a term coined in 2000 by English critic James Wood to describe what he sees as a literary genre typified by a strong contrast between elaborately absurd prose, plotting, or characterization, on the one hand, and careful, detailed investigations of real, specific social phenomena on the other (see DeLillo, Pynchon, DFW, Zadie Smith)
James Wood suggested the term "hysterical realism"
on DFW's writing style. she thinks "radical realism" (via Tom LeClair) is better