Title:
Experimental fiction : an introduction for readers and writers / Julie Armstrong.
Author:
Armstrong, Julie Buckner, author.
General Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction -- What does experimental mean? -- What are the concerns of experimental writers? -- What is experimental fiction? -- What are the differences between traditional realist fiction and experimental fiction? -- Why read experimental fiction? -- How does a reader approach experimental fiction? -- What criteria can be used for reading as a writer of experimental fiction? -- At this moment in time, what criteria may writers and readers consider when they are deconstructing experimental fiction? -- Section one. When was/what was modernity(ism)? -- Form and fiction -- Worldview and fiction -- Gender crisis -- The city and fiction -- Dreams, philosophy, science and fiction -- Section two. When were/who were the Beats? -- Beat/music -- Spirituality and the Beats -- Sexuality, drug culture and fiction -- 'On the Road' -- Section three. When is/was the postmodern era? -- Identity in flux -- The fictiveness of fiction -- What is true/what is not? -- What is real/what is not? -- Giving a voice to other -- Section four. A new era is dawning -- Beyond postmodernism -- Changing perceptions of reality -- Anti-novels built from scraps -- Electronic/hyper/interactive fiction -- Conclusion -- How can writers engage in experimental writing practice? -- What are the implications for the writer wishing to experiment? -- Can this contradictory, complex world be represented by traditional-realist fiction?
Ever since Ezra Pound's exhortation to 'make it new', experimentation has been a hallmark of contemporary literature. Ranging from the modernists, through the Beats to postmodernism and contemporary 'hyperfiction', this is a unique introduction to experimental fiction. Creative exercises throughout the book help students grapple with the many varieties of experimental fiction for themselves, deepening their understanding of these many forms and developing their own writing skills. In addition, the book examines the historical contexts and major themes of 20th-century experimental fiction and new directions for the novel offered by writers such as David Shields and Zadie Smith. Making often difficult works accessible for the first time reader and with extensive further reading guides, Experimental Fiction is an essential practical guidebook for students of creative writing and contemporary fiction. Writers covered include: James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, Marcel Proust, Ralph Ellison, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William Gibson, Italo Calvino, Jeanette Winterson, Don Delillo, Caitlin Fisher, Geoff Ryeman, Xiaolu Guo, Tom McCarthy, James Frey and David Mitchell.
Publisher:
Bloomsbury,
Publication Place:
London :
ISBN:
9781441130570 (pbk.)
Subject:
Experimental fiction -- History and criticism.
Experimental fiction -- History and criticism -- Theory, etc.
English fiction -- History and criticism -- 20th century.
American fiction -- History and criticism -- 20th century.
Contents:
Introduction -- What does experimental mean? -- What are the concerns of experimental writers? -- What is experimental fiction? -- What are the differences between traditional realist fiction and experimental fiction? -- Why read experimental fiction? -- How does a reader approach experimental fiction? -- What criteria can be used for reading as a writer of experimental fiction? -- At this moment in time, what criteria may writers and readers consider when they are deconstructing experimental fiction? -- Section one. When was/what was modernity(ism)? -- Form and fiction -- Worldview and fiction -- Gender crisis -- The city and fiction -- Dreams, philosophy, science and fiction -- Section two. When were/who were the Beats? -- Beat/music -- Spirituality and the Beats -- Sexuality, drug culture and fiction -- 'On the Road' -- Section three. When is/was the postmodern era? -- Identity in flux -- The fictiveness of fiction -- What is true/what is not? -- What is real/what is not? -- Giving a voice to other -- Section four. A new era is dawning -- Beyond postmodernism -- Changing perceptions of reality -- Anti-novels built from scraps -- Electronic/hyper/interactive fiction -- Conclusion -- How can writers engage in experimental writing practice? -- What are the implications for the writer wishing to experiment? -- Can this contradictory, complex world be represented by traditional-realist fiction?
Physical Description:
ix, 206 pages ;
Publication Date:
2014.
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