The Routledge Introduction to American Postmodernism offers readers a fresh, insightful overview to all genres of postmodern writing. Drawing on a variety of works from not only mainstream authors but also those that are arguably unconventional, renowned scholar Linda Wagner-Martin gives the reader a solid framework and foundation to reading, understanding, and appreciating postmodern literature since its inception through the present day.
"The concept of postmodernism has been prominent in the scholarly discourse of the past five decades, a fact that might lead a reader to question the need for yet another introduction to it. Nevertheless, Linda Wagner-Martin's work is invaluable to that ongoing discussion because it largely transcends the thorny debate over postmodernism's conceptual and temporal boundaries. Instead, she summarizes a range of ways in which critics have defined postmodernism and traces the applicability of each one through several generations of American literary artists from the late 1950s until the late 2010s. Without ignoring the cultural polemics that surround the term, she succeeds in surveying postmodernism as a vital and multifaceted aesthetic." -- Derek C. Maus, SUNY Potsdam