Fredric Jameson and American postmodern literature: possibility and containment. Issue 4 (7th June 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cogle, Jarrad
• Is Part Of: Textual practice. Volume 31:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 687
• Page End: 706
• Publication Date: 2017-06-07
• Subjects: Fredric Jameson -- postmodernism -- American postmodern literature -- cultural studies -- critical theory; Literature, Modern -- 20th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Criticism -- Periodicals; Criticism, Textual -- Periodicals; Semiotics -- Periodicals; 801.95
• DOI: 10.1080/0950236X.2016.1187665
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-236X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this essay will be to delineate how Jameson has positioned certain American postmodern novels throughout his career, and how the restrictions he has placed on them have denied a range of interpretive possibilities. Through a consideration of specific types of textual interpretation overlooked in Jameson, we are able to investigate the ways in which his categorisation of postmodernity becomes circumscribed in interesting and illuminating ways. Despite a rarity of close readings, there are a number of brief, instructive comments on postmodern literature in Jameson's body of work. In considering these types of references, to authors such as Pynchon and others, it becomes obvious the extent to which Jameson's personal preference mirrors the way the texts are allowed to function. Through this analysis, it is also possible to see how a reconfiguration of some elements in Jameson's postmodern work may still be useful for contemporary criticism that seeks to widen the scope for readings of American postwar literature.