Contemporary Literature and the End of the Novel

This book explores the paradoxical productivity of the idea of the end of the novel in contemporary fiction. It shows how this idea allows some of our most significant twenty-first century writers to re-imagine the ethics and politics of literature and to figure intractable forms of life and affect.

Introduction: After-Affects 1. Persistent Affect (Tom McCarthy, David Shields, Lars Iyer) 2. Abandoned Creatures (J.M. Coetzee) 3. Cosmopolitan Dissociation (Teju Cole) 4. Epic Failures (Dana Spiotta, Hari Kunzru, Russell Banks) Coda: The Descent of the Novel (James Meek) Notes Works Cited Index