Models of Misrepresentation: On the Fiction of E. L. Doctorow - Couverture rigide

Morris, Christopher D.

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 087805524X ISBN 13 : 9780878055241

Editeur : Univ Pr of Mississippi, 1991

Synopsis

Book by Morris Christopher D

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

The work of E. L. Doctorow is most often seen as a political and cultural critique of eras of American history, like the settlement of the West, the Gilded Age, the Depression, or the beginnings of the Cold War. In his fiction critics have found searching and subversive questions concerning received national values. At the same time, they have seen him as a literary experimentor, comparing his with the work of such modernist writers as Faulkner and Hemingway. Models of Misrepresentation, an original and comprehensive reading of Doctorow's work, considers both these views under a broader rubric, the struggle for representation in art. The author of this penetrating and persuasive study considers this theme from a philosophical standpoint: How can the writer depict America, or how can the reader interpret its values, when the very capacity of language to represent is put in doubt, as it is in Doctorow's fiction? From this perspective, Doctorow's works form part of this century's continuing intellectual crisis over the possibility of meaning in art. The understanding of this crisis in the work of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Derrida shows how the broader issue of representation underpins both Doctorow's political-cultural critiques and his literary experimentalism. This vantage - point sheds new light on some perennial questions that intrigue Doctorow's readers: Who are the narrators of Ragtime and Loon Lake? Why do the novels' left - wing critiques also undermine left - wing solutions? What is the significance of repeated leitmotifs in his work? Why does Doctorow's later fiction seem to return to simpler literary forms? In Models of Misrepresentation the answers to these questions are discovered in the novels' continuing preoccupation is also apparent in Doctorow's book reviews, interviews, and essays. It is animated by an intransigent despair. Looking at Doctorow's novels as models of misrepresentation reveals doubts in

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Univ Pr of Mississippi
• Date d'édition: 1991
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 087805524X
• ISBN 13: 9780878055241
• Reliure: Relié
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible