GenReVisions
Genre Experimentation and World-Construction in Contemporary Anglophone Literature
Published on 21. August 2020
300 pages
978-3-8253-7939-1 (ISBN)
Description
Despite decades in the naughty corner of literary studies, genre has arguably become an increasingly central category to the production and interpretation of contemporary literature. 'GenReVisions' examines the scope of genre usage in Anglophone literature today and its effects on the construction of literary and extra-literary 'worlds'.
Combining insights from pragmatics, cognitive poetics and constructivist philosophy, the first part of the study promotes a revision of received genre conceptions in favour of a new conceptual metaphor that foregrounds the discursive dimension of generic practices. The second part explores diverse forms of genre experimentation in three recent paradigmatic works: David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas', Salman Rushdie's 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet', and Steven Hall's 'The Raw Shark Texts'. These texts all evoke familiar genres to provide different perspectives on or create new visions of reality. Together, they provide a panorama of contemporary genre usage.
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Martina Allen
GenReVisions
Genre Experimentation and World-Construction in Contemporary Anglophone Literature
Book
08/2020
1st Edition
Universitätsverlag Winter
€56.00
Shipment within 5-7 days
Content
- Cover
- Titel
- Imprint
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Conceptualising Genre
- 1.1 What Genre? Questions of Definition and Scope
- 1.1.1 Genres and Modes
- 1.1.2 Genres as Biological Species
- 1.1.3 The Concept of Family Resemblance
- 1.1.4 Genres as Social Institutions and Typified Actions
- 1.2 Towards a Pragmatic Conception of Genre
- 1.2.1 Cognitive Schemata
- 1.2.2 Construction Kits
- 1.2.3 Fictional Worlds and Worldmaking
- 1.2.4 Hybridity and Its Discontents
- 1.2.5 Generic Blending
- 1.2.6 Forms of Genre Usage
- 2 Uses of Genre in Contemporary Literature
- 2.1 What Goes Around Comes Around - David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas'
- 2.1.1 Jigsaw Worlds: Composites and (In)Coherence
- 2.1.2 Mix'n'Match? Mitchell's Complicated Cosmologies
- 2.1.3 Dark Reflections: The Dystopian Scenarios of 'Cloud Atlas'
- 2.1.4 Conclusion: Dystopias
- 2.2 Orpheus Rocks - Salman Rushdie's 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet'
- 2.2.1 Dionysus Reborn: A Novel Tragic
- 2.2.2 Tragic Patterns? Rock'n'Roll, Popular Culture and Globalisation
- 2.2.3 Antagonistic Worlds: Tragedy and the Semantics of Crisis
- 2.2.4 Conclusion: Disorientations
- 2.3 Mind Matters - Steven Hall's 'The Raw Shark Texts'
- 2.3.1 The Rorschach Principle - Association, Dissociation and World-Construction
- 2.3.2 Entering the Gutenberg Galaxy - a Cyberpunk Projection
- 2.3.3 The Strange 'Case' of Eric Sanderson
- 2.3.4 Conclusion: Dissociations
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Backcover
