Inventing Orders: An Essay and Critique in 20th Century American Literature (1950-2000)

Inventing Orders is the first comprehensive survey of American fiction during the second half of the 20th century. Combining an original literary aesthetic ("Inventing Orders") with critiques of the most influential novels and short story collections in the second half of the 20th century ("Defending Orders"), Aaron Sultanik argues the priority-and revamping-of realism through three separate yet overlapping stylistic modes: "existential realism," "radical realism, and "postmodern realism." A truly synergistic model of rhetorical unity, Inventing Orders presents an original understanding of American fiction and its reinvention of realism in the second half of the 20th century.