Narrating Loss

Abstract

This collection of critical essays investigates various forms of loss portrayed in late 20th- and early 21st-century Anglophone fiction. Loss of individuals, places, identity, values, treasured objects and moments frequently causes a reconsideration of life among literary characters and narrators. Making use of theoretical approaches from the areas of psychology, postcolonial studies, narratology or gender studies, the essays analyse contemporary fiction with regard to its multi-layered representational capacities of rendering loss. They examine various forms of fictionalisation, among them also memoirs, semi-historical fiction and graphic narratives. Concepts and keywords which are used in exploring the subject matter are the following: assessing the connection of loss and mourning; dealing with loss through the process of aestheticisation; recovering lost objects through memory; and representing nostalgically the absent.