American maximalist fiction between global and local knowledge ¿ Richard Powers, David Foster Wallace, and the novel of information.

In an effort to analyze the "post-postmodern" tendency in contemporary American fiction, this research project focuses on the writings of Richard Powers and David Foster Wallace. Convinced that irony is not the only adequate response to the loss of all Grand Narratives (Lyotard), both authors posit the novel form as a way to confront the postmodern solipsism of their literary predecessors. Contrary to the fragmentary and overly self-referential texts of such canonical authors as Donald Barthelme or John Barth, Powers and Wallace want to narrativize information in such a way that local knowledge can still be represented in a tentative global model. A theoretical and (post-classical) narratological approach to their work is required to investigate how such a model can find its origin.

Keywords:AMERICAN LITERATURE

Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies, Theory and methodology of language studies, Theory and methodology of linguistics, Theory and methodology of literary studies, Other languages and literary studies