Gentrification in Contemporary Fiction

Focusing on literary representations of gentrification, this book analyses twenty-first century anglophone novels by authors from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and India. Literary texts, so adept at revealing the experiences and emotions of individuals within communities, are also important vehicles for exploring the complex relationships between individuals and the wider social, economic and political forces that lead to urban transformations including gentrification. These complexities are best revealed, this book argues, by proceeding from a forensic examination of characters'' domestic buildings and spaces. Examining novels from a broad range of writers, including Zadie Smith, Lionel Shriver, Aravind Adiga, Michael Chabon and Irvine Welsh, this book makes a powerful case for the importance of literature in helping to understand the lived experience of gentrification.>

Auteur
James Peacock is Lecturer in English and American literatures at Keele University, UK. His articles on contemporary American fiction have appeared in Journal of American Studies, English and Critique.

Contenu
Acknowledgements Introduction: (Not) At Home: Geographies and Genres of the Gentrification Story Chapter 1: The House as Character, the Character of the House Chapter 2: The Frontier and the Picturesque Chapter 3: House of Pain: Gentrification and Home Invasion Chapter 4: Renovations: Psychological Gentrification Chapter 5: Underworlds: Crime Stories and Gentrification Chapter 6: Other Neighbourhoods, Other Worlds: Gentrification, Speculative Fictions and Apocalypse Conclusion: Forms of Resistance Bibliography