Twenty-First-Century British Fiction and the City

The essays in this edited collection offer incisive and nuanced analyses of and insights into the state of British cities and urban environments in the twenty-first century. Britain's experiences with industrialization, colonialism, post-colonialism, global capitalism, and the European Union (EU) have had a marked influence on British ideas about and British literature's depiction of the city and urban contexts. Recent British fiction focuses in particular on cities as intertwined with globalization and global capitalism (including the proliferation of media) and with issues of immigration and migration. Indeed, decolonization has brought large numbers of people from former colonies to Britain, thus making British cities ever more diverse. Such mixing of peoples in urban areas has led to both racist fears and possibilities of cosmopolitan co-existence.

Features contributions examining the work of well-known contemporary British writers as well as that of lesser-studied writers Addresses a lacuna in criticism to date - little work has focused on the city/urban environment in contemporary British fictions Unpacks the way in which contemporary British fiction's engagement with the city remains inextricable from the specific context of the new millennium

Auteur

Magali Cornier Michael is Professor of English at Duquesne University, USA, and has authored Narrative Innovation in 9/11 Fiction (2014), New Visions of Community in Contemporary American Fiction: Tan, Kingsolver, Castillo, Morrison (2006), and Feminism and the Postmodern Impulse: Post-World War II Fiction (1996), as well as numerous essays on contemporary literature.

Contenu

1. Introduction: Twenty-First-Century British Fiction and the City: Magali Cornier Michael.- 2. Why Should You Go Out?: Encountering the City in Monica Ali's Brick Lane : Nick Bentley.- 3. The Cosmopolitan Potential of Urban England?: Jon McGregor's If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things : Magali Cornier Michael.- 4 We exist only in the reflection of others: Imagining London's History in Bernadine Evaristo's The Emperor's Babe: Nicola Allen.- 5. Gated Communities and Dystopia in J.G. Ballard's Super-Cannes : Francesco Di Bernardo.- 6. Celetoids and the City: Tabloidization of the Working Class in Zadie Smith's White Teeth and Martin Amis' Lionel Asbo: State of England : Megan Faragher.- 7. Belonging and Un-belonging in London: Representations of Home in Diana Evans' 26a : Katie Danaher.- 8 Between Urban Ecology and Social Construction: Environment and the Ethics of Representation in Zadie Smith's NW : John Hadlock.- 9.The Queer Gothic Spaces of Contemporary Glasgow: Louise Welsh's The Cutting Room : Emily Horton.- 10 Convulsions of the Local: Contemporary British Psychogeographical Fiction: Ella Mudie.- 11. Trauma, Negativities and the City in Trezza Azzopardi's Remember Me : Philip Tew.