American Fiction Research Articles

Then, Now, Later, Always

Abstract Considered here are two recent monographs and an essay collection that constitute evidence of a contemporary boom in both historical fiction and critical consideration thereof. In response to Alexander Manshel’s Writing Backwards, Alexandra Lawrie’s Writing the Past in Twenty-First Century American Fiction, and Historical Fiction Now, edited by Mark Eaton and Bruce Holsinger, this essay mediates between competing definitions of the historical and the contemporary proffered by the three works examined, before taking up Manshel’s argument that the ascendancy of historical fiction and the belated canonization of African American authors are not merely coincident. In so doing, this essay posits that a publishing ecosystem increasingly set on framing fictionalized histories of racial trauma as salutary learning experiences may in fact offer (white) readers the opposite—a comforting dislocation of unresolved traumas and complicities into the safety of the past.

Asian American Fiction after 1965: Transnational Fictions of Economic Mobility. Christopher T. Fan

Asian American Fiction after 1965: Transnational Fictions of Economic Mobility. Christopher T. Fan

Revisiting Mary Davys’s Familiar Letters Betwixt a Gentleman and a Lady

ABSTRACT Hamish John Wood’s discovery of a 1718 publication of Familiar Letters Betwixt a Gentleman and a Lady by Mary Davys confirms my speculation that the novel was actually composed in 1716–1718, although as far as we knew, it had not been published until its inclusion in The Works of Mrs. Davys (1725). Because this earlier publication appeared pseudonymously under a different title, Love and Friendship by “little Dick Fisher”, it was well hidden in the mid-1990s when my research for the Kentucky edition of three of Davys’s novels was under way. This critical piece of evidence in Davys’s sparsely documented writing life supports the argument that novel faces backwards and forwards, between her attempts to establish herself as a political and social commentator in London after the successful performance of The Northern Heiress, and her move to Cambridge to open a coffeehouse. Pivoting between past and future, the text reflects both the satirical writing of the capital and the mature novels of her later period: it is both an unsatisfactory novel, without the usual framing devices of the epistolary form or the satisfactory conclusion of amatory fiction, and a witty political commentary that presents a weak, unsteady male Tory and a resolved, clear-eyed female Whig.

Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction by Karolina Krasuska (review)

Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction by Karolina Krasuska (review)

Fragmented Histories: The Historiographic Metafiction of Walter Abish’s “Ardor/Awe/Atrocity”

Walter Abish's “Ardor/Awe/Atrocity” (1977) emerges as a significant narrative that intricately explores themes of memory, trauma, and the fragmentation of history, all articulated through the perspective of the character Jane. Jane's experiences within the narrative serve as a vital framework for interrogating the far-reaching themes inherent in historiographic metafiction, a defining characteristic of postmodern literature. This article examines Jane’s journey as a reflection of the fragmented and subjective nature of historical representation, emphasizing how Abish critiques linear historical discourse while engaging with postmodernism’s skepticism towards grand narratives. Through the employment of techniques such as narrative disjunction, unreliable memory, and the blending of fact with fiction, Abish uses Jane’s fragmented narrative to examine the uncertainties surrounding historical representation and identity formation. This analysis situates these themes within the broader discourse of postmodern American fiction, demonstrating the ways in which Abish's work challenges conventional understandings of history and narrative.

The Efflorescence of ‘Tree of Life’ in ‘Wasteland’: A Critical Study of Post-War American Fiction

The Efflorescence of ‘Tree of Life’ in ‘Wasteland’: A Critical Study of Post-War American Fiction

Both Critic and Not: A Case Study of David Foster Wallace’s Literary Reviews and Essays

Abstract While often described as a significant part of David Foster Wallace’s contribution to American culture, his essays highlight some of the author’s principles and values when it comes to American fiction, entertainment and the general status quo of American society in the 1990s and 2000s. There are several essays where Wallace discusses literary works, from Franz Kafka and Zbigniew Herbert to John Updike and Cormac McCarthy, as well as essays based on the evolution of American fiction at the turn of the millennium. Based on a selected corpus of essays from three of his essay collections – A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, Consider the Lobster and Both Flesh and Not – the purpose of the paper is to highlight and discuss the ways in which Wallace analyses and understands literature not just as a writer, but also as an essayist and reviewer.

