Postmodern modes of writing have contributed to a rich tradition of innovative and memorable British fiction in the period stretching from the late twentieth century to the present day. Postmodernism has been dismissed as introspective or ahistorical, but its British incarnation demonstrates how compassionate, political, and socially conscious it can be. This volume provides fresh, accessible readings of the most influential examples of postmodern British fiction – and work by more recent, post-millennial writers working in its slipstream. It plots its emergence, reassesses its highpoint in the 1980s and 1990s, and delineates its legacy in the twenty-first century. A valuable resource for students, researchers, and the general reader, this Companion provides powerful critical frameworks to understand its geographies; its relationship to North American postmodernism; its renovation of literary forms such as the romance, speculative fiction, and the historical novel; and its vibrant engagements with race, gender, sexuality, and questions of national identity.
Introduction: British postmodern fiction Bran Nicol; 1. The politics of postmodern British fiction Hywel Dix; 2. British postmodern fiction and the rise of 'declinism' Graham Matthews; 3. Postmodern British literature and the postcolonial Graham MacPhee; 4. The geographies of British postmodern fiction Neal Alexander; 5. Transatlantic fictions Stephen J. Burn; 6. The Scottish postmodern novel? Stephanie Lehner; 7. Outside postmodernism: B. S. Johnson before, during and after Glyn White; 8. The recovery of genre in contemporary British fiction: return of the romance Suzanne Keen; 9. Alternative realisms: speculation, magic and miracle in British postmodern fiction Andrew Tate; 10. 'Queer' postmodernism? British gay and lesbian fiction Kate Haffey; 11. Black British and British Asian fiction: postmodernism and beyond Kristian Shaw; 12. History and the British novel after postmodernism Alison Lee; 13. Neo-Victorian fiction Patricia Pulham; 14. The end of postmodernism? Bran Nicol; 15. British fiction beyond postmodernism Nick Bentley; 16. Postmodern British fiction: then and now Hans Bertens.
Bran Nicol is Professor of English Literature at the University of Surrey. His many publications include The Cambridge Introduction to Postmodern Fiction (2009), Postmodernism and the Contemporary Novel: A Reader (2002), Stalking (2006), The Private Eye (2013), and a forthcoming co-authored biography (with Emmanuelle Fantin) of Jean Baudrillard.
