The End of the Novel

The novel genre has by now survived multiple declarations of its supposed death. This chapter draws inspiration from philosopher Arthur Danto’s reflections on the end (rather than the death) of art to argue that the contemporary novel persists in spite of the demise of the genre’s historical mandate. This disenfranchisement paradoxically liberates the novel to imagine different forms of life, and even to leverage its self-reflexive potential to engage nonhuman forms of life. Examples from the work of Tom McCarthy, J. M. Ledgard, and Don DeLillo illustrate contemporary fiction’s combination of self-reflexive innovation and a willingness to engage lives beyond the traditional individual liberal subject.