Novel “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” by Dave Eggers in Context of a New Cultural Paradigm
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2024-13-2-286-302
Abstract
The article explores the leading metamodernist features evident in the autobiographical novel ‘A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius’ (2001) by a contemporary American writer Dave Eggers. The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristic features of metamodernism in contemporary works on the basis of an interpretive analysis of D. Eggers’ autobiographical novel “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”, to determine ways of their original implementation in this novel. The review of theoretical sources confirms the significance of Eggers’ works in the development of key trends in the new cultural paradigm of post-postmodernism. The author can be attributed to a galaxy of American writers who fully embody the tenets of metamodernism. A practical analysis of the selected novel for study allows for the assertion that the main characteristics of metamodernism in the examined novel can be identified as the following elements: a revival of the author’s role, post-irony, new sincerity, and neo-realism. To embody these artistic elements, the author employs various literary techniques such as the contamination of artistic and documentary elements, meta-narration and meta-meta-narration, and the fusion of realistic and romantic perceptions of reality. Eggers explores traditional themes of family values, friendship, responsibility, and finding one's place in life through a new metamodern lens.
About the Authors
G. I. Lushnikova
Humanities and Education Science Academy (branch) of V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University in Yalta
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Galina I. Lushnikova, Doctor of Philology, Professor, Department of Foreign Philology and Teaching Methods
Yalta
T. Iu. Osadchaia
Sevastopol State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Tatiana Iu. Osadchaia, PhD in Pedagogy, Associate Professor, Department of Theory and Practice of Translation and Foreign Philology
Sevastopol
References
1. Bolaño Quintero, J. (2021a). Reconstructing Realism in Post–Postmodern Narrative: Dave Eggers’s A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Complutense Journal of English Studies, 29: 115—126. DOI: 10.5209/cjes.70628.
2. Bolaño-Quintero, J. (2021b). Post-postmodern Fiction at the Turn of the Millennium: The Transcendentalist Alternative. Academia Letters, 180: 1—4. DOI: 10.20935/AL180.
3. Den Dulk, A. (2016). Existentialist Engagement in Wallace, Eggers and Foer: A Philosophical Analysis of Contemporary American Literature. London & New York: Bloomsbury Academic. 320 p. ISBN 1501322672.
4. Dilmi, S. A. (2021). A Metamodern Disclaimer of Postmodernism in Literature. Algerian scientific journal platform, 2 (3): 187—209.
5. Dumitrescu, A. (2016). What is Metamodernism and Why Bother? Meditations on Metamodernism as a Period Term and as a Mode. Electronic Book Review. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320244318_What_is_Metamodernism_and_Why_Bother_Meditations_on_Metamodernism_as_a_Period_Term_and_as_a_Mode (accessed 23.11.2023).
6. Funk, W. (2017). Reconstructing the Author. In: The Literature of Reconstruction: Authentic Fiction in the New Millennium. London & New York: Bloomsbury Academic. 123—138. ISBN 1501330721.
7. Gibbons, A. (2017). Contemporary Autofiction and Metamodern Affect. In: Metamodernism. Historicity, Affect, and Depth After Postmodernism. London & New York: Rowman & Littlefield International. 117—130. ISBN 1783489618.
8. Hoffmann, L. (2017). Postirony: The Nonfictional Literature of David Foster Wallace and Dave Eggers. Bielefeld: transcript publishing. 210 p. ISBN 9783837636611.
9. Lushnikova, G. I., Osadchaia, T. Iu. (2022). Trends of metamodernism in modern literature (based on the novel by Dave Eggers “Sphere”). Word.: Baltic Accent, 13 (3): 124—141. DOI: 10.5922/2225-5346-2022-3-7. (In Russ.).
10. Lushnikova, G. I., Osadchaia, T. Iu. (2023). Synthesis of documentary and artistic codes in the story of Dave Eggers “The Monk from Mokha”. Philology and man, 1: 192— 202. DOI: 10.14258/filichel(2023)1-15. (In Russ.).
11. Nicol, B. (2005). The Memoir as Self-Destruction: Dave Eggers’s ‘A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genuis’. In: Modern Confessional Writing: New Critical Essays. London & New York: Routledge. 100—114. ISBN 978-0415339698.
12. Spicer, J. (2005). The Author Is Dead, Long Live the Author: Autobiography and the Fantasy of the Individual. Criticism, 47 (3): 387—403.
13. Spivakovsky, P. E. (2018). Metamodernism: contours of depth. Bulletin of the Moscow University. Series 9. Philology, 4: 196—211. (In Russ.).
14. Timmer, N. (2012). Do You Feel It Too? The Post-Postmodern Syndrome in American Fiction at the Turn of the Millennium. Leiden: Brill Academic Pub. 388 p. ISBN 9042029307.
15. Vermeulen, T. (2010). Notes on Metamodernism. Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, 2: 1—14. DOI: 10.3402/jac.v2i0.5677.
Review
For citations:
Lushnikova G.I., Osadchaia T.I. Novel “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius” by Dave Eggers in Context of a New Cultural Paradigm. Nauchnyi dialog. 2024;13(2):286-302. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2024-13-2-286-302
Views:
307
Email this article 