Transparent Citizenship: The Racialization of Privacy in Post–World War II Japanese American Fiction

Written in the wake of the Japanese incarceration and the emergence of new Cold War discourses around race, privacy, and democracy, Hisaye Yamamoto’s and John Okada’s works mark a shift from the specific targeting of Japanese Americans as individuals whose citizenship was contingent upon enforced transparency to the broader suspicion of the more generalized “Oriental” as a figure whose opacity becomes an excuse for racialized surveillance and policing in the name of national security. As formerly interned or imprisoned individuals, Yamamoto’s and Okada’s protagonists begin their stories already understanding the contingency of their right to privacy and the expectations of transparency that attend their reentry into the mainstream of US society. This article argues that Yamamoto’s and Okada’s depictions of this transparent citizenship not only critique the limitations and burdens of proof that it places on racialized (and otherwise minoritized) individuals, but also articulate ways to think differently about citizenship itself. What if US citizenship were understood as a formation that did not fetishize the role of individual agency in the process of self-determination? What if the goal of transparency was not to expose or condemn the individual but to better illuminate the parts that individuals play in the construction of our society, and the complexity of their connections to others? And how might transparent citizenship be reconceptualized to empower, rather than infantilize, citizens vis-à-vis the state, by giving us information we might need to imagine and remake the power dynamics of this relationship?

Decoding Fictional Journalism: A Diary-Interview Approach to Uncovering Flemish Audience Interpretations of Journalism in Fiction

ABSTRACT Employing a diary-interview method, this study delved into how Flemish audiences make sense of fictional journalism series originating from various production contexts. Initially, it corroborated the prevalence of an overarching journalism discourse largely influenced by American fiction but extending to non-American narratives. However, participants’ engagement with this discourse did not exclude critical evaluation. They notably differentiated between American and European journalism fiction, viewing the latter as less sensationalized and more nuanced. Moreover, the interpretation of the series varied significantly based on participants’ media profiles. Consequently, the series tended to reinforce pre-existing opinions rather than catalyze change. Despite this tendency, participants did note a shift in their perspectives upon exposure to behind-the-scenes footage, prompting a more critical stance toward news coverage while also fostering a deeper appreciation for the challenges inherent in the profession. This study shed light on culturally diverse journalistic discourses in Flanders and their role in shaping Flemish journalistic discourse. It highlights a dynamic interaction between the narratives presented in fiction and the media profiles of their audiences. In a journalistic environment marked by declining trust and accusations of bias, locally produced fiction emerges as a vital force in shaping both existing and new journalistic discourses.

Out of Her Mother’s House: Matrilineal Heritage from Othermothering and Sisterhood in Chinese American Fiction

This article seeks to examine the representation of othermothering and sisterhood in Chinese American fiction. Effort is made to investigate the different forms of othermothering and sisterhood in the selected mother-daughter narrative texts, with particular focus on how women, when out of “her mother’s house”, empower each other and collaboratively preserve the matrilineal heritage and how women’s identity negotiation is facilitated by such matrilineal heritage in diverse socio-cultural contexts.

The Lofty American Dream And The Gloomy Nightmarish Reality In Pre-War American Fiction

The Lofty American Dream And The Gloomy Nightmarish Reality In Pre-War American Fiction

“Ghostly revenants”: The soundscape of pain and memory in Afghan American fiction

ABSTRACT This article examines Jamil Jan Kochai’s novel, 99 Nights in Logar, and selected stories from his short story collection, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak, and argues that Kochai’s fiction indicates the various ways the Afghan American characters work through their intractable memories and disarticulations. Kochai’s fiction is autobiographical in nature; it fictionalizes the lived experiences of his close family members and focuses on the quotidian and domestic sphere to foreground the presence of multiple absences in their everyday lives. Therefore, thinking through Martin Daughtry’s notion of “sonic violence” in conjunction with Marianne Hirsch’s notion of “ghostly revenants” and Michael Rothberg’s “implicated subject”, this article demonstrates that these absences often take the form of a phantom pain and various embodied hauntings. These hauntings push the characters to compulsively repeat, re-enact, and return to the space of the origin of their pain – a space that has become a necro-soundscape.

Dreams and Disillusionment: A Critique of the American Dream in American Fiction

This paper examines the vanity and consequences of the American Dream in four novels: Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Jack London's The Iron Heel, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. A socio-political analysis of these authors and their works exposes the hollow nature of the dream. The Jungle is discussed from a racial and economic perspective, highlighting the plight of Jurgis and his Lithuanian family who are disillusioned in their pursuit of success. The Iron Heel is examined politically, showcasing the struggle between the capitalist class and workers. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald presents a social satire, critiquing the death of American ideals sacrificed for materialism. The Grapes of Wrath analyzes the American Dream through the Joad family's migration and exploitation. The study compares the treatment of the American Dream in these novels, referencing texts, socio-economic contexts, and relevant critical works.

