Addiction, Representation and the Experimental Novel, 19852015

Download or read book Addiction, Representation and the Experimental Novel, 19852015 written by Heath A. Diehl and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2020-12-15 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the nineteenth century, the Western realistic novel has persistently represented the addict as a morally toxic force bent on destroying the institutions, practices, and ideologies that historically have connoted reason, order, civilization. Addiction, Representation undertakes an investigation into an alternative literary tradition that unsettles this limited portrayal of the addict. The book analyzes the practices and politics of reading the experimental addiction novel, and outlines both a practice and an ethics of reading that advocates for a more compassionate response to both diegetic and extra-diegetic addicts—an approach that, at its core, is focused on understanding.