The Contemporary British Novel: Second Edition - Hardcover

Tew, Philip

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 082649319X ISBN 13: 9780826493194

Publisher: Continuum, 2007

Synopsis

The Contemporary British Novel is a lively, wide-ranging guide to the key issues in writing in Britain since the mid-1970s, including social change, gender, sexuality, class, history and ethnicity.  Designed to address problems faced by students in the exciting but challenging field of contemporary fiction, the text is organised to focus on major topics including: - the changing nature of British identity; - the representation of urban identity and urban spaces; - class issues including the rise and fall of the middle class; - multiracial identity and hybridity. The second edition includes a new introduction and a new chapter on fiction since the millennium focusing on a post 9/11 aesthetic.  Every chapter has been revised for the new edition and now includes an initial overview and recommended reading to offer guidance on further study.  Includes readings of novels by: Martin Amis, Pat Barker, A. S. Byatt, Jonathan Coe, Hanif Kureishi, Salman Rushdie,Will Self, Zadie Smith, Jeanette Winterson among others.

About this title

Review:

'an important contribution to current critical debates on the future of the novel' Professor Patricia Waugh, University of Durham

Mentioned in Contemporary Review, 2008.

'Phil Tew is the perfect Virgil to guide readers through the underworld of the contemporary English novel.' - Will Self

'To set out to write a poetics of the contemporary novel within the edgy category of 'British' is a doubly ambitious project...As well as offering a more integrative view of the the literary phenomenon than most recent companions and readers, it is not uniquely a critical assessment of the writing experience per se, but a forceful attempt at devising adequate tools to capture the new aesthetic of the novel today.' 'The study merits serious attention from scholars of contemporary studies, providing a refreshing blend of creative and critical reading, with its constant capacity for self-renewal.' 'It should be required reading for scholars working in contemporary writing, and it will be excellent supporting material for graduate students.'--Sanford Lakoff

Synopsis:

The Contemporary British Novel is a lively, wide-ranging, lucid guide to the key issues in writing in Britain since the mis-1970's, including social change, urban identity, and history and its relationship with the present. Philip Tew provides close readings of key works by a wide range of interesting writers, including both canonical figures and writers neglected in traditional surveys. He argues that contemporary writing should be studied in its own right rather than simply as a continuation of post-war trends and provides a fresh analysis of recent fiction and its historical and cultural contexts in contemporary Britain. Philip Tew is Reader in English and Aesthetics, University of Central England, Birmingham. He is founding Director of the UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies. His publications include B.S. Johnson: A Critical Reading (2001) and Contemporary British Fiction (edited with Rod Mengham and Richard Lane, 2003).

About this edition

• Publisher: Continuum
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 082649319X
• ISBN 13: 9780826493194
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 278