Minimalism & Ann Beattie
This is an excerpt from the paper...
The plan of the research will be to set forth the origins and characteristics of minimalistic literature as a response to previous modes of literary style, and then to discuss the principal practitioners of narrative minimalism. In particular, reference will be made to the style, themes, plot development, and symbology contained in various short works of Ann Beattie, who is viewed as perhaps the foremost minimalist author. As appropriate, comparisons of Beattie's work will be made to the work of other minimalistic writers, with a view toward offering an assessment of the position and strength of the movement. The literary style known as minimalism attained currency from 1970 onward, and has been both lauded and attacked as a response to the postmodernism that emerged in the years following World War II. Murphy describes it as the response to postmodernism, inasmuch as it follows, in linear time, a literary movement that had been widely regarded as modernist in its own response to nineteenth century late Romantic or Victorian narrative conventions.1 The composition of the minimalist response is a matter that has engaged a number of critics. As Martin Esslin remarks in his discussion of the roots of the once controversial theatre of the absurd, "Avant garde movements are hardly ever entirely novel and unprecedented. The Theatre of the Absurd is a return to old, even archaic, traditions. its novelty lies in its somewhat unusual combination of such antecedents, and . . .
. . .
, the action is moved along by means of a series of one to one and telephone conversations and the characters' reactions to them.
As he held the phone clamped between his ear and shoulder,
he looked admiringly at Petra's profile.
"What's up?" he [Nick] said to Karen, trying to sound very
casual for Petra.
"Get ready," Karen said. "Stephanie called and said that she
was going to have a baby."
"What do you mean? I thought she told you in Virginia that
she thought Sammy was crazy to want a kid."
"It happened by accident. She missed her period just after
we left."
Petra shifted on the couch and began leafing through
Newsweek.
"Can I call you back?" he said.
"throw whatever woman is there out of your apartment and
talk to me now," Karen said. "I'm about to go out."7
There is some minimal, to be sure narrative characterization at work here, which is to say that the storyteller's voice is not as absent as either minimalist champions or critics might wish or lament. But the sense and even the tone of the conversation is conveyed in the choice of words. These are tense, rather unhappy people who react and behave with body language a
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Quatorze Ans, Beattie Gordon's, Robert Coover, Frank Amy, Brecht Beckett, Answers12 Aristotle, Ann Beattie, Weekend Lenore, Gardner Gilder, Karen I'm, york random, secrets surprises, york random house, random house, random house 1978, surprises york, ann beattie, house 1978, secrets surprises york, surprises york random, john barth, 1978 , house 1978 , authors series, united authors,
Approximate Word count = 4621
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Minimalism Ann Beattie
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
