States of Exception in the Contemporary Novel (el. knyga) (skaityta knyga) | knygos.lt

Aprašymas

In the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks, the political situation in both the United States and abroad has often been described as a state of exception: an emergency situation in which the normal rule of law is suspended. In such a situation, the need for good decisions is felt ever more strongly. This book investigates the aesthetics, ethics, and politics of various decisions represented in novels published around 9/11: Martels Life of Pi, Eugenides Middlesex, Coetzees Disgrace, and Sebalds Austerlitz. De Boevers readings of the novels revolve around what he calls the aesthetic decision. Which aesthetics do the characters and narrators in the novels adopt in a situation of crisis? How do these aesthetic decisions relate to the ethical and political decisions represented in the novels? What can they reveal about real-life ethical and political decisions? This book uncovers the politics of allegory, autobiography, focalization, and montage in todays planetary state of exception.