Description
Book SynopsisExplores the idea of critical modesty in twenty-first-century fiction and criticism, with a focus on works by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith, J.M. Coetzee, and David Mitchell, to show that attitudes of acceptance, compromise, limitation, and entanglement become crucial means of minor, yet significant, intervention in the world.
Trade ReviewDancer's analyses are clear and thoughtful...Highly Reccomended * L. McMillan, CHOICE *
Critical Modesty is marked by clarity, focus and drive. It concisely synthesises several themes in contemporary disciplinary debates, and makes a forthright intervention in them (though its potential polemicism is moderated by its kind tone and generous approach). It would be accessible to advanced undergraduates, and the close readings are sophisticated yet economical as Dancer foregrounds his authors' own critical projects in a series of tightly argued chapters. * Dominic Dean, Textual Practice *
Table of ContentsIntroduction to Critical Modesty 1: Modesty in the Anthropocene Part 1. Modest Temperaments 2: Ian McEwan's Redescriptions 3: Zadie Smith's Partnerships Part 2. Modest Practices 4: J. M. Coetzee's Weakness 5: David Mitchell's Inefficiency Coda
