Systems from Hell: Problem Definition and the Literary Portrayal of Failure in Our Public Policy and Social Institutions

Examines how contemporary novels document and define social problems using a variety of narrative techniques to focus attention on systemic failure.

This book approaches contemporary fiction as a medium for policy advocacy, one whose narrative devices both link it to, and distinguish it from, other forms of public discourse. Using the framework of political agenda setting, David A. Rochefort analyzes the rhetorical function of problem definition played by literary works when they document an...