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Postmodern Literature
Postmodern literature is a form of literature that is characterized by the use of metafiction, unreliable narration, self-reflexivity, and intertextuality, and which often thematizes both historical and political issues. This style of experimental literature emerged strongly in the United States in the 1960s through the writings of authors such as Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, William Gaddis, Philip K. Dick, Kathy Acker, and John Barth. Postmodernists often challenge authorities, which has been seen as a symptom of the fact that this style of literature first emerged in the context of political tendencies in the 1960s.Linda Hutcheon (1988) ''A Poetics of Postmodernism.'' London: Routledge, pp. 202-203. This inspiration is, among other things, seen through how postmodern literature is highly self-reflexive about the political issues it speaks to. Precursors to postmodern literature include Miguel de Cervantes' ''Don Quixote'' (1605–1615), Laurence Sterne's '' Tristram Sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post-irony
Post-irony (from Latin 'after' and Ancient Greek ' 'dissimulation, feigned ignorance') is a term used to denote a state in which earnest and ironic intents become muddled. It may less commonly refer to its converse: a return from irony to earnestness, similar to new sincerity. In literature, David Foster Wallace is often described as the founder of a "postironic" literature. His essays "E Unibus Pluram" and "Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young" describe and hope for a literature that goes beyond postmodern irony. Other authors often described as postironic are Dave Eggers,Jensen, Mikkel. 2014. "A Note on a Title: '' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius''" in ''The Explicator'', 72:2, 146–150/ref> Tao Lin, and Alex Shakar. Overview Whereas in postmodern_literature#Irony, playfulness, black humor, postmodern irony, something is meant to be cynically mocked and not taken seriously, and in new sincerity, something is meant to be taken seriously or "unironically", pos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electronic literature, digital writing. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, much of which has been transcribed.; see also Homer. Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment. It can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role. Literary criticism is one of the oldest academic disciplines, and is concerned with the literary merit or intellectual significance of specific texts. The study of books and other texts as artifacts or traditions is instead encompassed by textual criticism or the history of the book. "Literature", as an art form, is sometimes used synonymously with literary fiction, fiction written with the goal of artistic merit, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Quixote
, the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is often said to be the first modern novel. The novel has been labelled by many well-known authors as the "best novel of all time" and the "best and most central work in world literature". ''Don Quixote'' is also one of the List of literary works by number of translations, most-translated books in the world and one of the List of best-selling books, best-selling novels of all time. The plot revolves around the adventures of a member of the lowest nobility, an Hidalgo (nobility), hidalgo from La Mancha named Alonso Quijano, who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his mind and decides to become a knight-errant () to revive chivalry and serve his nation, under the name . He recruits as his squire a simple farm labourer, Sancho Panza, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius
''A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius'' is a memoir by American author Dave Eggers. Published in 2000, the book chronicles Eggers' experiences following the sudden death of both his parents and his subsequent responsibility for raising his younger brother, Christopher "Toph" Eggers. The memoir, noted for its postmodern style and self-referential prose, was a commercial and critical success, becoming a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and hitting number one on ''The New York Times'' bestseller list. Plot summary The memoir begins with the deaths of Eggers' parents from cancer within five weeks of each other. This traumatic event leaves Eggers, then in his early twenties, as the primary caregiver for his eight-year-old brother, Toph. The two brothers move from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Eggers tries to balance his responsibilities as a young parent with his desire to pursue creative ambitions, including starting the satirical magazine '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. His 2000 memoir, '' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius'', became a bestseller and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Eggers is also the founder of several literary and philanthropic ventures, including the literary journal '' Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', the literacy project '' 826 Valencia'', and the human rights non-profit organisation '' Voice of Witness''. Additionally, he founded '' ScholarMatch'', a program that connects donors with students needing funds for college tuition. His writing has appeared in publications including ''The New Yorker'', ''Esquire'', and '' The New York Times Magazine''. Early life Eggers was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in a family with three siblings. His father, John K. Eggers (1936–1991), was an attorney, and his mother, Heidi McSweeney Eggers (1940–1992), was a schoolteacher. The family moved to Lake ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Literature
