MINIMALISM IN CURRENT AMERICAN FICTION
@
THE
BALCONES
REVIEW
is seeking submission of essays
for its inaugural issue, appearing late 1986,
with a special section on Minimalism in Current American Fiction.
We also welcome fiction of any kind,
poetry, social criticism, humor and reviews.
•
Following the lead of Raymond Carver and Ann Beattie, a trend toward spare
prose, faint characterization, aggressively material or objective delimitation of
events and away from overt social, psychological and philosophical discussion
has emerged as perhaps the most prominent trend in American fiction in the
1980's. Many younger writers exhibit its influence-Bobbie Ann Mason, David
Leavitt, Jay McInerney, Jayne Anne Phillips, Amy Hempel, Elizabeth Tallent,
Frederick Barthelme and Mary Robison, among others. Not quite a school, the
trend
has received increasing prescriptive critical attention. What are the sources
and social implications of this fiction? What does it accomplish? Is it nihilistic,
as often claimed? Have creative writing programs played a major role in its rise?
Is it good practice to speak as prescriptively of it as many critics are doing?
We would like to see essays on all aspects of this current minimalism, from
all
perspectives, including studies of individual writers
and
surveys of other
trends
in contradistinction to this one. Deadline November I, 1986.
•
P.O. Box 50247 • Austin, TX 78763 • (512) 452-7217
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