Elegiac Romance: Cultural Changes and Loss of the Hero in Modern Fiction Book

Kenneth Bruffee here identifies and defines a genret of 20th-century fiction that has been largely overlooked by critics: that of an elegiac romance. He shows how three thematic strands - quest romance, the impact of loss and rapid change, and the discrediting of hero worship and heroism - appeared together first in narrative form in the early fiction of Joseph Conrad and were subsequently developed by a number of major writers influenced by Conrad. Brufree first surveys the historical context of the genre. He demonstrates that although in its traditional form quest romance has failed to represent modern human needs and aspirations, it has survived in a significant new form in elegiac romance. He asserts that heroism has disappeared from 20th-century Western literature and culture and has been replaced by the exemplary modern figure - the elegiac romance narrator - who suffers, confronts, and finally outgrows the delusions of hero worship. Among the writers proof the treats are Ford Maddox Ford, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Penn Warren, Thomas Mann, Nebokov, Borges, Kafka, Proust, and J. D. Salinger. Elegiac Romance provides an analytical tool to help understand these and other contemporary writers as well as other forms of fiction, including the psychological novel. It also contributes to the current discussion about referentiality and fiction, The book will alter the way the tradition of quest romance is understood and will appeal not only to Conrad specialists but to scholars and students of modern fiction and of contemporary critical theory as well. --- from book's dustjacketRead More