Aggressive Fictions: Reading the Contemporary American Novel

Contents

Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xv Introduction: The Author-Reader Contract 1 1. Narrative Speed in Contemporary Fiction 14 The Terrible Twos, The Terrible Threes, John’s Wife, Bombardiers, Oreo, Microserfs, Negrophobia, The Ticket That Exploded, My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist 2. Modalities of Complaint 40 Portnoy’s Complaint, Don Quixote, Pussy, King of the Pirates, Mercy, The Color Purple, Donald Duk, Doctor Rat, My Year of Meats 3. Conjugations of the Grotesque 77 Geek Love, Invisible Monsters, The Adventures of Lucky Pierre, Towing Jehovah, Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World, Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles, Blood Meridian, and several speculative fictions viii Contents 4. Violence 115 Dark Property, The Road, American Psycho, Hogg, Frisk, Try, Blood and Guts in High School 5. Attacking the Reader’s Ontological Assumptions 141 Lying Awake, Fight Club, Ubik, House of Leaves, Against the Day Conclusion: Why Read Aggressive Fictions? 164 Notes 173 Bibliography 185 Index 195 ...