Contemporary British Fiction (Edinburgh Critical Guide)

Description:
This critical guide introduces major novelists and themes in British fiction from 1975 to 2005. It engages with concepts such as postmodernism, feminism, gender and the postcolonial, and examines the place of fiction within broader debates in contemporary culture. A comprehensive Introduction provides a historical context for the study of contemporary British fiction by detailing significant social, political and cultural events. This is followed by five chapters organised around the core themes: (1) Narrative Forms, (2) Contemporary Ethnicities, (3) Gender and Sexuality, (4) History, Memory and Writing, and (5) Narratives of Cultural Space. Key Features / Introduces the major themes and trends in British fiction over the last 30 years / Analyses a range of writers and texts including Brick Lane by Monica Ali, London Fields by Martin Amis, The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter, Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby, The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi, Atonement by Ian McEwan, Shame by Salman Rushdie, Downriver by Iain Sinclair, White Teeth by Zadie Smith, and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson./ Presents a variety of critical perspectives essential for studying contemporary British fiction / Provides essential resources for further reading and research

Table of Contents:
Series Preface; Acknowledgements; Chronology; Introduction: Historical and Theoretical Contexts 1979-2005; Chapter 1 Narrative Forms: Postmodernism and Realism; Martin Amis, London Fields (1989); Alasdair Gray, Poor Things (1992); Zadie Smith, White Teeth (2000); Chapter 2 Writing Contemporary Ethnicities; Salman Rushdie, Shame (1983); Courttia Newland, Soceity Within (1999); Monica Ali, Brick Lane (2003); Chapter 3 Gender and Sexuality; Angela Carter, The Passion of New Eve (1977); Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985); Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch (1992); Chapter 4 History, Memory and Writing; Graham Swift, Waterland (1983); A. S. Byatt, Possession: A Romance (1990); Ian McEwan, Atonement (2001); Chapter 5 Narratives of Cultural Space; Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia (1990); Iain Sinclair, Downriver (1991); Julian Barnes, England, England (1998); Conclusion; Student Resources; Internet Resources; Questions for Discussion; Alternative Primary Texts; Glossary; Guide to Further Reading; Index.

Author Biography:
Nick Bentley lectures in English literature at Keele University. His main research interests are in post-1945 British fiction and literary and cultural theory. He is author of Radical Fictions: The English Novel in the 1950s (Peter Lang, 2007) and editor of British Fiction of the 1990s (Routledge, 2005). He has published journal articles on Julian Barnes, Zadie Smith, Colin MacInnes, Sam Selvon, and the representations of youth in British New Left writing.