Reading Graham Swift

Reviews / Votes

Over four decades Graham Swift, one of the finest novelists and short-story writers of his generation, has created an acclaimed body of work inhabited by seemingly ordinary people going about their ostensibly unremarkable lives. Quietly unassuming but beautifully wrought and profoundly revelatory, his literary oeuvre invites and rewards critical scrutiny, as this rich and compelling collection of scholarly essays amply demonstrates. The first book in English to be devoted to Swift's work in more than a dozen years, this illuminating volume traces the author's preoccupations and investments across the full range of his literary output, while paying particular attention to the as yet underexplored terrain of his more recent works. Scholars and students of this major writer and of contemporary British literature generally will find it an invaluable resource. -- Stef Craps, Ghent University, co-author of <i>Trauma<i> Reading Graham Swift is a fresh and timely overview of Swift's writing, offering numerous insightful readings and new interpretations of his work. Its coverage is comprehensive, its scope eclectic, and its publication attests not only to the international appeal of Swift's fiction, but also to the vibrancy of debate on his work. This collection will add enormously to Swift's critical reputation as one of the most important British writers of the last fifty years. -- Daniel Lea, Oxford Brookes University