{"product_id":"9780826211378","title":"Beyond Innocence, or the Altersroman in Modern Fiction","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this groundbreaking work, Linda A. Westervelt defines an important yet previously unidentified and therefore unnamed type of novel, the altersroman, or age novel. Fictions focusing on a protagonist's confrontation with mortality toward the end of middle age are likely to become ever more prominent in a Western world in which the average age of the population increases and more people reach late middle age and old age.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWorking from a diverse sample of modern literature, Westervelt analyzes the variety of responses to the life evaluation. Some characters achieve a level of affirmation that allows renewal, redirection, or simply peace, while others confront feelings of disgust or despair that so little time is left them. Her altersromane are books about seeking wisdom, though not everyone of this age becomes wise. The use of the term \u003ci\u003ealtersroman\u003c\/i\u003e highlights the fact that the altersroman is a classification comparable to but also clearly distinguishable from the bildungsroman, wherein characters make the transition from youth to adulthood. Westervelt contrasts her older protagonists' characteristics with the equivalent characteristics in the bildungsroman through an examination of \u003ci\u003eDon Quixote,\u003c\/i\u003e part 2, as well as six American novels: \u003ci\u003eThe Ambassadors,\u003c\/i\u003e by Henry James; \u003ci\u003eThe Professor's House,\u003c\/i\u003e by Willa Cather; \u003ci\u003eThe Mansion,\u003c\/i\u003e by William Faulkner; \u003ci\u003eThe Angle of Repose,\u003c\/i\u003e by Wallace Stegner; \u003ci\u003eA Book of Common Prayer,\u003c\/i\u003e by Joan Didion; and \u003ci\u003eJazz,\u003c\/i\u003e by Toni Morrison. These seven works, though remarkably different, share the common features of the altersroman. Westervelt articulates the traits clearly, rests them on the psychological literature, and then shows in depth how the characteristics of the altersroman can enrich and more deeply inform our reading of a significant subset of modern literature that previously went unheralded. Readers can use Westervelt's analysis to identify altersromane in literature other than their own, and she begins this process by identifying exemplars written in other languages.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBeyond Innocence, or the Altersroman in Modern Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e introduces readers to the altersroman as a tool for classification and analysis and demonstrates the power and utility of that tool. It offers a meaningful and enriching complement to the more established category of the bildungsroman.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Missouri Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47017684107504,"sku":"9780826211378","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780826211378_p0.jpg?v=1763754183","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780826211378","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}