Here We Are (2020), Graham Swift's latest novel to date, tells the story of a love triangle betwe... more Here We Are (2020), Graham Swift's latest novel to date, tells the story of a love triangle between three young variety artists over a few weeks in the summer of 1959. As it is narrated from the present-day perspective fifty years later, when the last surviving member of the trio looks back on her life, remembering in particular the events of the fateful summer which culminated in the tragic loss of her ex-fiancé, the novel at first sight resembles Swift's immediately preceding piece, Mothering Sunday (2016), which employs a similar narrative strategy and revolves around a similar central theme. This paper, however, argues that besides these similarities, Here We Are differs from Mothering Sunday in a number of key regards, which is why it can be read as its precursor's loose duology which complements rather than replicates it. This paper demonstrates that the novel not only combines its author's idiosyncrasies with the narrative forms and perspectives to which he has turned to recently, but also allows him, through metacommentary, to indirectly express his ideas concerning the social, ethical and aesthetic aspects of fiction writing.
This article focuses on the treatment of the theme of memory and recollection of the past in Ian ... more This article focuses on the treatment of the theme of memory and recollection of the past in Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement (2001). As its theoretical point of departure it refers to selected studies by David Lowenthal and Linda Hutcheon. The main aim is to show the originality with which McEwan explores the theme by employing narrative strategies of multiple perspectives, periphery of vision and fragmentary moments. It argues that the force of the combination of the latter two strategies derives from the fact that the narrative itself resembles the very process of recollection.
This paper focuses on arguably the best contemporary British chronicler of historical and literar... more This paper focuses on arguably the best contemporary British chronicler of historical and literary London, Peter Ackroyd. As its theoretical point of departure it deals with his seminal work on the city’s intertextual and discoursive nature over the course of its development, London: The Biography (2000). In order to illustrate Ackroyd’s fictional historiographic treatment of different historical periods of London, two of his novels have been chosen – Hawksmoor (1985) and Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem (1994), while three others, Chatterton (1987), The Clerkenwell Tales (2003) and The Lambs of London (2004), are also referred to. All these texts are discussed from the point of view of textual and thematic interconnectedness, the mixing of the factual and fictitious in creating London’s topography, and the influences of the city’s milieu on the characters’ psyches.
The aim of this contribution is to show how the progress in Ian McEwan’s literary career is refle... more The aim of this contribution is to show how the progress in Ian McEwan’s literary career is reflected in his treatment of the theme of children, childhood and adolescence. For illustration I have chosen three of McEwan’s novels, The Cement Garden, The Child in Time and Atonement, and his only longer book for children so far, The Daydreamer.
This article aims to explore the position of Ian McEwan’s novel Black Dogs (1992) within the corp... more This article aims to explore the position of Ian McEwan’s novel Black Dogs (1992) within the corpus of his work. It attempts to show how this small in scale yet complex novel both follows and subverts the author’s characteristic themes and narrative strategies. It will also argue that, as the novel’s central concerns are the coming to terms with one’s past and the role of memory in this process, it in many respects anticipates McEwan’s most acclaimed work so far, Atonement (2001). Written soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Black Dogs ranks among his most politically engaged novels. Therefore, a special focus will be put on the author’s treatment of the theme of the often ambivalent relationship between private responsibility and public involvement that he touched upon in The Child in Time (1987) and later returned to in Amsterdam (1998).
This paper focuses on Hanif Kureishi’s image of London as both a setting and a theme of his earli... more This paper focuses on Hanif Kureishi’s image of London as both a setting and a theme of his earlier works from the 1980s and early 90s. The first part deals with the author’s three screenplays - My Beautiful Laundrette, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and London Kills Me, the second attempts to analyse the role of the metropolis in Kureishi’s first novel – The Buddha of Suburbia. The aim of the paper is to show that one of the most significant common denominators of these narratives is the positive depiction of London as a city of countless opportunities which frequently turns into a celebration of the city’s multi-ethnicity, perpetual interaction of different identities, and social and cultural diversity.
Hanif Kureishi, whose works frequently explore the psychology and intimate life of his predominan... more Hanif Kureishi, whose works frequently explore the psychology and intimate life of his predominantly male protagonists, is one of the most acclaimed contemporary British writers of multiethnic origin. This article deals with his fourth novel, Gabriel’s Gift (2001), which, to a certain degree, reassumes the thematic tradition of his earliest works, namely his first novel, The Buddha of Suburbia (1990). It attempts to show that Gabriel’s Gift can be read as a kind of sequel to its more acknowledged predecessor, though its main focus has shifted from racial and political issues to a more private, and also more light-hearted, exploration of the state of humanity. The last section focuses on one of the central characteristics of Kureishi’s oeuvre, his celebratory perception of London as a city of countless opportunities and a positive social and cultural diversity.
