Free Download Kathryn Hume, "Aggressive Fictions: Reading the Contemporary American Novel"
English | ISBN: 0801450012 | 2012 | 216 pages | PDF | 817 KB
A frequent complaint against contemporary American fiction is that too often it puts off readers in ways they find difficult to fathom. Books such as Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho, Katherine Dunn's Geek Love, and Don DeLillo's Underworld seem determined to upset, disgust, or annoy their readers―or to disorient them by shunning traditional Description patterns and character development. Kathryn Hume calls such works "aggressive fiction." Why would authors risk alienating their readers―and why should readers persevere? Looking beyond the theory-based justifications that critics often provide for such fiction, Hume offers a commonsense guide for the average reader who wants to better understand and appreciate books that might otherwise seem difficult to enjoy.