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States of Exception in the Contemporary Novel: Martel, Eugenides, Coetzee, Sebald

States of Exception in the Contemporary Novel: Martel, Eugenides, Coetzee, Sebald

Paperback

Literary Criticism

ISBN10: 1623569524
ISBN13: 9781623569525
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: Nov 21 2013
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.46
Height: 0.38 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English

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: Martel's Life of Pi, Eugenides' Middlesex, Coetzee's Disgrace, and Sebald's Austerlitz.

De Boever's 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 today's planetary state of exception.

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