Product Description

This study introduces the prose writing of B.S. Johnson, the quintessentially "lost" or neglected British novelist. Famously he rejected fiction as lies. Celebrated in his short lifetime (1933-1973), Johnson both adapts the experimentalism of the nouveau roman, and commits his narratives to a plural and chaotic notion of truth as a literary critique. Using appropriate theorists and philosophers, Philip Tew contextualizes Johnson's works and advances a reading that sustains the novelist's importance and redeems the relevance of the socio-critical aspects of his oeuvre. The chapters analyze different themes and phases of Johnson's writing from the early experimental forms, to his autobiographical phase and finally the formally intricate works written in the years before his dramatic and tragic suicide. This literary recovery of Johnson offers interpretations in a full-length study of the author and his work. Given the growing interest in Johnson, and the reissue of his major works, the present study provides a critical context for students, researchers and academics interested in the fields of 20th-century literature, the novel, cultural studies, and literary theory.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1899545 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Review
"'A valuable contribution to the now resurgent reputation of this great, English counter-cultural writer. Dr Tew knows the subject, knows the territory, and has produced a road map for Johnson's literary soul.' Will Self; 'Philip Tew's 'critical reading' is intelligent, passionate and complex, an essential companion to B. S. Johnson's brilliant but sadly neglected novels. Read Johnson! Read Tew!' Jim Crace"

From the Back Cover
'A valuable contribution to the now resurgent reputation of this great English counter-cultural writer. Dr. Tew knows the subject, knows the territory, and has produced a road map for Johnson's literary soul.' Will Self

'Philip Tew's "critical reading" is intelligent, passionate and complex, as essential companion to B.S. Johnson's brilliant and sadly-neglected novels. Read Johnson! Read Tew!' Jim Crace

About the Author
Philip Tew is Senior Lecturer in English and Aesthetics at the University of Debrecen, Hungary