Rachel Sykes is Associate Professor in Contemporary Literature and Culture at the University of Birmingham

'A stylishly written monograph that is packed with interesting readings of contemporary American novels.'The Cambridge Quarterly'The Quiet Contemporary American Novel urges us to consider "quiet" as a dynamic force and, indeed, by concluding with some of the more troubling aspects of quiet as represented in Cole and Lerner’s novels, it enacts that dynamic – propelling further, deeper contemplation.'European Journal of American Culture'In The Quiet Contemporary American Novel, Rachel Sykes boldly attempts to define and problematize a neglected area in the study of twenty-first-century American fiction […] Set within a large framework of two centuries of American culture, their well-researched monograph brings into focus nine contemporary novels […] as well as discussing the works of many other authors, from Thoreau, Melville and Hawthorne to Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Pynchon.'Transatlantica

• Introduction 1 The quiet novel2 ‘9/11’ and the aesthetic of noise in contemporary fiction 3 Quiet in time and narrative 4 The quiet novel of cognition5 The novel of ‘(dis)quiet’ConclusionBibliographyIndex

Rachel Sykes is Associate Professor in Contemporary Literature and Culture at the University of Birmingham

'A stylishly written monograph that is packed with interesting readings of contemporary American novels.'The Cambridge Quarterly'The Quiet Contemporary American Novel urges us to consider "quiet" as a dynamic force and, indeed, by concluding with some of the more troubling aspects of quiet as represented in Cole and Lerner’s novels, it enacts that dynamic – propelling further, deeper contemplation.'European Journal of American Culture'In The Quiet Contemporary American Novel, Rachel Sykes boldly attempts to define and problematize a neglected area in the study of twenty-first-century American fiction […] Set within a large framework of two centuries of American culture, their well-researched monograph brings into focus nine contemporary novels […] as well as discussing the works of many other authors, from Thoreau, Melville and Hawthorne to Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Pynchon.'Transatlantica

• Introduction 1 The quiet novel2 ‘9/11’ and the aesthetic of noise in contemporary fiction 3 Quiet in time and narrative 4 The quiet novel of cognition5 The novel of ‘(dis)quiet’ConclusionBibliographyIndex

Rachel Sykes is Associate Professor in Contemporary Literature and Culture at the University of Birmingham

'A stylishly written monograph that is packed with interesting readings of contemporary American novels.'The Cambridge Quarterly'The Quiet Contemporary American Novel urges us to consider "quiet" as a dynamic force and, indeed, by concluding with some of the more troubling aspects of quiet as represented in Cole and Lerner’s novels, it enacts that dynamic – propelling further, deeper contemplation.'European Journal of American Culture'In The Quiet Contemporary American Novel, Rachel Sykes boldly attempts to define and problematize a neglected area in the study of twenty-first-century American fiction […] Set within a large framework of two centuries of American culture, their well-researched monograph brings into focus nine contemporary novels […] as well as discussing the works of many other authors, from Thoreau, Melville and Hawthorne to Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Thomas Pynchon.'Transatlantica

• Introduction 1 The quiet novel2 ‘9/11’ and the aesthetic of noise in contemporary fiction 3 Quiet in time and narrative 4 The quiet novel of cognition5 The novel of ‘(dis)quiet’ConclusionBibliographyIndex