Contemporary Fantastic
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€97.99
A01=Amanda Vredenburgh
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Antoine Volodine
Author_Amanda Vredenburgh
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Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=DS
Category=DSB
Category=DSM
COP=United States
Delivery_Pre-order
Ecocriticism
Egalitarian Communities
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eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Language_English
Marie Darrieussecq
Marie NDiaye
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Price_€50 to €100
PS=Forthcoming
Race in France
softlaunch
Speculative Fiction
Supernatural
Product details
- ISBN 9781666940886
- Weight: 535g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 20 Nov 2024
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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In The Contemporary Fantastic: Reimagining Reality in French Fiction, Amanda Vredenburgh identifies a contemporary shift in the use of fantastic modalities in French fiction, no longer dominated by the desire to escape the disappointments of reality nor the reader’s hesitation about the reality of the novel’s events, but by its innovative confrontation with the real. What could bizarre, uncanny, or supernatural literary representations have to tell us about very urgent, real issues like the environmental crisis, racism, migration, and the formation of egalitarian communities? Through close readings of a selection of novels by Marie Darrieussecq, Marie NDiaye, and Antoine Volodine, Vredenburgh argues that the ability to blur boundaries gives the fantastic both an emancipatory and reparative function in its engagement with contemporary political issues. These authors complicate categories such as human/nonhuman, French/foreign, inclusion/exclusion, and individual/community and shift the focus to the experiential and affective dimensions of these issues, ultimately allowing us to better think and feel with those that are excluded. Vredenburgh concludes that this use of the fantastic has a specific ethical stance, which encourages a community-based approach founded on compassion and inclusion.
Amanda Vredenburgh is assistant professor of French at the University of Houston.
