novel has developed through the postmodern era.' - Paula Geyh, Associate Professor of English, Yeshiva University, USA

THEOPHILUS SAVVAS teaches in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies at the University of Essex, UK.