Fiction: The 1960s to the Present

Abstract

The more than half century covered by this chapter, and the 40 years during which it has been written, have witnessed a great number of cultural, social, and political transformations. Their impact on literature has been to change the nature of what scholars study. The term canon reformation identified this process early on, but after five decades of sometimes rambunctious activity commentators have settled into a more comfortable mode of appraisal. Cosmopolitanism now reflects the more winsome attitudes that have replaced the harsher tonalities of rebellion and reformation. As a mind-set it indicates the ultimate disposition of all this transformative activity, and as a foundation for critical work it promises a more inclusive and yet discerning perspective. Positive examples of this method abound in this year’s scholarship, providing useful accounts of what is happening to fiction in our time.