Secrecy and Community in 21st-Century Fiction

Häftad, Engelska, 2022

649 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 10-15 vardagar. Fri frakt för medlemmar vid köp för minst 249 kr.

Secrecy and Community in 21st-Century Fiction examines the relation between secrecy and community in a diverse and international range of contemporary fictional works in English. In its concern with what is called 'communities of secrecy', it is fundamentally indebted to the thought of Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Nancy and Maurice Blanchot, who have pointed to the fallacies and dangers of identitarian and exclusionary communities, arguing for forms of being-in-common characterized by non-belonging, singularity and otherness.Also drawing on the work of J. Hillis Miller, Derek Attridge, Nicholas Royle, Matei Calinescu, Frank Kermode and George Simmel, among others, this volume analyses the centrality of secrets in the construction of literary form, narrative sequence and meaning, together with their foundational role in our private and interpersonal lives and the public and political realms. In doing so, it engages with the Derridean ethico-political value of secrecy and Derrida’s conception of literature as the exemplary site for the operation of the unconditional secret.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2022-08-25
Mått226 x 152 x 16 mm
Vikt380 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor248
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN9781501372193

Tillhör följande kategorier

Litteraturvetenskap inom Skönlitteratur
Litteraturteori inom Skönlitteratur

Notes on contributorsForewordJoseph Hillis Miller (University of California, Irvine, USA)AcknowledgementsIntroduction: Secrecy and community in twenty-first-century fictionMaría J. López (University of Córdoba, Spain)Part One. SECRECY, LITERARY FORM AND THE COMMUNITY OF READERS1. Secrecy and community in ergodic texts: Derrida, Ali Smith and the experience of formDerek Attridge (University of York, UK)2. Protective mimicry: Reflections on the novel todayNicholas Royle (University of Sussex, UK)3. ‘Where all is known and nothing understood’: Narrative sequence and textual secrets in Toni Morrison’s LovePaula Martín-Salván (University of Córdoba, Spain)4. Challenging stereotypes of femininity through secrets in Alice Munro’s fictionMercedes Díaz Dueñas (University of Granada, Spain)5. Zoë Wicomb and the secrets of the canonLiani Lochner (Université Laval, Canada)Part Two. COMMUNITIES OF SECRECY6. Cryptaesthetic resistance and community in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The LowlandMaría Luisa Pascual Garrido (University of Córdoba, Spain)7. Queering the Maori crypt: Community and secrecy in Witi Ihimaera’s The Uncle’s StoryGerardo Rodríguez-Salas (University of Granada, Spain)8. Secrecy, invisibility and community in Jeanette Winterson’s The Daylight GateJuan L. Pérez-de-Luque (University of Córdoba, Spain)9. Novel mediums: The art of not speaking in (and of) Hilary Mantel’s Beyond BlackHannu Poutiainen (Tampere University, Finland)Part Three. SECRECY, POSTCOLONIALISM AND DEMOCRACY10. Shame and the idea of community in Ian Holding’s Of Beasts and Beings and What Happened to UsMike Marais (Rhodes University, South Africa)11. ‘Whilst our souls negotiate': Secrets and secrecy in Jonathan Franzen’s PurityJesús Blanco Hidalga (University of Córdoba, Spain)12. Conversing with spectres: Secrets and ghosts in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The RefugeesKim L. Worthington (Massey University, New Zealand)Index

The secret as index of ineradicable opacity rather than hidden knowledge to be disclosed; the forms of community that come from honoring the singularity and inviolability of others; and literature as an especially revelatory location for both of these operations – these are among the insights provided by this well-conceived, eclectic collection. Secrecy and Community highlights the urgency of recasting our sense of the present through the medium of Derrida’s late work. It is an impressive and moving achievement, and a welcome addition to contemporary thought.