Postmodern fiction presents a challenge to the reader: instead of enjoying it passively, the reader has to work
to understand its meanings, to think about what fiction is, and to question their own responses. Yet this very
challenge makes postmodern writing so much fun to read and rewarding to study. Unlike most introductions to postmodernism
and fiction, this book places the emphasis on literature rather than theory. It introduces the most prominent British
and American novelists associated with postmodernism, from the 'pioneers', Beckett, Borges and Burroughs, to important
post-war writers such as Pynchon, Carter, Atwood, Morrison, Gibson, Auster, DeLillo, and Ellis. Designed for students
and clearly written, this Introduction explains the preoccupations, styles and techniques that unite postmodern
authors. Their work is characterized by a self-reflexive acknowledgement of its status as fiction, and by the various
ways in which it challenges readers to question common-sense and commonplace assumptions about literature.