Introduction: Abstract Reflection in Contemporary Fiction

Abstract

Abstract The three papers joined in this research-cluster issue investigate contemporary works of fiction by focusing on a common formal feature: the inclusion of abstract reflection. While making general statements about contemporary fiction is notoriously difficult, there is nonetheless a clear tendency in a wide range of texts to incorporate short theoretical or essayistic deviations from the narrative sequence. After a brief definition of ‘abstraction’ and a discussion of its relationship to fictional narration, this introduction outlines the three main axes that shape the overarching research agenda: (1) a concern with the interplay between narrative form, abstract reflection, and cultures of knowledge; (2) a typology of abstract reflections; (3) literary assessments of abstract reasoning. In their respective articles, Ralf Haekel analyses the role of engineering, mathematics, and architecture in three novels by the Irish author Adrian Duncan, Stella Butter investigates mathematical and empathic cultures of knowledge as well as climate change and the Anthropocene in texts by Ted Chiang and Richard Powers, and Jarmila Mildorf examines reflections on music in texts by Julian Barnes, Roger Scruton, and Rose Tremain.