Hyperbolic Realism - by Samir Sellami (Paperback)

About the Book

"A philosophically grounded exploration of the hyperbolic realism of Pynchon and Bolaäno within the broader context of modern literature and post-war maximalist writing"--

Book Synopsis

What comes after postmodernism in literature?

Hyperbolic Realism engages the contradiction that while it remains impossible to present a full picture of the world, assessing reality from a planetary perspective is now more than ever an ethical obligation for contemporary literature. The book thus examines the hyperbolic forms and features of Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day and Roberto Bolaño's 2666 - their discursive and material abundance, excessive fictionality, close intertwining of fantastic and historical genres, narrative doubt and spiraling uncertainty - which are deployed not as an escape from, but a plunge into reality. Faced with a reality in a permanent state of exception, Pynchon and Bolaño react to the excesses and distortions of the modern age with a new poetic and aesthetic paradigm that rejects both the naive illusion of a return to the real and the self-enclosed artificiality of classical postmodern writing: hyperbolic realism.

Review Quotes

Samir Sellami writes with brilliant clarity and makes difficult arguments easy to follow. Philosophers and critical theorists should study his techniques.
Kathryn Hume, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor Emerita of English, Pennsylvania State University, USA

About the Author

Samir Sellami is a literary critic from Berlin, Germany, and founding editor of the Berlin Review.