American Fiction in Transition

Adam Kelly is Lecturer in American Literature at the University of York, UK. He previously taught at Harvard University, where he was a postdoctoral fellow, and at University College Dublin. He is the author of American Fiction in Transition: Observer-Hero Narrative, the 1990s, and Postmodernism (Bloomsbury 2013), as well as numerous articles in edited collections and in journals including Twentieth-Century Literature, Studies in the Novel, Critique, and Philip Roth Studies.

The book evinces Kelly’s expertise at tracing the genealogy of a literary or theoretical field. His handling of Derrida is particularly impressive, aligning analysis of each novel with a relevant Derridean concept – secrecy, testimony, narcissism, and justice – whilst displaying a flair for synthesizing complex ideas without being reductive. Moreover, his close readings are assured, marrying extensive critical knowledge with original insights, and sophisticated yet lucid syntax. … In simultaneously attempting to define a literary genre, characterize a historical era, and posit theoretical developments ‘after’ postmodernism, Kelly is attempting to do a great deal in such a slender volume, and yet he handles his tripartite project with aplomb, abetted by his clear writing style and convincing methodology. On the whole, this ambitious book is an enlightening and challenging contribution to nascent studies of the 1990s, and of ‘post-’ postmodernism.

• 1. The 1990s, the Postmodern Subject, and the Problem of Agency / 2. Observer-Hero Narrative and American Literary History / 3. Tragedy, Secrecy, Narration: Philip Roth's The Human Stain / 4. Action and Testimony: Paul Auster's Leviathan / 5. Narcissism and Explanation: Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides / 6. Ethics and Justification: E. L. Doctorow's The Waterworks / 7. Conclusion: Agency, the Reader, and the Post-Postmodern / Bibliography / Index