American Studies after Postmodernism

✍ Scribed by Theodora Tsimpouki, Konstantinos Blatanis, Angeliki Tseti

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2023
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 340
• Series: Renewing the American Narrative
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book explores the major challenges that the long-standing and diversely debated demise of postmodernism signifies for American literature, art, culture, history, and politics, in the present, third decade of the twenty-first century. Its scope comprises a vigorous discussion of all these diverse fields undertaken by distinguished scholars as well as junior researchers, U.S. Americanists and European Americanists alike. Focusing on socio-political and cultural developments in the contemporary U.S., their contributions highlight the interconnectedness of the geopolitical, economic, environmental and technological crises that define the historical present on global scale.

Chapter 16 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

✦ Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
1 Introduction: American Studies after Postmodernism
References
2 The Last Word: Writing in a Time of Emergency
References
Part I A Moment of Exigency
3 Post-2020 Vision: The Alternative Universes of Future U.S. Election Campaigns
Post Insurrection America
Postmodern Politics?
Realignment and Alternative Political Universes
Democratic Demographic Determinism
Republican Retrenchment
Reviewing Realignment
Significant Changes in the Population
Changes in the Conduct of Elections and Politics
A New “Big Issue”
Long-Term Erosion of Previous Electoral Coalitions
A Critical Election (or Series of Elections)
Leadership in the Future?
Whose Opportunity?
References
4 Studying America (photographically): From Walker Evans to Taryn Simon
References
5 Sustainable American Studies: Intermedial Approaches to Climate Change
Climate Change and Sustainable American Studies
Theorizing Sustainable American Studies
Organizational Practice: Mapping and Grounding in American Studies
Joseph Beuys and the Place of Sustainable American Studies
Performance: BEUYS-LAND
Outreach: TOPO BEUYS-LAND
Conclusion: Academic Realities in the Twenty-First Century
References
6 Posthuman(ist), Affective and Global Turns in Ecofiction and Ecocriticism: Philip Armstrong’s “Litter”
References
Part II Continuities
7 Postmodernist Latinx Literature in the 21st century? the Writings of Giannina Braschi
Cultural Hybridity and Postmodernism
Postmodernist Latinx Fiction
Giannina Braschi’s United States of Banana
References
8 Intersectionally Aware Urban Re-mappings of Self and Belonging after Postmodernism: Reading Angie Cruz’s Dominicana
Introduction: Intersectionally Aware Re-mappings of Urban Space After Postmodernism
Intersectionally Aware Re-mappings of Urban (Un)belonging in Angie Cruz’s Dominicana
By Way of Conclusion
References
9 Aspects of Mediation: Deceit, Desire, and Post-postmodernity in Paul Auster’s The Locked Room
Introduction
Girard’s Mediated Desire and The Locked Room
The Locked Room and the Post-postmodern Moment: From Girard’s Mediated Desire to Contemporary Media—Co-constituted Selfhood
References
10 Juxtaposing Postmodernist and Classic Narratives in New Literacies: The Case of Role-Playing Games
The Ongoing Cultural Impact of Tabletop Role-Playing Games
TRPG Narratives: A Process of Conflict and Negotiation
TRPGs as a Reflection of Dominant Culture
TRPGs as a Postmodern Artifact
Inherent Game Design Elements
Inherent Elements of Emergent Narratives
The Post-postmodern Aspect: Establishing New Narratives
Conclusions
References
Part III 21st Century Tropisms
11 The Metamodernist Epiphanies of Daytripper
1.
2.
3.
References
12 Transcultural with a Twist: Reading Americanah Contrapuntally
References
13 The American Photo-Novel in the 21st century: Familial Ties and Historical Kinship in Emma Donoghue’s Akin
“The Law of Closure”: Workings of the Photo-Novel
“Roots and Routes”: Family Ties, Historical Kinship
In Lieu of a Conclusion
References
14 Literary Translingualism in the 21st century: Mobilizing Affect Through Language
Affective Experiences: Penkov’s and Hemon’s Translingual Writing
Affective Language in Penkov’s and Hemon’s Translingual Writing
Conclusion
References
15 Electronic Literature at the Dawn of the 21st century: The Case of Reiner Strasser and M.D. Coverley’s ii-in the white darkness: about [the fragility of] memory
Introduction
Clicking on Pulsing Dots
Creating with Flash: The Affordances and Constraints of a Software
Final Thoughts
References
16 Paradigms of Cyberculturalism in Post-postmodernity
Introduction
Paradigm One: Artificial Intelligence, Multimediality and Twitterature
Paradigm Two: Omnipresence of Social Media
Paradigm Three: Cybercommerce and Cryptocurrency
References
Index