American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the British colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also includes literature produced in languages other than English. The American Revolutionary Period (1775–1783) is notable for the political writings of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson. An early novel is William Hill Brown's '' The Power of Sympathy'', published in 1791. The writer and critic John Neal in the early-to-mid-19th century helped to advance America toward a unique literature and culture, by criticizing his predecessors, such as Washington Irving, for imitating their British counterparts and by influencing writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, who took American poetry and short fiction in new directions. Ralph Waldo Emerson pioneered the influential Transcendentalism movement; Henry David T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
On The Road
''On the Road'' is a 1957 novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use. The novel is a ''roman à clef'', with many key figures of the Beat movement represented by characters in the book, including Kerouac himself as the narrator, Sal Paradise. The idea for the book formed during the late 1940s in a series of notebooks and was then typed out on a continuous reel of paper during three weeks in April 1951. It was first published by Viking Press. ''The New York Times'' hailed the book's appearance as "the most beautifully executed, the clearest, and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac, himself, named years ago as 'beat,' and whose principal avatar he is." In 1998, the Modern Library ranked ''On the Road'' 55th on its li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian parentage, Kerouac was raised in a French-speaking home in Lowell, Massachusetts. He "learned English at age six and spoke with a marked accent into his late teens." During World War II, he served in the United States Merchant Marine; he completed his first novel at the time, which was published more than 40 years after his death. His first published book was '' The Town and the City'' (1950), and he achieved widespread fame and notoriety with his second, '' On the Road'', in 1957. It made him a beat icon, and he went on to publish 12 more novels and numerous poetry volumes. Kerouac died in 1969. Since then, his literary prestige has grown, and several previously unseen works have been published. Kerouac is recognized for his style of s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The American Interest
''The American Interest'' (''AI'') was a bimonthly magazine founded in 2005, focusing primarily on foreign policy, international affairs, global economics, and military matters. History The magazine was founded in 2005 by a number of members of the editorial board of '' The National Interest'', led by Francis Fukuyama, who opposed changes to that journal's editorial policy implemented by its new publisher, the Nixon Center. Several people formerly associated with ''The National Interest'' have been associated with ''The American Interest'', including former ''National Interest'' editor Adam Garfinkle (the founding editor of ''The American Interest''); Fukuyama, who serves as chairman of the journal's executive committee; Ruth Wedgwood, formerly a ''National Interest'' advisory council member and now an ''American Interest'' editorial board member; and Thomas M. Rickers, formerly the managing editor of ''The National Interest''. In October 2018, Jeffrey Gedmin was appoin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sartor Resartus
''Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh in Three Books'' is a novel by the Scottish people, Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, first published as a serial in ''Fraser's Magazine'' in November 1833 – August 1834. The novel purports to be a commentary on the thought and early life of a German philosopher called Diogenes Teufelsdröckh (which translates as 'Zeus-born Devil's-dung'), author of a tome entitled ''Clothes: Their Origin and Influence''. Teufelsdröckh's Transcendentalist musings are mulled over by a sceptical English Reviewer (referred to as Editor) who also provides fragmentary biographical material on the philosopher. The work is a parody, in part of Hegel and more generally of German Idealism. Background Archibald MacMechan surmised that the novel's invention had three literary sources. The first of these was ''A Tale of a Tub'' by Jonathan Swift, whom Carlyle intensely admired in his college years, even going by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Carlyle
Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the Victorian era. Carlyle was born in Ecclefechan, a village in Dumfriesshire. He attended the University of Edinburgh where he excelled in mathematics and invented the Carlyle circle. After finishing the arts course, he prepared to become a minister in the Burgher (Church history), Burgher Church while working as a schoolmaster. He quit these and several other endeavours before settling on literature, writing for the ''Edinburgh Encyclopædia'' and working as a translator. He initially gained prominence in English-language literary circles for his extensive writing on German Romanticism, German Romantic literature and philosophy. These themes were explored in his first major work, a semi-autobiographical philosophical novel entitled ''Sartor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Private Memoirs And Confessions Of A Justified Sinner
''The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner: Written by Himself: With a detail of curious traditionary facts and other evidence by the editor'' is a novel by the Scottish author James Hogg, published anonymously in 1824. The plot concerns Robert Wringhim, a staunch Calvinist who, under the influence of the mysterious Gil-Martin, believes he is guaranteed Salvation and justified in killing those he believes are already damned by God. The novel has been classified among many genres, including gothic novel, psychological mystery, metafiction, satire and the study of totalitarian thought; it can also be thought of as an early example of modern crime fiction in which the story is told, for the most part, from the point of view of its criminal anti-hero. The action of the novel is located in a historically definable Scotland with accurately observed settings, and simultaneously implies a quasi-Christian world of angels, devils, and demonic possession. The narrative ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
