The critic F. R. Leavis once called what we think of "realism" as the "great tradition, " meaning the tradition which most distinguishes and characterizes the fiction of the Western world from the Romans to the present. But the fiction of the Western world is, in fact, best characterized by inventiveness, experimentation, and almost from its inception, parody. While the critical establishment frowns on anything that is either too daring or that suggests that fiction is a field of play rather than a grimy window onto the "real" world, fiction is and has always been an art form that allows writers the most freedom to play.
While not intended to be all-inclusive, this collection of stories brings together some of the most interesting and innovative American fiction writers since the 1930s. Standing in rather sharp contrast to Norton's recent postmodern catch-all that defines "postmodern" in such a way as to include whatever the editors wanted included, Innovations gives a better sense of what is more commonly thought of as postmodern, and suggests that the term is nearly meaningless because some of the best examples of "postmodern" writing were done long ago.
