Writing Backwards

Writing Backwards
Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Total Pages : 173
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780231558822
ISBN-13 : 0231558821
Rating : 4/5 (821 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Writing Backwards by : Alexander Manshel

Download or read book Writing Backwards written by Alexander Manshel and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2023-11-21 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary fiction has never been less contemporary. Midcentury writers tended to set their works in their own moment, but for the last several decades critical acclaim and attention have fixated on historical fiction. This shift is particularly dramatic for writers of color. Even as the literary canon has become more diverse, cultural institutions have celebrated Black, Asian American, Latinx, and Indigenous novelists almost exclusively for their historical fiction. Writing Backwards explores what the dominance of historical fiction in the contemporary canon reveals about American literary culture. Alexander Manshel investigates the most celebrated historical genres—contemporary narratives of slavery, the World War II novel, the multigenerational family saga, immigrant fiction, and the novel of recent history—alongside the literary and academic institutions that have elevated them. He examines novels by writers including Toni Morrison, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Colson Whitehead, Julia Alvarez, Leslie Marmon Silko, Michael Chabon, Julie Otsuka, Yaa Gyasi, Ben Lerner, and Tommy Orange in the context of MFA programs, literary prizes, university syllabi, book clubs, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Manshel studies how historical fiction has evolved over the last half century, documenting the formation of the newly inclusive literary canon as well as who and what it still excludes. Offering new insight into how institutions shape literature and the limits of historical memory, Writing Backwards also considers recent challenges to the historical turn in American fiction.


Writing Backwards Related Books

Writing Backwards
Language: en
Pages: 173
Authors: Alexander Manshel
Categories: Literary Criticism
Type: BOOK - Published: 2023-11-21 - Publisher: Columbia University Press

GET EBOOK

Contemporary fiction has never been less contemporary. Midcentury writers tended to set their works in their own moment, but for the last several decades critic
The Namer of Spirits
Language: en
Pages: 301
Authors: Todd Mitchell
Categories: Juvenile Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-10-05 - Publisher: Owl Hollow Press

GET EBOOK

“A dangerous town carved out of unforgiving forest, a young girl who can name spirits and tame monsters, a race against time to save the natural world: The Na
Follow Follow
Language: en
Pages: 34
Authors: Marilyn Singer
Categories: Juvenile Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-02-07 - Publisher: Penguin

GET EBOOK

Now one of Booklist's 30 Best Books of the Year! "Genius!" – Wired.com “Marilyn Singer's verse in Follow Follow practically dances down each page . . . the
Paranormal Warwickshire
Language: en
Pages: 172
Authors: S. C. Skillman
Categories: Body, Mind & Spirit
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-11-15 - Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited

GET EBOOK

Takes the reader into the world of ghosts and spirits in Warwickshire, following their footsteps into the unknown.
Praying Backwards
Language: en
Pages: 196
Authors: Bryan Chapell
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2005-07-01 - Publisher: Baker Books

GET EBOOK

Christians often say, "In Jesus' name" to close their prayers. But is this truly a desire of the heart or a perfunctory "Yours Truly" to God? Bryan Chapell says