Overview
- Studies work from a wide variety of well-known contemporary writers, from Ian McEwan to Margaret Atwood
- Argues that a new literary subgenre of the 'third culture novel' is emerging
- Reveals that a shift has taken place in the relations between science and the humanities
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine (PLSM)
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Table of contents (7 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This book identifies, in contemporary fiction, a new type of novel at the interface of science and the humanities, working from the premise that a shift has taken place in the relations between the two cultures in the last two or three decades. As popular science comes to assume an ever greater cultural significance, contemporary authors are engaging in new ways with ideas that it disseminates. A new literary phenomenon is emerging, in which the focus on language-based theories of the self and the world that has been predominant in the latter half of the previous century is making way for a renewed commitment to the material facts, both of human existence and the universe beyond subjectivity. The book analyses the work of Martin Amis, William Boyd, David Lodge, Richard Powers, Michel Houellebecq, Jonathan Franzen, Margaret Atwood, and Ian McEwan, revealing the ways in which these ‘third culture novels’ negotiate the relationship between literature and science.
Reviews
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Rachel Holland is Associate Lecturer in the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing at Lancaster University, UK.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Contemporary Fiction and Science from Amis to McEwan
Book Subtitle: The Third Culture Novel
Authors: Rachel Holland
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16375-4
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-16374-7Published: 08 May 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-16375-4Published: 26 April 2019
Series ISSN: 2634-6435
Series E-ISSN: 2634-6443
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 211
Topics: Contemporary Literature, Twentieth-Century Literature, Fiction