Douglas Coupland’s Literature and Art
The Extreme Present
Douglas Coupland’s Literature and Art
The Extreme Present
Description
The first collection of scholarly essays about major works across fiction, non-fiction, and visual art by cult writer and artist Douglas Coupland, this book looks at Coupland's work and its interest in today's world, defined by social and technological acceleration, instant communications, and crises of various kinds.
Despite being widely read, Coupland is too often ignored as a subject for academic analysis, an oversight that this collection remedies. While most publications about Coupland have focussed on his fiction, this book notably gives space and attention also to his significant non-fiction and artistic production. It provides students, scholars, and fans of Douglas Coupland alike with rigorous yet accessible analyses of Coupland's major works. The book is divided into sections which look at: Coupland's literary production in its broader literary context; the evolution of Coupland's artistic production; Coupland's engagement with our extreme present; the spiritual dimension of Coupland's works; and their temporal and spatial politics. The book closes on an interview with Coupland, as well as an exclusive contribution produced by Coupland himself for the collection.
Table of Contents
SECTION I. COUPLAND, THE WORD AND LITERARY CONTEXT
Chapter 1: Coupland's Cool: Prof. Bran Nicol, University of Surrey, UK
Chapter 2: Coupland and Comedy, Andrew Tate, Lancaster University, UK
Chapter 3: Douglas Coupland, Thomas Pynchon, and Cybernetic Fiction, Matthew Nelson, University of St. Andrews, UK
SECTION II: AESTHETICS FROM POP ART TO THE DIGITAL AGE.
Chapter 4: Coupland's Pop Art and the Aesthetics of Deep Sentiment, Joe Kickasola, Baylor College, USA
Chapter 5: The Aestheticization of Technology and Online Environments in the Work of Douglas Coupland, Declan Lloyd, Lancaster University, UK
Chapter 6: Guts, Glory, Copy, Paste, Glenn Grigsby, Georgetown University, USA
SECTION III:: THE EXTREME PRESIDENT: CONSUMERISM, POSTMODERNITY AND POST-CAPITALISM
Chapter 7: Coupland and Temporality, Diletta De Cristofaro, Northumbria University, UK
Chapter 8: Douglas Coupland's Post-Capitalist Desire, Niall Gallen, University of Birmingham, UK
Chapter 9: Boredom as Aesthetic in the Extreme Present, Linda Levitt, Stephen F. Austin State University, USA
SECTION IV:LIFE AFTER/WITH GOD
Chapter 10: Douglas Coupland, Charles Taylor, and Spirituality in Modernity, Tony Watkins, NLA University College, Norway and Steve Taylor, Flinders University, Australia
Chapter 11 : Trauma and Spirituality in Douglas Coupland's Hey Nostradamus!, Sarah Wagstaffe, Lancaster University, UK
Chapter 12: Prayer as a Means to Immanence and Transcendence in the Novels of Douglas Coupland, Mary McCampbell, Lee University, USA
SECTION V: COUPLAND IN SPACE IN TIME
Chapter 13: The Aerial Perspective in Douglas Coupland's Souvenir of Canada Series, Jessica McDonald, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Chapter 14: A Gen Xer Looks Back on Generation X, Nick Hubble, Brunel University, UK
Chapter 15: Post-Cynical Fiction at the End of History, Zachary Gordon, Regent College, Canada
Interview with Douglas Coupland by Dr Andrew Tate, Dr Mary McCampbell and Dr Diletta De Cristofaro
Coda, Douglas Coupland
Product details
| Published | 17 Sep 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (PDF) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Extent | 256 |
| ISBN | 9781350459441 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 5 bw illus |
| Series | New Horizons in Contemporary Writing |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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