The Novel Now
Contemporary British Fiction
1. Auflage Dezember 2006
264 Seiten, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
The Novel Now is an intelligent and engaging survey of
contemporary British fiction.
* * Discusses familiar names such as Martin Amis, Ian McEwan,
Salman Rushdie, and Angela Carter and compares them with more
recent authors, including David Mitchell, Ali Smith, A.L. Kennedy,
Matt Thorne, Nicola Barker, and Toby Litt
* Incorporates original coverage of subgenres such as chick lit,
lad lit, gay fiction, crime fiction, and the historical novel
* Discusses the ways in which notions of regional identity and
tribalist views have surfaced in UK and Irish fiction, and how
post-Imperial sensibility has become a feature of the
'British' novel
* Situates contemporary fiction within its socio-cultural and
literary contexts.
Acknowledgements.
Part I: Realism Versus Modernism: Win, Lose or Draw?.
1. Before Now. A Brief Account of the Pre-1970s British
Novel.
2. Something Unusual: Martin Amis and Ian McEwan.
3. The Effects of Thatcherism.
4. The New Postmodernists.
Part II: Excursions From the Ordinary.
5. The New Historical Novel.
6. Crime and Spy Fiction.
Part III: Sex.
7. Women.
8. Men.
9. Gay Fiction.
Part IV: Nation, Race and Place.
10. Scotland.
11. England, Englishness and Class.
12. The Question of Elsewhere.
13. Wales.
14. The Troubles.
15. Epilogue: The State of the Novel.
Select Bibliography: Recommended Further Reading.
Index
"This survey of a vast field is elegantly managed, with
agreeable readings along the way."
The Guardian
"Bradford is formidable, bracing and wildly stimulating"
The Telegraph
"The Novel Now shows that Richard Bradford is a very
sharp and unillusioned critic; that he is his own man."
Martin Amis
Praise for Richard Bradford's previous works:
For Lucky Him: The Life of Kingsley Amis
"sharp and convincing... written with magisterial
skill"
The Daily Telegraph
"perceptive... intelligent... written with an unstrident
ease and sympathy that would surely have pleased his subject"
The Spectator
For First Boredom, Then Fear: The Life of Philip
Larkin
"quite the best book [on him] yet to appear... a
masterful analysis... Bradford is in such complete command of
his subject matter, nothing escapes him. It is as if he has had
access to Larkin's very thought processes. A great biography
of a great artistic genius. Utterly magnificent"
The Daily Express
"extraordinary... quite the best thing to appear on Larkin
in ages"
The London Evening Standard
