The Decline of Minimalism.

Among the most important literary trends of the 1980s was minimalism, which can in fact be traced back to the spare prose of Ernest Hemingway. Among the best minimalist works are startlingly original, insightful, well-crafted, and moving works such as Ann Beattie's novel Chilly Scenes in Winter (1976) and Raymond Carver's short-story collection Cathedral (1981). By the 1990s, however, minimalism seemed to have exhausted its creative possibilities. Minimalist writers of the 1990s wrote fiction that seemed too restricted, not only in time, place, and plot, but also in the emotional range of the characters — who all too predictably were members of the lower class. Critics began to complain about novels featuring inarticulate truck drivers, unskilled laborers, waitresses, hairdressers, convenience store clerks, and mechanics, all of whom seemed to live in trailer parks. Not only were they listless, passionless, and intellectually...