Ideas of Order - Narrative Patterns in the Novels of Richard Powers

Investigating the distinct poetics of Richard Powers writing, this volume demonstrates that the author s complex body of fictional work warrants much more focused and systematic critical attention than it has received so far. The essays explore how Powers work oscillates between the poles of realism and metafictional postmodernism, creating narratives in which the conventions of realism are both deployed and undermined, in which characters are simultaneously presented as motivated agents and as textual constructs. By conceptualizing Powers novels as texts in which order is both a central and a consciously fictional idea, the essays collected in this volume discuss how Powers densely structured fictions indicate the potential of a concrete relation between life and literature that manifests itself in an inherently narrative vision of human consciousness.

Summary

Investigating the distinct poetics of Richard Powers’ writing, this volume demonstrates that the author’s complex body of fictional work warrants much more focused and systematic critical attention than it has received so far. The essays explore how Powers’ work oscillates between the poles of realism and metafictional postmodernism, creating narratives in which the conventions of realism are both deployed and undermined, in which characters are simultaneously presented as motivated agents and as textual constructs. By conceptualizing Powers’ novels as texts in which order is both a central and a consciously fictional idea, the essays collected in this volume discuss how Powers’ densely structured fictions indicate the potential of a concrete relation between life and literature that manifests itself in an inherently narrative vision of human consciousness.

Product details

• Assisted by: D Kucharzewski (Editor), D Kucharzewski (Editor), Antj Kley (Editor), Antje Kley (Editor), Jan D. Kucharzewski (Editor)
• Publisher: Universitätsverlag Winter
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.11.2012
• EAN: 9783825360818
• ISBN: 978-3-8253-6081-8
• No. of pages: 308
• Dimensions: 144 mm x 218 mm x 23 mm
• Weight: 452 g
• Series: American Studies / A Monograph Series; American Studies; American Studies – A Monograph Series; American Studies / A Monograph Series
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; Amerikanische Literatur, Informationszeitalter, Wissensproduktion, Metafiktion, Neorealismus, Powers, Richard, postmoderne Literatur, Subjektivität /i. d. Literatur, Ordnung (Motiv)