Political Post-Postmodernist Fiction: Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch and the Crisis of Meritocracy

Virginia Pignagnoli

doi:10.14198/RAEI.29723

Political Post-Postmodernist Fiction: Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch and the Crisis of Meritocracy

Virginia Pignagnoli

Departament de Filologia Anglesa i de Germanística

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Aquest assaig presenta una lectura de The Rabbit Hutch (2022) de Tess Gunty com a exemple del corrent de la ficció postmoderna que posa en relleu un sentit d'implicació política amb el món contemporani. Basant-se en l'enfocament retòric de la narrativa, l'anàlisi explora com, mitjançant l'expressió explícita dels compromisos ideològics de la protagonista, Gunty aborda temàticament la crisi actual de meritocràcia (vegeu Wooldridge 2021; Markovits 2019). La ciutat del mig oest fictícia que serveix d'espai narratiu de la novel·la proporciona el rerefons ideal perquè la narrativa local actuï com a contrapunt de la narrativa cultural més àmplia que relaciona talent amb mobilitat social. En les novel·les postmodernes polítiques com The Rabbit Hutch, l'autora empra un personatge com a substitut dins del món narratiu, avalant els seus valors i dotant el seu comentari -que emergeix aquí mitjançant el diàleg entre personatges- d'autoritat. Per tant, més que servir com a element autoficcional que transmet indiferència envers la referencialitat (vegeu Dawson 2023), la connexió biogràfica personatge-autora al·lega amb l'èmfasi de la novel·la en el seu "component temàtic" (Phelan 2017). De fet, aquest èmfasi es materialitza mitjançant un relat metafòric que permet un discurs polític sobre justícia social i les deficiències de meritocràcia. Al mateix temps, destaca la importància de la ficció -com a intercanvi intersubjectiu entre autors i lectors- en la interpretació del món real.

Idioma original	Anglès
Pàgines (de-a)	195-212
Nombre de pàgines	18
Revista	Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses
Número	44
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.14198/RAEI.29723
Estat de la publicació	Publicada - 28 de gen. 2026

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@article{2b9062fd5ca242468e4bc3ff3feb5efe,

title = "Political Post-Postmodernist Fiction: Tess Gunty{\textquoteright}s The Rabbit Hutch and the Crisis of Meritocracy",

abstract = "This essay presents a reading of Tess Gunty{\textquoteright}s The Rabbit Hutch (2022) as an example of the strand of postpostmodernist fiction foregrounding a sense of political engagement with the contemporary world. Drawing on the rhetorical approach to narrative, the analysis explores how, through the explicit voicing of the protagonist{\textquoteright}s ideological commitments, Gunty thematically addresses the current crisis of meritocracy (cf. Wooldridge 2021; Markovits 2019). The fictionalized Midwest town that serves as the novel{\textquoteright}s narrative space provides the ideal background for the local narrative to act as counterpoint to the larger cultural narrative linking talent with social mobility. In political post-postmodernist novels like The Rabbit Hutch, the author employs a character as her surrogate within the storyworld, endorsing her values and investing her commentary-emerging here through character-character dialogue and internally focalized narration-with her authority. Thus, rather than serving as an autofictional element that conveys indifference toward referentiality (cf. Dawson 2023), the characterauthor biographical connection, I argue, aligns with the novel{\textquoteright}s emphasis on its “thematic component“ (Phelan 2017). Indeed, this emphasis is realized through a metaphorical telling that enables a political discourse on social justice and the deficiencies of meritocracy. At the same time, it highlights fiction{\textquoteright}s relevance-as an intersubjective exchange between authors and readersin interpreting the actual world.",

keywords = "Tess Gunty, The Rabbit Hutch, meritocracy, political narratives, postpostmodernist fiction",

author = "Virginia Pignagnoli",

year = "2026",

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doi = "10.14198/RAEI.29723",

language = "English",

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N2 - This essay presents a reading of Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch (2022) as an example of the strand of postpostmodernist fiction foregrounding a sense of political engagement with the contemporary world. Drawing on the rhetorical approach to narrative, the analysis explores how, through the explicit voicing of the protagonist’s ideological commitments, Gunty thematically addresses the current crisis of meritocracy (cf. Wooldridge 2021; Markovits 2019). The fictionalized Midwest town that serves as the novel’s narrative space provides the ideal background for the local narrative to act as counterpoint to the larger cultural narrative linking talent with social mobility. In political post-postmodernist novels like The Rabbit Hutch, the author employs a character as her surrogate within the storyworld, endorsing her values and investing her commentary-emerging here through character-character dialogue and internally focalized narration-with her authority. Thus, rather than serving as an autofictional element that conveys indifference toward referentiality (cf. Dawson 2023), the characterauthor biographical connection, I argue, aligns with the novel’s emphasis on its “thematic component“ (Phelan 2017). Indeed, this emphasis is realized through a metaphorical telling that enables a political discourse on social justice and the deficiencies of meritocracy. At the same time, it highlights fiction’s relevance-as an intersubjective exchange between authors and readersin interpreting the actual world.

AB - This essay presents a reading of Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch (2022) as an example of the strand of postpostmodernist fiction foregrounding a sense of political engagement with the contemporary world. Drawing on the rhetorical approach to narrative, the analysis explores how, through the explicit voicing of the protagonist’s ideological commitments, Gunty thematically addresses the current crisis of meritocracy (cf. Wooldridge 2021; Markovits 2019). The fictionalized Midwest town that serves as the novel’s narrative space provides the ideal background for the local narrative to act as counterpoint to the larger cultural narrative linking talent with social mobility. In political post-postmodernist novels like The Rabbit Hutch, the author employs a character as her surrogate within the storyworld, endorsing her values and investing her commentary-emerging here through character-character dialogue and internally focalized narration-with her authority. Thus, rather than serving as an autofictional element that conveys indifference toward referentiality (cf. Dawson 2023), the characterauthor biographical connection, I argue, aligns with the novel’s emphasis on its “thematic component“ (Phelan 2017). Indeed, this emphasis is realized through a metaphorical telling that enables a political discourse on social justice and the deficiencies of meritocracy. At the same time, it highlights fiction’s relevance-as an intersubjective exchange between authors and readersin interpreting the actual world.

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KW - postpostmodernist fiction

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M3 - Article

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JO - Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses

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Political Post-Postmodernist Fiction: Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch and the Crisis of Meritocracy

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