“Historiographic Metafiction and the Post-Soul Condition in Colson Whitehead's Literature”

Although Colson Whitehead's eleven published books to date vary widely in terms of style and subject, this presentation surveys a fundamental similarity that persists from his 1999 debut The Intuitionist through 2023's Crook Manifesto. By first imitating and then violating their conventions, Whitehead transcends the often-formulaic expectations of the genres in which he seems to write. At the same time, Whitehead critically comments on his subject matter, again by imitating and then satirizing various forms of conventional wisdom as a means of calling out unexamined, ignored, or malevolent aspects of American cultural history.

Derek C. Maus is Professor of English at the State University of New York at Potsdam, where he teaches courses on a wide range of topics, mainly contemporary literature. He has published several books on the subject of satire in 20th- and 21st-century literature. His full CV is available at https://potsdam.academia.edu/DerekCMaus/.

 

Organizer: Marie Dücker (University of Graz)

 

For detailed information, please see the attached document.