Few previous periods in the history of American literature could rival the richness of the postmodern era - the diversity of its authors, the complexity of its ideas and visions, and the multiplicity of its subjects and forms. This volume offers an authoritative, comprehensive, and accessible guide to the American fiction of this remarkable period. It traces the development of postmodern American fiction over the past half-century and explores its key aesthetic, cultural, and political contexts. It examines its principal styles and genres, from the early experiments with metafiction to the most recent developments, such as the graphic novel and digital fiction, and offers concise, compelling readings of many of its major works. An indispensable resource for students, scholars, and the general reader, the Companion both highlights the extraordinary achievements of postmodern American fiction and provides illuminating critical frameworks for understanding it. 'The book opens with a chronology of important literary and cultural events, and each essay closes with suggested reading. Although the chapters are written by different hands, the writing throughout is generally lucid and accessible. The book will be a cornerstone of undergraduate courses on the subject and valuable to advanced scholars.' J. W. Moffett, CHOICE This Companion is an authoritative, comprehensive, and accessible guide to the key works, genres, and movements of postmodern American fiction. Paula Geyh is Associate Professor of English at Yeshiva University, New York. She is the author of Cities, Citizens, and Technologies: Urban Life and Postmodernity (2009), and a coeditor of Postmodern American Fiction: A Norton Anthology (with Fred G. Leebron and Andrew Levy, 1997). Her articles on postmodern literature and culture have appeared in such journals as Contemporary Literature, Twentieth-Century Literature, PARADOXA, and Criticism.