Present Tense Narration in Contemporary Fiction A Narratological Overview [Hardcover]

In this book, Irmtraud Huber considers a wide range of contemporary novels to explore the variety of possibilities and effects of the use of the present tense, as well as investigating ?the reasons for its popularity. By illustrating the complexity and sophistication of four different types of contemporary usage, Hubers discussion goes some way towards refuting those critical voices which consider present-tense narration a passing fad and stylistic affectation. As a tense of narration, the present can serve to tell different stories than the past tense, or can tell them differently. By no means a passing fad, it is an important characteristic of contemporary literature.Present Tense Narration in Contemporary Fiction seeks to account for the growing prevalence and frequency of present tense narration in modern literature. In order to better understand the conditions and effects of the technique, the book situates its discussion in a historical context and examines a variety of present-tense usage in works by prominent contemporary authors, including John Burnside, Will Self and Hilary Mantel.Introduction.- Chapter 1. Past and Present of Present-tense Narration.- Chapter 2. Narrative Deictic Narration.- Chapter 3. Retrospective Narration.- Chapter 4. Interior Monologue.- Chapter 5. Simultaneous Narration.- Chapter 6. Mixed Cases.- Conclusion.- Appendix.- Works Cited.- Notes.Present-Tense Narration in Contemporary Fiction provides its reader with a comprehensive survey of different usages of the present tense in contemporary narrative fiction which accounts for the diversity of individual narratives by sensibly eschewing any form-to-function mapping. & Hubers study makes for an inspiring read which gives valuable food for thought to any literary scholar interested not only in concrete manifestations of present-tense narration, but also in major works of contemporary fiction. (Carolin Gebauer, Diegesis, Vol. 6 (1), 2017)

Irmtraud Huber