Product Description

This important new book provides a comprehensive introduction to British fiction from 1979 to the present. The volume outlines the main developments in contemporary fiction and engages with key themes such as cultural identity, gender, myth and history, postcolonialism and urban culture. In a series of lively and accessible essays, key critics introduce a broad range of leading British writers, including Salman Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson, Will Self, Pat Barker, Kazuo Ishiguro, Martin Amis and Zadie Smith. Offering an illuminating analysis and contextualiztion of British fiction today, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of contemporary literature.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #593406 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
"[An] insightful, perceptive and nuanced analysis ... the collection is a landmark in the critical analysis of current literary culture." Times Higher Education Supplement

"I was impressed by the range and conscientious skill of the critics... this collection discusses much of the best in contemporary British writing, and deserves to be successful." Sir Frank Kermode, formerly King Edward Professor of English at Cambridge

"An admirably ambitious attempt to map the contemporary literary scene, impressive both in the range and the depth of its coverage. Certainly the sharpest and most up–to–date book I have read on the subject." Jonathan Coe

From the Back Cover
This important new book provides a comprehensive introduction to British fiction from 1979 to the present. The volume outlines the main developments in contemporary fiction and engages with key themes such as cultural identity, gender, myth and history, postcolonialism and urban culture. In a series of lively and accessible essays, key critics introduce a broad range of leading British writers, including Salman Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson, Will Self, Pat Barker, Kazuo Ishiguro, Martin Amis and Zadie Smith. Offering an illuminating analysis and contextualiztion of British fiction today, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of contemporary literature.

About the Author
Richard J. Lane is Senior Lecturer in English at South Bank University, London and Reader in British and Postcolonial Studies, at the University of Debrecen, Hungary.

Rod Mengham is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of English, University of Cambridge and Director of Studies in English, Jesus College, Cambridge.

Philip Tew is Reader in English and Aesthetics at the University of Central England in Birmingham, and Reader in English & Aesthetics at the University of Debrecen, Hungary.

Customer Reviews

Vital for students and the casual reader alike
Literary studies being what they are, it's more than easy to find scholarly works on Shakespeare and Dickens, but where do you turn to if you need an academic essay on Pat Barker, Will Self or Irvine Welsh?

This collection of essays fills a gap, with excellent essays on (as the title suggests) fiction writers in Britain today. Dominic Head tackles the themes of multiculturalism and genetic engineering in Zadie Smith's 'White Teeth', and it's refreshing to see chapters on Will Self and A. L. Kennedy.

However, I really do wonder if the world needs yet more space given over to ponderings on Carter, Amis, Ishiguro, and Rushdie, so ultimately, this collection of essays feels like a lost opportunity: there is barely any room for the bright young things to be given enough critical space for any effective evaluation of their work. In fact, one of these 'young' writers told me that in their chapter: "they've got it wrong - just wrong". Some 'young' writers are ignored completely - where is Nick Hornby? Helen Fielding? Must fiction always induce chin-stroking to warrant academic scrutiny? Chicklit and Ladlit have had a huge impact on contemporary British fiction, but you would never know they existed from leafing through this study.

It's a good collection, but I'm hungry for more.