Author: Xavier Marco Del Pont

Dr Xavier Marcó Del Pont is currently Postdoctoral Visiting Research Fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford. He completed his doctoral studies on narrative structure in the works of Thomas Pynchon at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has published work on Pynchon, American identity, and the graphic novel form; beyond Anglophone Literature, his research interests include Film Theory, Literature and Science, and post-1945 Literature.

Issue 5.3 Previous Issues

The Contemporary Historical Novel & the Novel of Contemporary History

What is historical fiction? “Everyone knows what a historical novel is,” Avrom Fleishman states, “perhaps that is why few have volunteered to define it in print” (Fleishman 3). However, literary prizes – those institutions of canon-making – have little, if any, qualms when it comes to advancing their own sense of what constitutes historical fiction in the 21st century.

Issue 1.5 Previous Issues

America and America

Xavier Marco Del Pont October 1, 2012 7 Comments Afro-Caribbean American culture American identity American literature Cajun Chicano continent Gabriel Garcia Marquez geo-chauvinism Great American Novel Herman Melville john Steinbeck Jonathan Franzen Latin America Margaret Atwood Mixtecos Nuyorrican Ralph Ellison Robert Bolano South America Thomas Pynchon U.S.United States United Statians Washingtonians

Shortly after its publication in 2010, Jonathan Franzen’s fourth novel Freedom garnered critical praise of the highest order, with many reviews…