Postmodernism and the Contemporary Novel

Postmodernism and the Contemporary Novel: A Reader is the first book to collect together the most important contributions to the theory of the postmodern novel over the last forty years and to guide readers through the complex questions and wide-ranging debates: what are its characteristics? Which novels and authors belong to the category? Does it even deserve to be a category on its own? From which traditions does it emerge? How does it relate to previous forms of the novel and to other aspects of postmodern culture? While discussion of the contemporary novel has been dominated by the question of postmodernism, developments in contemporary fiction are also central to the wider debate about postmodernism. Fiction is referred to frequently in the work of postmodernist thinkers not explicitly concerned with literature, like Baudrillard, Lyotard, and Haraway. The selections in this book will also enable readers to place the theory of postmodern fiction in a broader intellectual and cultural context. * Analyses postmodern fiction from both thematic and formal perspectives, giving in-depth coverage to key features and issues such as metafiction, the relation to modernism, history, and politics* Features work by some of the most important theorists and critics of the last few decades, such as Ihab Hassan, Jean Baudrillard, Linda Hutcheon, and Brian McHale* Provides a sense of historical, social and cultural context to the debate about postmodernism in fiction* Gives ample coverage to some of the most compelling issues raised in relation to postmodern fiction in recent years, such as science and new technologies, the cyborg, 'race' and gender

Bran Nicol is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Portsmouth. His publications include books on Iris Murdoch and D. M. Thomas, and articles on psychoanalytic and cultural theory.