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Metahistorical Romance
Metahistorical romance is a term describing postmodern historical fiction, defined by Amy J. Elias in ''Sublime Desire: History and Post-1960s Fiction.'' Elias defines metahistorical romance as a form of historical fiction continuing the legacy of historical romance inaugurated by Sir Walter Scott but also having ties to contemporary postmodern historiography. A metahistorical romance does not merely use history for the setting and events of the novel, but forces the reader to reexamine history, and their own view of it. It accomplishes this by reinterpreting historical events, writing about ordinary people, crossing between various time periods, or bending history in other ways. In Elias's usage, romance does not signify novels focused on marriage and love, but instead a style in which past events are "romanticized" and reinterpreted. Theory Metahistorical romance ties closely to the related philosophies of poststructuralism and postmodernism, which sought to push back against a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Postmodern Literature
Postmodern literature is a form of literature that is characterized by the use of metafiction, unreliable narration, self-reflexivity, 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 Shandy' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mumbo Jumbo (novel)
''Mumbo Jumbo'' is a 1972 novel by African-American author Ishmael Reed. The novel has remained in print in the decades since its first edition, and has been published in French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, and British editions, as well as a Chinese translation in 2019. It was released as a Penguin Modern Classic in 2017. Text Set in 1920s New York City, the novel depicts the elderly Harlem houngan PaPa LaBas and his companion Black Herman racing against the Wallflower Order, an international conspiracy dedicated to monotheism and control, as they attempt to root out the cause of and deal with the "Jes Grew" virus, a personification of ragtime, jazz, polytheism, and freedom. The Wallflower Order is said to work in concert with a still-existent Knights Templar Order to prevent people from dancing, to end the dance crazes spreading among black people. The virus is spread by certain black artists, referred to in the novel as "Jes Grew Carriers" or "J.G.C.s." Historical, social, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allen Kurzweil
Allen Kurzweil (born December 16, 1960) is an American novelist, journalist, editor, and lecturer. He is the author of four works of fiction, most notably ''A Case of Curiosities'', as well as a memoir ''Whipping Boy''. He is also the co-inventor, with his son Max, of ''Potato Chip Science'', an eco-friendly experiment kit for grade schoolers. He is a cousin of Ray Kurzweil and brother of Vivien Schmidt. __TOC__ Life and career The son of Viennese Jewish refugees, Kurzweil was raised in Europe and the United States. Educated at Aiglon College, Yale University and the Sapienza University of Rome, University of Rome, he worked for ten years as a journalist in France, Italy, and Australia before settling in the United States. His first novel, ''A Case of Curiosities'' (1992), earned literary honors in England, Ireland, Italy, and France. His second novel, ''The Grand Complication'', was published in 2001. Both works were included in The New York Times annual list of notable books. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawrence Norfolk
Lawrence Norfolk (born 1963) is a British novelist known for historical works with complex plots and intricate detail. Biography Though born in London, Norfolk lived in Iraq until 1967 and then in the West Country of England. He read English at King's College London and graduated in 1986. He worked briefly as a teacher and later as a freelance writer for reference-book publishers. In 1992 he won the Somerset Maugham Award for his first novel, ''Lemprière's Dictionary'', about events surrounding the publication, in 1788, of John Lemprière's ''Bibliotheca Classica'' on classical mythology and history. The novel starts out as a detective story and mixes historical elements with steampunk-style fiction. Note David Horton's article on the German translation of Norfolk's ''Lempriere'': It imagines the writing of Lemprière's dictionary as tied to the founding of the British East India Company and the Siege of La Rochelle generations before; it also visits the Austro-Turkish Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson (born 27 August 1959) is an English writer. Her first book, '' Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'', was a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against convention. Other novels explore gender polarities and sexual identity and later ones the relations between humans and technology. She broadcasts and teaches creative writing. She has won a Whitbread Prize for a First Novel, a BAFTA Award for Best Drama, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the E. M. Forster Award and the St. Louis Literary Award, and the Lambda Literary Award twice. She holds an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Early life Winterson was born in Manchester and adopted by Constance and John William Winterson on 21 January 1960. She grew up in Accrington, Lancashire, and was raised in the Elim Pentecostal Church. She was raised to become a Pente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexing The Cherry
''Sexing the Cherry'' (1989) is a novel by Jeanette Winterson. Set in 17th century London, ''Sexing the Cherry'' is about the journeys of a mother, known as The Dog Woman, and her protégé, Jordan. They journey in a space-time flux: across the seas to find exotic fruits such as bananas and pineapples; and across time, with glimpses of "the present" and references to Charles I of England and Oliver Cromwell. The mother's physical appearance is somewhat "grotesque". She is a giant, wrapped in a skirt big enough to serve as a ship's sail and strong enough to fling an elephant. She is also hideous, with smallpox scars in which fleas live, a flat nose and foul teeth. Her son, however, is proud of her, as no other mother can hold a good dozen oranges in her mouth all at once. Ultimately, their journey is a journey in search of The Self. ''Sexing the Cherry'' is a postmodernism, postmodernist work and features many examples of intertextuality. It also incorporates the fairy tale of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foe (Coetzee Novel)
