New Humanities and the Search for a Novel Culture

Onoriu Colăcel reads a number of 20th century English novels in order to double-check on the current reshuffle of humanities that may very well have a say in creative writing and literary criticism as well. He writes with a view to articulating a cultural perspective on storytelling and, particularly, on the rhetoric of the novel. Essentially, New Humanities and the Search for a Novel Culture appropriates the Kuhnian view of science and sets out to enlarge on its possible consequences in literary cultural studies. This influential narrative is used to explain paradigm shifts in fiction too, as they are largely exemplified by the literary canon of the last century’s English studies. Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, William Golding, John Fowles, Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes, Nick Hornby, Jeanette Winterson and Bo Fowler are successfully enlisted to make the point of the social task undertaken by the novel genre throughout the 20th century. From dystopia to a mid-century world-view, moving on to postmodernism, so that its demise would pave the way for yet another new paradigm, the author accordingly strives to provide yet another reading of narrative aesthetics in the age of digital humanities.

Ștefan Avădanei