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Interrogating the Myth of Modernity: Cultural and Political Narratives in Robert Coover’s Fiction

This thesis explore the use of Cultural and Politcal narratives in Roberts Coover’s fiction. Coover’s writing questions the validity of the monolithic grand narratives within our society, and complicates the grand narrative by subverting its conventions with the comic and the erotic. The tone of the narrative, while often absurd or grotesque, offers distinctive insight into modern culture. In Coover’s work these themes meld with society’s libidinal urge for the absurd, the sexual, and the ritualized archaic. His characters are often faced with overt savagery and violence, but are also surrounded by high culture and idealism. In examining these notable works of Coover, spanning over fifteen years, patterns emerge throughout his oeuvre. The shifting of Cold War politics, the carnivalesque, theatrics, history, politics, and the exploration of metanarratives are present throughout these works. In navigating these cultural and political structures, Coover’s writing deconstructs these ideological concepts, and in turn both affirms and subverts them.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:vcu.edu/oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-5176
Date01 January 2016
CreatorsPettis, John P, Jr.
PublisherVCU Scholars Compass
Source SetsVirginia Commonwealth University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceTheses and Dissertations
Rights© The Author

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