Writing the Past in Twenty-first-century American Fiction examines contemporary novels profoundly shaped by a sense of historical consciousness. Authors including Ben Lerner, Colson Whitehead, Dana Spiotta, Hari Kunzru and Garth Greenwell each use flashbacks, historical parallels and non-sequential narrative arrangements to emphasise the re-emergence, in a twenty-first-century context, of historical structures and circumstances. This study explores how these frequent moments of temporal slippage amount to a 'falling out of time', as characters are forced to confront the past crises which continue to exert pressure on their own contemporary moment.

About the Author
Aleandra Lawrie, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, University of Edinburgh.


Book Information
ISBN 9781474463447
Author Alexandra Lawrie
Format Hardback
Page Count 208
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press