The Midcentury Minor Novel

Exploring a unique mode of American fiction from the mid-20th century, this book highlights how a group of overlooked writers redefined the novel as a minor form, focusing on its constraints. In response to perceived crises in midcentury fiction, authors like Eleanor Clark and Jean Stafford created works that reflected on their own limitations, paradoxically revitalizing the genre. Blending literary criticism with intellectual history, the text provides in-depth analyses of these writers, enriching our understanding of midcentury American literature's aesthetic diversity.