Literary Theories of Uncertainty

As the first study to examine the concept of uncertainty and uncertainty of meaning as it relates to contemporary literature and literary theory, Literary Theories of Uncertainty demonstrates how this notion functions both as literary feature and literary device in twentieth-century Modernist texts. Grounded in Derridian ideas of uncertainty and calling upon theories of interpretation, this exploration is broken down into three sections: Poststructuralist legacies of uncertainty; life-writing and uncertainty; and contemporary literary uncertainties. Taking into account related terms such as undecidability, indeterminacy, ambiguity, unreadability, and obscurity, the topics examined include: an analysis of suspension; poetry as a point of convergence between logico-mathematical meaning of undecidability and a literary sense of ambiguity; the co-implication of uncertainty and reversibility within and beyond Derrida; the relevance of Robert Antelme and his impact on Mascolo and Blanchot; Proust and temporal uncertainty; how indeterminacy destabilises time in the works of German-Turkish writer Emine Sevgi Ozdamar; and many more.

Literary Theories of Uncertainty collates original and diverse discussions by some of the most prominent, inquiring minds of the fields of literary, cultural and critical theory today to map out the contours of the field surrounding the theory of uncertainty.