Since the nineteenth century, the Western realistic novel has persistently represented the addict as a morally toxic force bent on destroying the institutions, practices, and ideologies that historically have connoted reason, order, civilization. Addiction, Representation undertakes an investigation into an alternative literary tradition that unsettles this limited portrayal of the addict. The book analyzes the practices and politics of reading the experimental addiction novel, and outlines both a practice and an ethics of reading that advocates for a more compassionate response to both diegetic and extra-diegetic addicts—an approach that, at its core, is focused on understanding.
Table of Content
Introduction; 1. Bearing Witness: Leaving Las Vegas (1990); 2. Betraying: Dope (2006); 3. Gaslighting: The Girl on the Train (2015); 4. Transgressing: Less Than Zero (1985); 5. Disorienting: The Orange Eats Creeps (2010); Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
Heath A. Diehl is Teaching Professor in the Department of English and Honors College at Bowling Green State University. He is the author of Wasted: Performing Addiction in America.
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