| Book: A Novel | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Robert Grudin |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Metafiction |
| Publisher | Penguin Books |
| Publication date | 1992 |
| Media type | Print Hardcover and paperback |
| Pages | 251pp |
| ISBN | 0140231137 |
Book: A Novel (1992) is a metafictional novel by Robert Grudin.
Contents |
The story follows English professor Adam Snell as he realizes that someone is trying to kill both him and his book, Sovrana Sostrata, a book about truth. As a metafiction work the novel parodies literary forms—each chapter is told in a different style ranging from traditional linear drama, to newspaper reports, to a playwright’s script, to a carefully annotated scholarly work from the 19th Century—to the point where the novel’s footnotes come alive and literally try to take over the narrative.
The novel explores the power struggles that exist with academia and the lack of administration support for creativity within universities. They are similar to other works by Robert Grudin because they also place emphasis on liberty, determinism, and other political philosophies.[1]
The novel was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize in Literature.[2]