Historical dictionary of postmodernist literature and theater / Fran Mason.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Postmodernist literature embraces a wide range of forms and perspectives, including texts that are primarily self-reflexive; texts that use pastiche, burlesque, parody, intertextuality and hybrid forms to create textual realities that either run in opposition to or in parallel with an external reality; fabulations that develop both of these strategies; texts that ironize their relationship to reality; works that use the aspects already noted to more fully engage with political or cultural realities; texts that deal with history as a fiction; and texts that elude categorization even within the variety already explored. For example, in fiction, a postmodernist novel might tell a story about a writer struggling with writing (only, perhaps, to find that he is a character in a book by another writer struggling to write a book). The Historical Dictionary of Postmodernist Literature and Theater examines the different areas of postmodernist literature and the variety of forms that have been produced. This is accomplished through a list of acronyms, a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and several hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries on individual postmodernist writers, the important postmodernist aesthetic practices, significant texts produced throughout the history of postmodernist writing, and important movements and ideas that have created a variety of literary approaches within the form. By placing these concerns within the historical, philosophical, and cultural contexts of postmodernism, this reference explores the frameworks within which postmodernist literature of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century operates.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Mason (film studies, Univ. of Winchester, UK) intends his dictionary of several hundred entries to include "writers, movements, forms of writing and textual strategies, critical ideas, and texts that are significant in relation to postmodernist literature." He further adds scholars, journals, and cultural processes "where these are felt to be relevant to an understanding of postmodernist writing." The introductory essay on postmodernism provides a comprehensive overview and gives the reader a lucid understanding of this elliptical literary development. Students and scholars alike will quickly find definitions to such terms as "hyperfiction," "blank fiction," and "the death of originality"; they will easily locate any number of important authors, e.g., A.S. Byatt or Thomas Pynchon, and learn about their styles and techniques. Where seminal titles such as Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose and Gabriel Garc!a M rquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude are listed, concise articles expound on their place in postmodernist literature. The extensive bibliography is broken down into categories for theory, aesthetics, culture, media, and other subjects. A chronology from 1939 to 2006 highlights the dates of important developments in postmodernist literature and theater, while the highlighted cross-reference feature allows users to find more information on the topic (e.g., "Black Mountain Poets" leads to entries on Robert Creeley and Charles Olson). Bottom Line Mason has written a handy and useful reference tool appropriate for college and university libraries.-Lisa Flanzraich, Queens Coll. Lib., CUNY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

This significantly expanded second edition (1st ed., 2007) continues to build a bold framework for exploring the highly debated, complex, evolving literary movement of postmodernism. In addition to over 400 cross-referenced and alphabetically arranged entries, the volume includes an excellent introduction, a chronology of significant dates and literary works from 1939 to 2015, a handy list of acronyms, and an extensive, updated 75-page bibliography. The rewarding and informative 25-page introduction offers an unusually nuanced survey of the complexities of the field in providing multiple meanings of the term "postmodernism" related to cultural production, poststructuralist theories, and aesthetic approaches. While continuing to focus on individual writers, trends, stylistic forms, critical ideas, and texts significant to postmodernism, including important scholars, journals, and cultural influences, Mason (Univ. of Winchester, UK) has supplemented the present edition with the names of writers who have recently emerged, consolidated their reputation, or become better known or influential. The addition at the end of a larger number of references and entries related to worldwide postmodernist literature reflects the increasing availability of English translations of important works. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All libraries. All levels. --Karen Rosneck, University of Wisconsin--Madison