The Paradoxical Status of Knowledge in American Postmodern Fiction
Keywords:
American postmodern fiction, knowledge paradox, metafiction, historical knowledge, psychoanalysis, literary narrativityAbstract
This article analyzes the paradoxical investment and questioning of knowledge in American postmodern fiction since the second half of the twentieth century. The paper explores how this literature examines language games that inform narrativity, linking it to a critical exploration of discursive articulations of knowledge. The author contends that while postmodern fiction engages with the textuality and textualization of knowledge, it does not adopt a purely epistemological perspective. Instead, it situates its critique within aesthetics, focusing on how literary narrativity appropriates knowledge and affects the aesthetics of fiction. This study investigates the self-reflexive orientation of postmodern fiction, which questions literature's traditional reliance on forms of knowledge available. The significance of this work lies in its emphasis on the paradoxical status ascribed to historical knowledge and psychoanalysis in American postmodern fiction, demonstrating how these themes are handled through parodic critique and metafictional narrative techniques.(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)
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