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The term hysterical realism was coined by James Wood (critic) in an essay on Zadie Smith's White Teeth, titled "The Smallness of the 'Big' Novel: Human, All Too Inhuman", which appeared in the July 17, 2000 issue of The New Republic and was later reprinted in Wood's 2004 book, The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel. Wood used the term to denote the contemporary conception of the "big, ambitious novel" that pursues vitality "at all costs." In response, Zadie Smith described hysterical realism as a "painfully accurate term for the sort of overblown, manic prose to be found in novels like my own White Teeth. . . "

Canidates for inclusion in the genre include: Don DeLillo, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Franzen, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Powers, Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, David Foster Wallace, Tom Wolfe.

In their works the "hysterical" prose style is often mated to "realistic," almost journalistic, effects, such as Pynchon's depiction of 18th century land surveys in Mason & DixonMason & Dixon a post-modern novel by Thomas Pynchon first published in 1997, centers on the collaboration of the historical Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in their astronomical and surveying exploits in Cape Colony, Saint Helena, Great Britain and along and DeLillo's treatment of Lee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey Oswald ( October 18, 1939 November 24, 1963) was the assassin of U. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, according to the conclusions of two government investigations into the assassination. Critics of the official accounts have clai in LibraThis article is about the constellation. Libra is also a Roman coin and weight measure, see Historical weights and measures. Libra is also a novel by Don DeLillo. LIBRA is also a political party in Croatia. Libra (the scales) is a constellation of the zod. This literary techniqueNovels and short stories do not simply come from nowhere. Usually the author employs some general literary technique (also called a literary device as a framework for artistic work. Annotated list of literary techniques Author surrogate, a character who a of extravagant treatment of everyday events can be found in earlier authors, such as Mikhail BulgakovMikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov May 15 ( May 3 Old Style), 1891 March 10, 1940) was a Ukrainian-born Soviet novelist and playwright of the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for the novel The Master and Margarita''. Mikhail Bulgakov was born i's The Master and Margarita and Herman Melville's The Confidence Man and Moby Dick.