''Foe'' is a 1986 novel by South African-born Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee. Woven around the existing plot of '' Robinson Crusoe'', ''Foe'' is written from the perspective of Susan Barton, a castaway who landed on the same island inhabited by "Cruso" and Friday as their adventures were already underway. Like ''Robinson Crusoe'', it is a frame story, unfolded as Barton's narrative while in England attempting to convince the writer Daniel Foe to help transform her tale into popular fiction. Focused primarily on themes of language and power, the novel was the subject of criticism in South Africa, where it was regarded as politically irrelevant on its release. Coetzee revisited the composition of ''Robinson Crusoe'' in 2003 in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. Plot Susan Barton is on a quest to find her kidnapped daughter who she knows has been taken to the New World. She is set adrift during a mutiny on a ship to Lisbon. When she comes ashore, she finds Friday and Cruso who has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a specialist interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William Blake, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot, Charlie Chaplin and Sir Thomas More, he won the Somerset Maugham Award and two Whitbread Awards. He is noted for the volume of work he has produced, the range of styles therein, his skill at assuming different voices, and the depth of his research. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984 and appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003. Early life and education Ackroyd was born in London and raised on a council estate in East Acton, in what he has described as a "strict" Roman Catholic household by his mother and grandmother, after his father disappeared from the family home. He first knew that he was gay when he was seven. He was educated at St. Benedic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawksmoor (novel)
''Hawksmoor'' is a 1985 novel by English writer Peter Ackroyd. It won Best Novel at the 1985 Whitbread Awards and the Guardian Fiction Prize. It tells the parallel stories of Nicholas Dyer, who builds seven churches in 18th-century London for which he needs human sacrifices, and Nicholas Hawksmoor, detective in the 1980s, who investigates murders committed in the same churches. ''Hawksmoor'' has been praised as Peter Ackroyd's best novel and an example of postmodernism. Story In the early 18th century, architect Nicholas Dyer is progressing work on several churches in London's East End. He is, however, involved in Satanic practices (something inculcated in him as an orphan), a fact which he must keep secret from all his associates, including his supervisor Sir Christopher Wren. This is all the more challenging since he indulges in human sacrifice as part of the construction of the buildings. Dyer's simmering contempt for Wren is brought closest to the surface in discussions the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Maggot
''A Maggot'' (1985) is a novel by British author John Fowles. It is Fowles' sixth major novel, following ''The Collector, The Magus, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Daniel Martin,'' and '' Mantissa.'' Its title, as the author explains in the prologue, is taken from the archaic sense of the word that means "whim", "quirk", "obsession", or even a snatch of music (see earworm). Another meaning of the word "maggot" becomes apparent later in the novel, used by a character to describe a white, oblong machine that appears to be a spacecraft. Though the author denied that ''A Maggot'' is a historical novel, it does take place during a precise historical timeframe, May 1736 to February 1737, in England. It might be variously classified as historical fiction, mystery, or science fiction. Because of the narrative style and various metafictional devices, most critics classify it as a postmodern novel. Plot summary The book opens with an objective narration about a group of five traveller ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julian Barnes
Julian Patrick Barnes (born 19 January 1946) is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with ''The Sense of an Ending'', having been shortlisted three times previously with '' Flaubert's Parrot'', ''England, England'', and '' Arthur & George''. Barnes has also written crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh. In addition to novels, Barnes has published collections of essays and short stories. In 2004 he became a Commandeur of L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His honours also include the Somerset Maugham Award and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He was awarded the 2021 Jerusalem Prize. Early life Barnes was born in Leicester, although his family moved to the outer suburbs of London six weeks afterwards. Both of his parents were French teachers. He has said that his support for Leicester City Football Club was, aged four or five, "a sentimental way of hanging on" to his home city. At the age of 10, Barnes was told by his mother that he had "too much imagin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flaubert's Parrot
''Flaubert's Parrot'' is a novel by Julian Barnes that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1984 and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize the following year. The novel recites amateur Gustave Flaubert expert Geoffrey Braithwaite's musings on his subject's life, and his own, as he looks for a stuffed parrot that inspired the great author. Plot summary The novel follows Geoffrey Braithwaite, a widowed, retired English doctor, visiting France. While visiting sites related to Flaubert, Geoffrey discovers two museums claiming to display the stuffed parrot which sat atop Flaubert's writing desk for a brief period while he wrote '' Un Coeur Simple''. While trying to identify which is authentic, Braithwaite learns that Flaubert's parrot could be any one of fifty (''"Une cinquantaine de perroquets!"'', p. 187) that had been held in the collection of the municipal museum. Themes One of the central themes of the novel is subjectivism. The novel provides three sequential chron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
