What does the ‘avant-garde’ look like today? Two new novels give very different answers

Two recently published novels, Ruins, Child by Giada Scodellaro and Hello, World? by Anna Poletti, take vastly different approaches to storytelling, yet both challenge traditional ideas of what a novel can be.

Scodellaro’s Ruins, Child, winner of the 2024 Novel Prize, draws from a rich tradition of Black feminist poetry, theory, and prose. Meanwhile, Poletti’s Hello, World? is a queer, introspective work that explores power, desire, and the complexities of intimate relationships.

Despite their differences in theme, style, and ambition, the two books share one notable characteristic: both abandon conventional narrative structures. Instead of relying on standard chapters and paragraphs, they are built through fragments, creating unconventional reading experiences that invite reflection rather than straightforward storytelling.

Exploring the Modern Avant-Garde

Because of their experimental forms, both novels may be described as avant-garde. Historically, the term referred to artists and writers who pushed beyond established boundaries, often imagining new political and social possibilities.

However, neither novel is focused on envisioning a radically different future. Instead, both examine the challenges of living in the present. Their concerns center on survival, care, memory, and the lingering effects of personal and political struggles.

In doing so, they raise an important question: What does the avant-garde look like in the 2020s?

Hello, World?: Desire, Identity, and Consent

Poletti’s novel follows Seasonal, a genderqueer academic who relocates to the Netherlands for work. After the end of a long-term relationship, Seasonal embarks on a journey of self-discovery, exploring their deepest desires through a dominant-submissive relationship with a Hungarian expatriate named Laszlo.

The novel examines themes of kink, trauma, power, and consent. Through fragmented scenes and text-message exchanges, Poletti investigates the ethical foundations of relationships built around negotiated power dynamics.

Rather than focusing solely on explicit encounters, the novel explores how both characters navigate the fine line between domination and exploitation. Seasonal frequently reflects on trauma, identity, and personal freedom, while questioning how cultural conditioning shapes desire.

One of the book’s strengths is its complex portrayal of Seasonal, whose pursuit of liberation often reveals contradictions within their own beliefs and behavior. The novel suggests that personal freedom is rarely simple and that the pursuit of self-fulfillment can produce unexpected consequences.

As a study of identity, sexuality, and contemporary progressive politics, Hello, World? offers thought-provoking insights, even if its experimental style may appeal most strongly to readers interested in theory-driven literary fiction.

Ruins, Child: Memory, Community, and Survival

While Hello, World? focuses on personal relationships, Ruins, Child turns its attention to history, community, and collective memory.

The novel is composed of fragments drawn from a wide range of Black literary and cultural traditions. Influences include the works of August Wilson, Toni Cade Bambara, Derek Walcott, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and June Jordan, alongside references to art, architecture, music, and film.

At the center of the story are six women living in a deteriorating apartment tower. Through memories, conversations, and reflections, they revisit moments from their past while confronting an uncertain future. Time shifts fluidly throughout the narrative, often blurring the boundaries between decades.

Scodellaro uses this fragmented structure to explore what has been lost through neglect, displacement, and social inequality. Rather than imagining a future utopia, the novel gathers pieces of history and culture, preserving stories that might otherwise disappear.

Themes of solidarity, resilience, and care run throughout the book. Even as infrastructure crumbles and social systems fail, the characters find strength in community and shared memory.

Looking Inward Rather Than Forward

Although both novels employ experimental techniques, neither embraces the traditional avant-garde ambition of imagining a revolutionary future.

Instead, Hello, World? examines the contradictions of personal liberation, while Ruins, Child seeks meaning in the fragments of history and collective experience. Both works look inward and backward, focusing on understanding the present through self-examination and remembrance.

Scodellaro’s novel stands out for its intricate collage-like construction and rich engagement with Black literary traditions. Poletti’s work, meanwhile, offers a provocative exploration of sexuality, consent, and identity in contemporary society.

Together, the novels reflect a broader literary trend in which writers are less concerned with grand political visions and more interested in the intimate realities of survival, memory, and human connection. Their restraint and introspection may be among the most revealing characteristics of contemporary literature in the mid-2020s.