York Notes Companions: New Directions
Published on 15. June 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-1-4082-0477-1 (ISBN)
Description
A York Notes Companion for students of contemporary literature, this volume looks at the literature of our own times, shaped by recent experiences from millennial anxieties to the events of 9/11. Placing texts within a cultural and critical context, the book discusses emerging genres such as multicultural and post-colonial writing, contemporary theatre, autobiography and the neo-Victorian novel. Established writers such as A. S. Byatt, Salman Rushdie, and Carol Ann Duffy are featured alongside the newer voices of Zadie Smith, Alan Hollinghurst and Sarah Waters in a volume which offers an essential overview of the contemporary literary scene in Britain and further afield.
More details
Person
Dr Fiona Tolan is a lecturer in English at Liverpool John Moores University, where she teaches on a variety of twentieth- and twenty-first century literature modules. Her first book, Margaret Atwood: Feminism and Fiction (Rodopi, 2007), won the Margaret Atwood Society 'Best Book' Award for 2007, and she is co-editor of Writers Talk: Conversations with Contemporary British Novelists, with Philip Tew and Leigh Wilson, for Continuum (2008). Fiona has also published articles and book chapters on a number of contemporary British and Canadian writers, including Pat Barker, Zadie Smith, Alice Munro, Kate Atkinson, and Ian McEwan. Her current research is on ethics and contemporary British fiction. She is a Council Member of the British Association of Canadian Studies and an associate editor of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.
Content
Part One: Introduction
Part Two: A Cultural Overview
Part Three: Texts, Writers and Contexts
The Neo-Victorian Novel - A. S. Byatt, Peter Carey, Sarah Waters
Extended commentary, Waters, Fingersmith (2002)
Contemporary Theatre - Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill, David Hare
Extended commentary, Kane, Blasted (1995)
Multicultural/Postcolonial Writing - Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali, Zadie Smith
Extended commentary, Ali, Brick Lane (2003)
New Diversities in Contemporary Poetry - Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay, Benjamin Zephaniah
Extended commentary, Duffy, Feminine Gospels (2002)
Gender and Sexuality - Jeanette Winterson, Helen Fielding, Alan Hollinghurst
Extended commentary, Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty (2004)
Writing the Self: Biography and Autobiography - Frank McCourt, David Lodge
Extended commentary, Lodge, Author, Author (2005)
Part Four: Critical theories and Debates
Remembering the Past
Post-Millennial Anxieties and Dystopia
Literature and Celebrity
Writing the Child
Part Five: Resources
Timeline
Further reading
Index
Part Two: A Cultural Overview
Part Three: Texts, Writers and Contexts
The Neo-Victorian Novel - A. S. Byatt, Peter Carey, Sarah Waters
Extended commentary, Waters, Fingersmith (2002)
Contemporary Theatre - Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill, David Hare
Extended commentary, Kane, Blasted (1995)
Multicultural/Postcolonial Writing - Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali, Zadie Smith
Extended commentary, Ali, Brick Lane (2003)
New Diversities in Contemporary Poetry - Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay, Benjamin Zephaniah
Extended commentary, Duffy, Feminine Gospels (2002)
Gender and Sexuality - Jeanette Winterson, Helen Fielding, Alan Hollinghurst
Extended commentary, Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty (2004)
Writing the Self: Biography and Autobiography - Frank McCourt, David Lodge
Extended commentary, Lodge, Author, Author (2005)
Part Four: Critical theories and Debates
Remembering the Past
Post-Millennial Anxieties and Dystopia
Literature and Celebrity
Writing the Child
Part Five: Resources
Timeline
Further reading
Index