A Concise Companion to Contemporary British

A Concise Companion to Contemporary British Fiction offers an authoritative overview of contemporary British fiction in its social, political, and economic contexts. Focuses on the fiction that has emerged since the late 1970s, roughly since the start of the Thatcher era. Comprises original essays from major scholars. Topics range from the rise and fall of the postcolonial novel to controversies over the celebrity author. The emphasis is on the whole fiction scene, from bookstores and prizes to the changing economics of film adaptation. Enables students to read contemporary works of British fiction with a much clearer sense of where they fit within British cultural life.

James F. English is Professor and Chair of the English Department at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Comic Transactions: Literature, Humor, and the Politics of Community in Twentieth-Century Britain (1994) and The Economy of Prestige: Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value (2005).

Notes on Contributors

ix

Introduction: British Fiction in a Global Frame

James F. English

1

(18)

The increasing importance since the 1970's of transnational markets and circuits of exchange, and the consequent repositioning of British fiction in "world literary space."

Part I Institutions of Commerce

1 Literary Fiction and the Book Trade

Richard Todd

19

(20)

The triangulated relation between

(i) authors and agents,

(ii) publishers, and

(iii) retail booksellers, and the rise of the retailers to a position of dominance.

2 Literary Authorship and Celebrity Culture

James F. English and John Frow

39

(19)

The phenomenon of literary celebrity and its new articulation of the authorial signature with the brand name. Authors considered include Martin Amis, J.K. Rowling, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, and Fay Weldon.

3 Fiction and the Film Industry

Andrew Higson

58

(25)

The interaction of contemporary British literature and the cinema, considered as both businesses and cultures. Discusses the full range of novels adapted for the screen, with an extended case study of the adaptation of A.S. Byatt's Possession.

Part II Elaborations of Empire

4 Tropicalizing London: British Fiction and the Discipline of Postcolonialism

Nico Israel

83

(18)

The emergence of postcolonial theory and, subsequently, of a canon of postcolonial novels. Discusses such theorists as Homi Bhabha, Stuart Hall, and Paul Gilroy, and the novelists Anita Desai, Hari Kunzru, Hanif Kureishi, V.S. Naipaul, Ben Okri, and Salman Rushdie.

5 New Ethnicities, the Novel, and the Burdens of Representation

James Procter

101

(20)

The shifting relationship between race, writing, and representation from the late 1970's to the present, with particular reference to the work of Monica Ali, Farrukh Dhondy, Hanif Kureishi, Salman Rushdie, and Zadie Smith.

6 Devolving the Scottish Novel

Cairns Craig

121

(20)

Contemporary Scottish fiction in the context of Scottish nationalism and the politics of devolution, with reference to the work of Janice Galloway, Alasdair Gray, James Kelman, A.L. Kennedy, and Alan Warner.

7 Northern Irish Fiction: Provisionals and Pataphysicians

John Brannigan

141

(26)

How fiction in Northern Ireland has responded to the politics of the interregnum since 1993, with particular attention to the work of Seamus Deane, Glenn Patterson, Deirdre Madden, Robert McLiam Wilson, and Ciaran Carson.

Part III Mutations of Form

8 The Historical Turn in British Fiction

Suzanne Keen

167

(21)

The rising status of historical fiction in contemporary Britain as more self-consciously "literary" forms of the genre have emerged alongside traditional verisimilar historical novels and women's historical romances. Among the many authors discussed are A.S. Byatt, Bernadine Evaristo, Hilary Mantel, Craig Raine, Salman Rushdie, and Edmund White.

9 The Woman Writer and the Continuities of Feminism

Patricia Waugh

188

(21)

The persistent concerns and contradictions in women's fiction since the 1960's, with reference to Angela Carter, Margaret Drabble, Helen Fielding, Doris Lessing, Iris Murdoch, and Fay Weldon.

10 Queer Fiction: The Ambiguous Emergence of a Genre

Robert L. Caserio

209

(20)

The consolidation of queer fiction as a recognized and important literary category in Britain, and the ongoing tension between this body of literature and the politics of gay rights and gay identity. Writers considered include Pat Barker, Neil Bartlett, Alan Hollinghurst, Jackie Kay, Adam Mars-Jones, Co1m Toibin, and Jeanette Winterson.

11 The Demise of Class Fiction

Dominic Head

229

(19)

The waning of class consciousness in British fiction as the traditional, adversarial model of class has given way to new understandings both of social inequity and of collective empowerment. With reference to a range of writers, including Nell Dunn, Livi Michael, Alan Sillitoe, and Raymond Williams.

12 What the Porter Saw: On the Academic Novel

Bruce Robbins

248

(19)

The academic novel considered as a disguised version of the upward mobility story, with the university serving as a figure for the welfare state, the frame in which the ambiguities of upward mobility are played out. Focuses on the novels of Kingsley Amis, Malcolm Bradbury, A.S. Byatt, Amit Chaudhuri, and David Lodge.

Index

267

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

FREE SHIPPING

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

A Concise Companion to Contemporary British Fiction

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials