The 1980s: A Decade of Contemporary British Fiction

by Philip Tew (Editor), Emily Horton (Editor), Leigh Wilson (Editor)

Overview

How did social, cultural and political events in Britain during the 1980s shape contemporary British fiction?



Setting the fiction squarely within the context of Conservative politics and questions about culture and national identity, this volume reveals how the decade associated with Thatcherism frames the work of Kazuo Ishiguro, Martin Amis, and Graham Swift, of Scottish novelists and new diasporic writers. How and why 1980s fiction is a response to particular psychological, social and economic pressures is explored in detail.

Drawing on the rise of individualism and the birth of neo-liberalism, contributors reflect on the tense relations between 1980s politics and realism, and between elegy and satire. Noting the creation of a 'heritage industry' during the decade, the rise of the historical novel is also considered against broader cultural changes.

Viewed from the perspective of more recent theorisations of crisis following both 9/11 and the 21st-century financial crash, this study makes sense of why and how writers of the 1980s constructed fictions in response to this decade's own set of fundamental crises.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623563509
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	02/27/2014
Series:	The Decades Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	571 KB

About the Author

Leigh Wilson is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Westminster, UK.

Philip Tew is Professor of English (Post-1900 Literature) at Brunel University, UK, Director of Brunel's Centre for Contemporary Writing and Director of the UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies.

Emily Horton is Visiting Lecturer in English Literature at Brunel University, UK and at the University of Westminster, UK.

Philip Tew is Professor of English (Post-1900 Literature) at Brunel University, UK, Director of the Brunel Centre for Contemporary Writing and Director of the UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies. His many publications as both author and editor include Reading Zadie Smith: The First Decade and Beyond (Bloomsbury, 2013) and (co-edited with Emily Horton and Leigh Wilson) The 1980s: A Decade of Modern British Fiction (Bloomsbury, 2014).
Emily Horton is Senior Lecturer in English at Brunel University, UK. Her research interests include contemporary world literature, specializing in trauma and affect theory, genre and popular fiction, and fictional explorations of globalization and transnationalism. Her monograph, Contemporary Crisis Fictions, was published in 2014, and she has also co-edited the following volumes: The 2010s: A Decade in Contemporary British Fiction, with Nick Bentley, Philip Tew and Nick Hubble (Bloomsbury, 2024); The 1980s: A Decade in Contemporary British Fiction, with Philip Tew and Leigh Wilson (Bloomsbury, 2014); and Ali Smith, with Monica Germanà (Bloomsbury, 2013).
Leigh Wilson is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Westminster, UK.

Table of Contents

Series Introduction Nick Hubble, Philip Tew and Leigh Wilson\Volume Introduction Philip Tew, Leigh Wilson and Emily Horton\ Notes on Contributors\1. Bombs, Kidnappings and Yuppies: The Literary History of the Decade Emily Horton\2. Thatcherism and Literature Joseph Brooker\3. The Awakening of Caledonias? Scottish Literature in the 1980s Monica Germanà\4. Black British Women's Fiction in the 1980s Susan Alice Fischer\5. From the Heritage Act to Radical Historiography: History in the 1980s Alex Murray\6. Generic Discontinuities and Variations in Fiction of the 1980s Frederick M. Holmes\7. The American Reception of British Fiction in the 1980s Brian Finney 8. British novels of 1980s: Asian Contexts Jung Su\9. British Novels in the 1980s: European Contexts Ana-Karina Schneider\Timeline\Brief Biographies\Bibliography\Index