Bielefeld, : transcript Verlag, 2016

9783839436615

3839436613

1 online resource (211 pages)

Lettre

818/.54

Literature

Culture

U.S.A

Postmodernism

Postirony

Irony

David Foster Wallace

Dave Eggers

Nonfiction

Sincerity

American Studies

British Studies

General Literature Studies

Cultural Studies

Literary Studies

Inglese

Includes bibliographical references.

Frontmatter    1 Contents    5 Acknowledgements    8 Introduction    9 Postirony - Conceptualizing an Idea    37 Reading the Postironic - Audience, Narrator, and Metalepsis    65 Dave Eggers - Living the Postironic    89 David Foster Wallace - Hope and Despair; The Postironic Condition    127 A Second Generation Emerges    175 Conclusion    191 Works Cited    201

What is 'postirony'? Foremost, it is a response to the ironic zeitgeist. Moreover, it is the key to understanding a specific form of literature. The contemporary reader is familiar with and – unfortunately – used to postmodernism's ironic, self-reflexive metafiction. Authors like David Foster Wallace and Dave Eggers chose a different path: Despite the reign of contemporary irony, they strive to reach the reader on a level beyond, cognitively as well as emotionally – they claim to be sincere and true. Focusing largely on nonfiction by said authors, Lukas Hoffmann explores the means the texts use to achieve something new – namely, a new form of sincerity.

Besprochen in:The Year's Work in English Studies, 98 (2019)