An Introduction to Contemporary American Fiction introduces the work of a range of American authors, all of whom can be said to engage with Don DeLillo; Paul Auster; Cormac McCarthy; Relando Hinojosa; E. Annie Proulx; Bret Easton Ellis; Douglas Coupland; and Thomas Pynchon. The overarching theme is an exploration of the current vitality and energy of contemporary writing in light of pessimistic proclamations on the state of postmodern American culture, and of the tension between realistic description and linguistic self-consciousness in contemporary fiction.