Untheories of Fiction

This book takes a closer look at the diversity of fiction writing from Diderot to Markson and by so doing call into question the notion of a singular theory of fiction, especially in relation to the novel. Unlike Forsters approach to Aspects of the Novel, which implied there is only one kind of novel to which there may be an aspect, this book deconstructs how one approach to studying something as protean as the novel cannot be accomplished. To that end, the text uses Diderots This Is Not A Story (1772) and David Marksons This Is Not A Novel (2016) as a frame and imbedded within are essays on De Maistres Voyage Around My Room (1829), Machado de Assiss Posthumous Memoirs Of Braz Cubas (1881), Andr Bretons Nadja (1928) and Elizabeth Smarts By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept (1945).