Middle Grounds: Studies in Contemporary American Fiction, and: In the Loop: Don DeLillo and the Systems Novel, and: The Fictional Labyrinths of Thomas Pynchon, and: At the Field's End: Interviews with 20 Pacific Northwest Writers (review)

1988 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 660-664
Author(s):  
Steven Weisenburger
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Thomas Pynchon ◽  
Don Delillo ◽  
American Fiction ◽  
Contemporary American Fiction

scholarly journals The Silicon Valley Novel

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Paul Eve ◽  
Joe Street
Keyword(s):  
Literary History ◽  
Thomas Pynchon ◽  
Don Delillo ◽  
Silicon Valley ◽  
First Century ◽  
Literary Fiction ◽  
American Fiction ◽  
Bay Area ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Dave Eggers

In this article we propose that one of the emergent, but under-charted, and as yet unnamed thematic strands in recent American fiction and that contributes to recent literary history is that of the ‘Silicon Valley novel’. The trend can be seen in the literary fiction of Tony Tulathimutte, Jarett Kobek, Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, and Dave Eggers, to name but a few, but also in the trilogy of novels by Ann Bridges dubbed, ‘The Silicon Valley Trilogy’. Silicon Valley novels are concerned with the emergent technological industry in the Bay Area but they are also of a specific periodising moment. Hence, while named for the geography, we here situate the Silicon Valley novel as more tied to time in the early twenty-first century.

The Western Literary Tradition and the Qur’an

2020 ◽  
pp. 591-604
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Einboden
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Dante Alighieri ◽  
Don Delillo ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
American Fiction ◽  
Washington Irving ◽  
The West ◽  
Contemporary American Fiction ◽  
Holy Writ

From medieval European verse to contemporary American fiction, the Qur’an has consistently impacted Western literatures, influencing poets and prose writers from the middle ages to postmodernity. Sketching a chronology of the Qur’an and ‘the canon’, this chapter situates Muslim scripture as a literary precedent in Europe, Britain, and America, attending to Qur’anic echoes that emerge in diverse works penned by literati from Ludovico Ariosto to Washington Irving, from Dante Alighieri to Don DeLillo. Identifying not only oppositions, but unexpected overlaps, between Islam’s holy writ and Western artistry, this chapter suggests the topical subjects and stylistic techniques which ensure the Qur’an’s enduring significance for both literary creativity and literary criticism in the West.

scholarly journals Louise Erdrich’s Place in American Literature: Narrative Innovation in Love Medicine

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-139
Author(s):  
Richard Stock
Keyword(s):  
American Literature ◽  
Thomas Pynchon ◽  
Louise Erdrich ◽  
American Fiction ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
American Novels ◽  
Popular Appeal ◽  
Contemporary American Fiction ◽  
Public Audience

Abstract As a novelist, Louise Erdrich is unique in receiving both popular and critical acclaim. Strangely, her popular appeal has discouraged study of her novels as experimental narrative texts. This is unfortunate, since innovations in Erdrich’s novels rival much “experimental” contemporary American fiction. This study outlines a convention of a three-level hierarchy of characters in novels and compares this convention with two experimental American novels: Infinite Jest (1996) by David Foster Wallace and Gravity’s Rainbow (1973) by Thomas Pynchon. The study then addresses Erdrich’s first novel, Love Medicine (1984), to show that it is unique in not having a main character. Although the other two experimental novels try to do without a main character, neither of them succeed at getting beyond this convention. Love Medicine innovates in at least one major narrative convention in a way that other experimental novels cannot do. This is one way in which Louise Erdrich and Love Medicine compare favorably to some of the most respected experimental contemporary American novels. Erdrich’s novels should take their place alongside other experimental American novels, being studied in similar ways, regardless of whether they are also read by a broad public audience.

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