Conceptualisms

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The literary landscape beyond bestseller lists is as diverse and experimental as visual art, encompassing novels as dioramas, narratives through virtual reality, and stories told as tweets or recipes. The anthology features over 100 prose works and poems that transform ordinary speech into literature, highlighting the strangeness that may define what makes writing literary. This collection includes experimental, conceptual, avant-garde, and hybrid forms that challenge mainstream traditions and explore new ways to engage with contemporary issues. It raises the question of what constitutes literature and keeps its boundaries flexible. For the first time, this anthology provides an overview of this alternative literary tradition in the early 21st century. It showcases works by over 90 authors across three generations, representing a wide range of aesthetics and approaches. Readers will encounter well-known figures like Lydia Davis, Charles Bernstein, Nathaniel Mackey, David Foster Wallace, and Claudia Rankine, alongside lesser-known authors and innovative responses to the literary canon. This anthology serves as a resource for writers, teachers, scholars, and curious readers interested in the many forms literature can take.