Hysterical realism is a literary genre defined by a deliberate contrast between elaborately absurd prose, plotting, or characterization on one side, and careful, detailed investigation of real, specific social phenomena on the other. The English critic James Wood coined the term in 2000 to describe this maximalist style of contemporary fiction, which is also known by the alternate name recherche postmodernism.
Facts
Defining TraitStrong contrast between elaborately absurd prose, plotting or characterization and careful investigation of real social phenomena 1 Defining Trait Sources
1. Wikipedia: Hysterical realism
Intro, first sentence
a strong contrast between elaborately absurd prose, plotting, or characterization, and careful, detailed investigations of real, specific social phenomena
Lead paragraph
coined as a pejorative in 2000
Lead paragraph, defining sentence
Hysterical realism, also known as recherché postmodernism, is a literary style typified by a strong contrast between elaborately absurd prose, plotting, or characterization, and careful, detailed investigations of real, specific social phenomena.
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