The Contemporary Fantastic - by Amanda Vredenburgh (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book examines the emancipatory and reparative functions of the literary fantastic in contemporary French fiction. Vredenburgh analyzes the selected authors' innovative understanding of the environmental crisis, racism, migration, and the formation of egalitarian communities.

Book Synopsis

In The Contemporary Fantastic: Reimagining Reality in French Fiction, Amanda Vredenburgh identifies a contemporary shift in the use of fantastic modalities in French fiction, no longer dominated by the desire to escape the disappointments of reality nor the reader's hesitation about the reality of the novel's events, but by its innovative confrontation with the real. What could bizarre, uncanny, or supernatural literary representations have to tell us about very urgent, real issues like the environmental crisis, racism, migration, and the formation of egalitarian communities? Through close readings of a selection of novels by Marie Darrieussecq, Marie NDiaye, and Antoine Volodine, Vredenburgh argues that the ability to blur boundaries gives the fantastic both an emancipatory and reparative function in its engagement with contemporary political issues. These authors complicate categories such as human/nonhuman, French/foreign, inclusion/exclusion, and individual/community and shift the focus to the experiential and affective dimensions of these issues, ultimately allowing us to better think and feel with those that are excluded. Vredenburgh concludes that this use of the fantastic has a specific ethical stance, which encourages a community-based approach founded on compassion and inclusion.

Review Quotes

"[T]he compelling argument of Vredenburgh in this groundbreaking analysis of three prominent French authors ... delves into each author separately, highlighting their disruption of conceptual categories and use of the fantastic to reshape our collective imagery... Highly recommended [for] advanced undergraduates through faculty." --CHOICE

About the Author

Amanda Vredenburgh is assistant professor of French at the University of Houston.