The Information Isolation Trope: Isolation, Infection, and Information Silos in Early American Literature

Many early American novels feature at least one character who becomes physically isolated, is restricted access to communication, becomes ill, spreads their sickness, and then either dies or becomes permanently disabled. This repeated pattern of isolation, infection, information, and death/disability underscores just how concerned early Americans were with the potentially harmful effects of information silos. The concern with information siloing, at first glance, seems anachronistic to early America. Eli Pariser popularized the concept of a “filter bubble” in 2011 when lamenting the many ways that algorithms create echo chambers and political fragmentation. While this essay concurs that content-recommendation bubbles are exacerbated by new media technologies, early American novels suggest that people have been worrying about the regulation and isolation of information since the dawn of the new republic. Early American novels—particularly those published between 1789 and 1815—are often read as seduction narratives, didactic narratives, or both; this article argues that attending to this pattern offers a new way of reading early American fiction that underscores just how concerned readers and writers were with the potentially harmful effects of information silos and the regulation of information on the body, the body politic, and public health.

Affect and the (Un)Doing of Trust in 20th and21st Century Black and Asian American Fiction and Nonfiction

Affect and the (Un)Doing of Trust in 20th and21st Century Black and Asian American Fiction and Nonfiction

Losing the West, Finding Western Worlds

Abstract “Losing the West, Finding Western Worlds” explores how recent critical work in Western American studies breaks apart the region’s foundational myths and invites readers and reviewers to revise understandings of this popular, enduring, and protean genre. Reflecting on four studies that interrogate Western American fiction, film, and comic books (two monographs by British scholars Mark Asquith and Neil Campbell; a study of the Black Western by film historian Mia Mask; and a collection of essays edited by Christopher Conway and Antoinette Sol on varieties of comic book westerns produced around the world), the essay considers how this diverse cohort of scholars pursues a common imperative to unlearn “the West” and sets new directions for literary and cultural studies of the region. Through rereadings of the work of writers and actors who fracture and reassemble the heroic settler narrative from the perspective of outsiders, these critics contend, the West can emerge as a place whose stories offer more complete understandings of the past, whose heroes illuminate the political challenges of the present, and whose writers provide the right words for imagining a better future.

“A Western Outpost of the Punjab”

By forcefully inserting itself within the landscape and history of California, “near the confluence of the Feather and Sacramento rivers” in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Bhira Backhaus’s Under the Lemon Trees (2009) moves beyond the common tropes of Asian American fictions in which memory is invoked primarily in terms of nostalgia or loss, to emplace itself within the very specific geographical locale and physical landscape of the small town of Oak Grove in northern California (48). The text adopts an emphatically regional frame as a strategic move to stake a claim to inclusion within the body politic of the nation through filiations to the land that have been forged by living in close proximity with it—working the soil, learning its many qualities, and becoming conversant with seasonal rhythms. In doing so, Under the Lemon Trees gestures to more-than-human kinship structures and a sense of place that transcends institutional taxonomies of “citizen” and “immigrant” alike.

‘It's all there in the language’—a conversation with Garrett Stewart

AbstractWhat does a famed literary theorist have to say about the interaction between ‘literature’ and ‘philosophy’? Well, if he's Garrett Stewart, the celebrated agent of pyrotechnic style in the service of durable insights across disparate disciplines and media, then we have much reason to lean in and listen. Stewart is the author of 20 books that range with uncanny competency across Victorian narrative, contemporary American fiction, written auralities, poetics and prose stylistics, cinematic evolution from silver oxide to screen pixel, book art, scenes of reading in painting, and most recently, the vocal drama of Barbra Streisand. The distances between his disciplinary terrains are as vast as his close readings of them are coordinated and trenchant. Here, sitting down before a shared conversational canvas, Stewart fields questions from David LaRocca, who asks how he, if he, thinks about the program of literature and philosophy. LaRocca, editor of the recent Attention Spans: Garrett Stewart, a Reader (Bloomsbury, 2024) and the forthcoming Bandwidths: Reading Across Media with Garrett Stewart (Bloomsbury), tracks the urgency of our moment—in which literature and philosophy are independently besieged and yet may concede little rapprochement. Where does philosophy happen in literature (a philosopher's question) is turned around by Stewart such that we see literature conjuring philosophy at the level of the sentence. We are not peering ‘in’ so much as looking ‘at’ the art of literature teaching philosophy through refined reading and the analytical inquest of the syllable and the sayable. Anyone who works at the fraught fissure of these realms will benefit from the ways Stewart makes literature and philosophy sensible to one another—even as he productively unsettles the terms and conditions of their affiliation.

Creators and Created Beings in Twentieth-Century Latin American Fiction: Creating Questions by Amy Frazier-Yoder (review)

Creators and Created Beings in Twentieth-Century Latin American Fiction: Creating Questions by Amy Frazier-Yoder (review)

The Strong Black Women of the film American Fiction: An Exploration Using the Africana Media Representations Quadrants Model

The Strong Black Women of the film American Fiction: An Exploration Using the Africana Media Representations Quadrants Model