Samuel Beckett's Legacies in American Fiction provides an overdue investigation into Beckett's rich influences over American writing. Through in-depth readings of postmodern authors such as Robert Coover, Donald Barthelme, Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Paul Auster and Lydia Davis, this book situates Beckett's post-war writing of exhaustion and generation in relation to the emergence of an explosive American avant-garde. In turn, this study provides a valuable insight into the practical realities of Beckett's dissemination in America, following the author's long-standing relationship with the countercultural magazine Evergreen Review and its dramatic role in redrawing the possibilities of American culture in the 1960s. While Beckett would be largely removed from his American context, this book follows his vigorous, albeit sometimes awkward, reception alongside the authors and institutions central to shaping his legacies in 20 th and 21 st centuryAmerica.

Provides a wide-ranging survey of Beckett's influence over American fiction Considers Beckett's dissemination in the US through the author's longtime relationship with the Evergreen Review Investigates Beckett's role in the development of literary postmodernism through close textual analysis

Autorentext

Dr James Baxter was awarded his PhD at the University of Reading in 2018, where he specialized in Beckett's legacy on Postmodern American Literature. James has published articles in high-profile journals such as Textual Practice, and continues to contribute essays and reviews on popular film and music for a variety of outlets. Forthcoming projects include a study concerning the prevalence of populist poetics in American periodical culture in the 60s and 70s.

Klappentext

Samuel Beckett's Legacies in American Fiction provides an overdue investigation into Beckett's rich influences over American writing. Through in-depth readings of postmodern authors such as Robert Coover, Donald Barthelme, Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Paul Auster and Lydia Davis, this book situates Beckett's post-war writing of exhaustion and generation in relation to the emergence of an explosive American avant-garde. In turn, this study provides a valuable insight into the practical realities of Beckett's dissemination in America, following the author's long-standing relationship with the countercultural magazine Evergreen Review and its dramatic role in redrawing the possibilities of American culture in the 1960s. While Beckett would be largely removed from his American context, this book follows his vigorous, albeit sometimes awkward, reception alongside the authors and institutions central to shaping his legacies in 20th and 21st centuryAmerica.

Inhalt
Introduction: Beckett in America: 'somehow not the right country'.- Chapter 1: The Evergreen Review: Beckett and the American 'underground'.- Chapter 2: Robert Coover, Donald Barthelme and Metafictional Style After Beckett: Problems and Pratfalls.- Chapter 3: Opposing Tendencies in the Exhaustive Fiction of Samuel Beckett and Thomas Pynchon: 'Between zero and one'.- Chapter 4: Don DeLillo's Reinvention of 'Beckett World'.- Chapter 5: Paul Auster, Lydia Davis and Beckett's Post-millennial Legacies.- Conclusion: a 'postmodern icon'?