Forms of Modernist Fiction: Reading the Novel from James Joyce to Tom Mccarthy

Modernist novelists' formal innovations continue to resonate today, emphasizing the importance of attention to formal features for appreciating their achievements and understanding their impact on the history of the novel. Ulysses is highlighted for its formal invention and inspiration for later writers, exploring themes such as content-form separation, linguistic boundary transgression, rule defiance, realist techniques for presenting the unreal, political significance of literary form, and the relationship between formal innovation and affect.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 31 August 2023
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

The formal innovations of modernist novelists have had a lasting impact on the present day, not just as a matter of imitation but also as a catalyst for further innovation. This book focuses on the reader's experience in engaging with a selection of these works from around the globe, arguing that a rigorous attention to formal features is essential in appreciating their achievement and understanding the impact of the early modernists on the history of the novel. One of the key works explored is James Joyce's Ulysses, which is celebrated for its feats of formal invention and its inspiration for many later writers. The book examines various aspects of modernist writing, including the separation of content and form, the transgression of linguistic boundaries, the defiance of lexical and syntactic rules, the deployment of realist techniques to present the unreal, the political significance of literary form, and the relationship between formal innovation and affect.

Weight: 568g
Dimension: 242 x 160 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399512459