Bilton's study of early 20th Century American Culture interprets the anarchic absurdity of slapstick movies as a form of collective anxiety dream, their fantastical images and illogical gags bypassing rational thought to express the unconscious fears, wishes and concerns of the modern age. Silent film comedy, with its childlike love of the illogical, the destructive and the anti-social, seems to suggest a form of comic revolt against the mechanisation and the uniformity of the machine age, but the book also charts how a new consumer culture sought simultaneously to tame and contain these energies, redirecting them in the service of a newly emergent mass culture. Not just a film history of the silent era, Bilton also provides a provocative and lively engagement with the origins of mass culture, tracing the origins of Hollywood's dream factory and alongside it the roots of our own irrational, childlike, celebrity-obsessed consumer culture.

"A welcome addition to the often-bloated scholarship on literary postmodernism. . . . Bilton's command of the fiction and scholarship is impressive."
-- "Choice"

"Bilton offers a critical but accessible introduction to postmodernism in America, surveying the selected works of eight contemporary writers. . . . This is an intriguing if eclectic mix of authors."
--"Library Journal"

Don DeLillo, Paul Auster, Cormac McCarthy, Rolando Hinojosa, E. Annie Proulx, Bret Easton Ellis, Douglas Coupland, and Thomas Pynchon: An Introduction to Contemporary American Fiction introduces the work of a range of key American authors, all of whom can be said to engage with postmodernism. Exploring the vitality and energy of contemporary writing in light of pessimistic proclamations on the state of postmodern American culture, Bilton highlights the tension between "realistic" description and linguistic self-consciousness in contemporary fiction.

In addition, by addressing a central problem in literary theory--its neglect of literary discussion and the practice of reading--An Introduction to Contemporary American Fiction is able to present a working model for reading a text theoretically.

As an introductory text, it assumes no prior knowledge of the authors of the novels discussed. To encourage understanding and aid further study, the following features are included:

* GLOSSARY OF CRITICAL AND LITERARY TERMS
* BIBLIOGRAPHY OF EACH AUTHOR'S WORKS
* BIOGRAPHY OF EACH AUTHOR
* GUIDE TO FURTHER READING
* THEMATIC AND AUTHOR INDICES

As we approach twenty years since the end of the 1980s, we have the opportunity to see the decade in perspective, and are in a position to question the glib assumption that the 1980s were a mere conservative foil to the 1960s. The 1980s: A Critical and Transitional Decade, edited by Kimberly R. Moffitt and Duncan A. Campbell, places its topics within the context of a decade described as both critical and transitional because the 1980s, in many respects, marked the end of one era and the beginning of another. For example, the Reagan presidency, the end of the Cold War, MTV, and the appearance of the personal computer all reflect a legacy of political, cultural, and social transformation of the United States and the world, and took place specifically within the 1980s. The function of this interdisciplinary volume is not to simply highlight the significant phenomena of the period, but rather demonstrate how so many apparently disparate events were, in fact, closely inter-related and also products of their age. The 1980s is a holistic analysis of the decade that focuses on major turning points, developments in literature, art, entertainment, politics, and social experimentation. The 1980s: A Critical and Transitional Decade, edited by Kimberly R. Moffitt and Duncan A. Campbell is a groundbreaking and stand-alone introductory volume that is unapologetically interdisciplinary in nature and encourages students to explore topics of the decade often overlooked or grouped together with other, more memorable decades such as the 1920s or 1960s.

As we approach twenty years since the end of the 1980s, we have the opportunity to see the decade in perspective, and are in a position to question the glib assumption that the 1980s were a mere conservative foil to the 1960s. The 1980s: A Critical and Transitional Decade, edited by Kimberly R. Moffitt and Duncan A. Campbell, places its topics within the context of a decade described as both critical and transitional because the 1980s, in many respects, marked the end of one era and the beginning of another. For example, the Reagan presidency, the end of the Cold War, MTV, and the appearance of the personal computer all reflect a legacy of political, cultural, and social transformation of the United States and the world, and took place specifically within the 1980s. The function of this interdisciplinary volume is not to simply highlight the significant phenomena of the period, but rather demonstrate how so many apparently disparate events were, in fact, closely inter-related and also products of their age. The 1980s is a holistic analysis of the decade that focuses on major turning points, developments in literature, art, entertainment, politics, and social experimentation. The 1980s: A Critical and Transitional Decade, edited by Kimberly R. Moffitt and Duncan A. Campbell is a groundbreaking and stand-alone introductory volume that is unapologetically interdisciplinary in nature and encourages students to explore topics of the decade often overlooked or grouped together with other, more memorable decades such as the 1920s or 1960s.

