How might our friendships shape our politics? This book examines how contemporary American fiction has rediscovered the concept of civic friendship and revived a long tradition of imagining male friendship as interlinked with the promises and paradoxes of democracy in the United States. Bringing into dialogue the work of a wide range of authors – including Philip Roth, Paul Auster, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Lethem, Dinaw Mengestu, and Teju Cole – this innovative study advances a compelling new account of the political and intellectual fabric of the American novel today.
Table of Content
Introduction 1 ‘The Love Alternative’: Philip Roth’s
I Married a Communist (1998) and
The Human Stain (2000) 2 The Gift of Friendship: Paul Auster’s Fiction and Film 3 Broken Utopias: Michael Chabon’s
Telegraph Avenue (2012) and Jonathan Lethem’s
The Fortress of Solitude (2003) 4 The Borders of Friendship: Dinaw Mengestu’s
T
he Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (2007) and Teju Cole’s
Open City (2011) Conclusion
About the author
Michael Kalisch is a Departmental Lecturer in English and American Literature at the University of Oxford
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