Obscure invitations [[electronic resource] ] : the persistence of the author in twentieth-century American literature / / Benjamin Widiss

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910457163703321
• Autore: Widiss Benjamin Leigh
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Stanford, Calif., : Stanford University Press, 2011
• ISBN: 0-8047-8068-4
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (222 p.)
• Disciplina: 810.9/005
• Soggetti: American literature - 20th century - History and criticism; Authorship in literature; Authorship - History - 20th century; Authors and readers - History - 20th century; Electronic books.
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Fit and surfeit : As I lay dying (seesawing) -- You know me, Alice : The autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (driving) -- See monkey, do monkey : Lolita (aping) -- The gospel according to Dave : A heartbreaking work of staggering genius (imbibing) -- The death of Kevin Spacey : Seven and The usual suspects (envisioning).
• Sommario/riassunto: Literary studies in the postwar era have consistently barred attributing specific intentions to authors based on textual evidence or ascribing textual presences to the authors themselves. Obscure Invitations argues that this taboo has blinded us to fundamental elements of twentieth-century literature. Widiss focuses on the particularly self-conscious constructions of authorship that characterize modernist and postmodernist writing, elaborating the narrative strategies they demand and the reading practices they yield. He reveals that apparent manifestations of ""the death of the aut