This absorbing study of early 20th Century American Culture interprets the anarchic absurdity of slapstick movies as a form of collective anxiety dream, their fantastical images and illogical gags expressing the unconscious wishes and fears of the modern age, in a way that foreshadows the concerns of our own celebrity-obsessed consumer culture.

"A welcome addition to the often-bloated scholarship on literary postmodernism. . . . Bilton's command of the fiction and scholarship is impressive."
-- "Choice"

"Bilton offers a critical but accessible introduction to postmodernism in America, surveying the selected works of eight contemporary writers. . . . This is an intriguing if eclectic mix of authors."
--"Library Journal"

Don DeLillo, Paul Auster, Cormac McCarthy, Rolando Hinojosa, E. Annie Proulx, Bret Easton Ellis, Douglas Coupland, and Thomas Pynchon: An Introduction to Contemporary American Fiction introduces the work of a range of key American authors, all of whom can be said to engage with postmodernism. Exploring the vitality and energy of contemporary writing in light of pessimistic proclamations on the state of postmodern American culture, Bilton highlights the tension between "realistic" description and linguistic self-consciousness in contemporary fiction.

In addition, by addressing a central problem in literary theory--its neglect of literary discussion and the practice of reading--An Introduction to Contemporary American Fiction is able to present a working model for reading a text theoretically.

As an introductory text, it assumes no prior knowledge of the authors of the novels discussed. To encourage understanding and aid further study, the following features are included:

* GLOSSARY OF CRITICAL AND LITERARY TERMS
* BIBLIOGRAPHY OF EACH AUTHOR'S WORKS
* BIOGRAPHY OF EACH AUTHOR
* GUIDE TO FURTHER READING
* THEMATIC AND AUTHOR INDICES

Hans is a dreamer, a waiter, a security guard, a young man tending elderly parents, a layabout, an old man scribbling his memories. Driven out in his pyjamas into a strangely black and white Scottish town, Hans sets off in search of both his girl and the one mysterious thing that will solve the riddle of his life. Clara is the art school girl with the lovely round face and ants in her pants, the crazy girl from the pub, always hindered by luggage or her dodgy innards, the sleepy waitress at the ball in the castle grounds, the blowzy dame with the world's most beautiful mouth. But can they find each other in time? Set sometime around now, and yet also any time, this is a beautifully surreal romantic comedy wrapped around the forms of the silent film and the Gothic city ghost tour. A cross between Kafka and Mary Poppins, The Sleepwalkers' Ball is filmic, funny and lyrical in turns. Always moving, it follows two lives: a man and a woman, and their many attempts to hook up together.

Contemporary American Fiction introduces the work of a range of American authors, all of whom can be said to engage with postmodernism: Don DeLillo, Paul Auster, Cormac McCarthy, Rolando Hinojosa, E. Annie Proulx, Bret Easton Ellis, Douglas Coupland and Thomas Pynchon. The overarching theme is an exploration of the current vitality and energy of contemporary writing in light of pessimistic proclamations on the state of postmodern American culture, and of the tension between 'realistic' description and linguistic self-consciousness in contemporary fiction. As an introductory text for both American Studies and English Literature students, it assumes no prior knowledge of the authors or the novels discussed. To encourage understanding and aid further study, the following features are included: * glossaries of literary and critical terms * bibliographies for each author * biographies of each author * links between the authors are highlighted * thematic and author indices Key Features * Each chapter covers one author in depth - ideal for students writing essays, preparing for seminars, etc.* Authors covered have been selected on basis of their popularity on undergraduate courses * Finds a middle ground between literary theory and traditional narrative criticism - engages with both the texts and the relevant conceptual issues

Rumour and suspicion engulf an eerily fog-bound town as its residents begin to receive tickets promising passage across the mist-shrouded bay to the mysterious 'other side'. For Alex and his family, this seems like the beginning of a great adventure, but as reports of a shadowy, half-glimpsed ship start to circulate, so too does the gossip and anxious speculation.