RECONSTRUCTING THE FAMILY IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN FICTION - STUDIES ON THEMES AND MOTIFS IN LITERATURE 6

DESMOND F. MCCARTHY

ISBN 10: 0820442666 / ISBN 13: 9780820442662

Published by Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers, 1998

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: RECONSTRUCTING THE FAMILY IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN FICTION - STUDIES ON THEMES AND MOTIFS IN LITERATURE 6
• Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0820442666
• ISBN 13: 9780820442662
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Brand New

About this title

Synopsis

The prevalence of alternative families in contemporary American fiction is significant given the concern and confusion precipitated by the decline in traditional nuclear families in recent decades. John Irving's The World According to Garp, Alice Walker's The Color Purple, and E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime contain compelling utopian depictions of alternative families that are more egalitarian than traditional nuclear families. John Updike's Rabbit, Run and Rabbit Redux are interesting counterpoints to the optimistic novels of Irving, Walker, and Doctorow. Although Updike depicts the traditional nuclear family as the site of considerable ennui and unhappiness, attempts to flee or reconstruct the family in his novels are staggeringly destructive.

About the Author

The Author: Desmond F. McCarthy is an assistant professor of English at Framingham State College in Massachusetts. He received his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Brandeis University and has taught at Brandeis and Northeastern universities and at Simmons College.