Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xiv, 232 pages; 24 cm

Summary

1. "In This Mad "Instead," Arthur Saltzman investigates the breakthroughs and breakdowns of metaphorical operations in the writings of several contemporary American novelists. Focusing on representative fictions by Kathy Acker, Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, William Gass, Steven Millhauser, Richard Powers, John Updike, and Paul West, Saltzman examines how each author establishes a provisional government over the elusiveness of truth, the ambiguity of experience, and the hardships of language itself. Saltzman reveals figuration to be both inevitable and inevitably unreliable, and he illustrates how these writers treat this condition not as an impasse but as a point of departure - indeed, as an artistic mandate and creative opportunity."--Jacket.
2. "In the hands of the authors that Saltzman considers here, the restless, quizzical, startling quality of metaphor - the madness of the mad "instead"--Provokes new awarenesses, restores the forces of language, and tests the means and motives of contemporary American fiction."--Jacket.

Alternative title

1. Governing metaphors in contemporary American fiction

Subject

1. 1900-1999
2. Geschichte 1960-1999
3. American fiction > 20th century > History and criticism
4. Metaphor
5. Metaphor
6. metaphor
7. American fiction
8. Metapher
9. Roman
10. Roman américain > 20e siècle > Histoire et critique
11. Métaphore
12. USA

Genre/Form

1. Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Contents

1. Introduction : the tongue's ties -- Beholding Paul West and The women of Whitechapel -- The figure in the static : Don Delillo's White noise -- In the Millhauser archives -- Post hoc harmonies : Paul Auster's Leviathan -- The nightmare of relation : William Gass's The tunnel -- The trope in the machine : Richard Powers's Galatea 2.2 -- Kathy Acker's Guerrilla mnemonics -- Down the rabbit whole : John Updike's Rabbit novels -- Conclusion : on the ethical behavior of metaphor.

Owning institution

1. Princeton University Library

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (p. [189]-224) and index.