Reading the Novel in English 1950 - 2000

Written in clear, jargon-free prose, this introductory text charts the variety of English-language novel writing in the second half of the twentieth century.

It focuses equally on British and Irish novelists, and on Anglophone novelists from other countries (exclusive of the US).

The text provides students both with strategies for interpretation and with fresh readings of ten influential novels.

It maps out the most important contexts and concepts for understanding the fiction of the period, considering subjects such as the aftermath of literary modernism and the end of the British Empire.

Novels discussed in depth include Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale", Kazuo Ishiguro's "Remains of the Day" and Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart".

The author treats the English-language novel of this period as a socially-engaged and exploratory genre, one that challenges and stretches the prevailing canons of knowledge and literary representation in its bid to depict and probe an evolving present.