Peter Ackroyd is one of the most acclaimed and prolific of contemporary British historical writer... more Peter Ackroyd is one of the most acclaimed and prolific of contemporary British historical writers. His fiction exemplifies the genre of historical metafiction, which employs, apart from the eponymous thematisation of the writing process itself, many of the typical postmodernist narrative techniques such as intertextuality, generic hybridity, blurring of the borderline between fiction and historiography by mixing fictitious characters and events with real ones, and open or otherwise inconclusive endings. However, there are two more idiosyncrasies that can be traced in Ackroyd’s novels: the first is the author’s fascination with London and his subsequent representation of the British capital as both a setting and a theme; the second is his interest in the obscure, enigmatic and occult, through which he expresses his persuasion that irrational forces should never be underestimated when we attempt to comprehend the world around us. Both of these tendencies can be found in The Casebook ...
In 2003 a highly original debut novel, Politics, by the young writer Adam Thirlwell (1978), appea... more In 2003 a highly original debut novel, Politics, by the young writer Adam Thirlwell (1978), appeared on the British literary scene. The emergence of a unique talent had been acknowledged even before the novel was published as Granta had placed him on its 2003 list of Best Young British Novelists under forty merely on the basis of a twelve-page extract printed in the literary magazine Areté, where Thirlwell was an assistant editor. The aim of this article is to elaborate on the multiple, seemingly incompatible yet, in fact, complementary narrative and discursive strategies Thirlwell uses in Politics in order to achieve the desired effect on his readers – the narrative perpetually oscillates between an essay on various themes and a mock-philosophical novel. The article also attempts to show that, despite its occasional immaturity, Thirlwell’s debut novel represents a unique and fresh narrative voice in contemporary British fiction.
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) has inspired many artists to render or remake its... more Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) has inspired many artists to render or remake its story of the classical myth of everlasting youth and beauty, the result being countless stage adaptations and film versions rather than literary attempts at rewriting the novel. Will Self ’s Dorian (2002) creates an analogous story to Wilde’s by setting it exactly one century later in time, in 1980s and 90s London. The aim of this article is to present Will Self as a writer and to demonstrate that rather than an imitation or a shocking provocation, Dorian represents an original metafictional literary experiment which, apart from rendering Wilde’s novel, explores a wide range of themes, such as the psychogeography of London, the role and influence of mass media in contemporary Western consumer society, and the eternity of human imagination and creativity
Louis de Bernières is known especially for his international bestseller Captain Corelli’s Mandoli... more Louis de Bernières is known especially for his international bestseller Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (1994) and the historical saga Birds Without Wings (2004). His most recent novel, A Partisan’s Daughter (2008), represents a strikingly different kind of writing, much more subtle and intimate and therefore less ambitious in terms of its plot construction and thematic structure. Through the use of diverse narrative and stylistic techniques, particularly that of the male mock-testimonial, de Bernières manages to explore many of the thematic concerns of his previous works as well as several new ones.
The parallel between the prison and the city is almost as old as the penal institution itself. In... more The parallel between the prison and the city is almost as old as the penal institution itself. In the English literary tradition it is represented namely by London and its places of confinement – it goes back to the seventeenth century and has been rendered vivid and topical in numerous literary works ever since. Peter Ackroyd, one of the foremost contemporary British London writers, has always been interested in the unofficial history of the city, in its dark, obscure and otherwise irrational sides. One of these is the city’s criminality and violence which, naturally, involves the theme of punishment. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the various ways in which Ackroyd makes use of the city-as-prison parallel both as a setting and a metaphor in his selected London novels. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish and Ackroyd’s non-fictions London: The Biography and Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination, it offers a theoretical concept of the metaphor as wel...
In the early 1990s a new tendency in the British urban novel appeared which resulted in the trans... more In the early 1990s a new tendency in the British urban novel appeared which resulted in the transformation of the genre’s perception of its central subject. The atmosphere of dereliction and inner-city decay typical of the urban novels of the 1980s gave way to more optimistic points of view. This shift is particularly seen in Penelope Lively’s City of the Mind (1991), Angela Carter’s Wise Children (1991) and Jim Crace’s Arcadia (1992). The novels of both Lively and Carter have strong elements representing a paean to London’s immortal greatness, and therefore could be seen, to a certain extent, as fictionally anticipating Peter Ackroyd’s London, The Biography (2000). Both the novels also touch on the theme of the vanishing city and can be seen to reflect a very popular narrative strategy of 1990s British fiction – psychogeography. Crace’s Arcadia is a much more complex work as far as the theme of the city is concerned as it brings to bear a wide range of perspectives, such as the amb...
In his London novels, Peter Ackroyd creates a distinct and original fictional world with a number... more In his London novels, Peter Ackroyd creates a distinct and original fictional world with a number of idiosyncratic features, such as the city as a reflection of its dwellers’ minds, the belief in the power of the genius loci, the concept of mystical time challenging the traditional notion of temporal linearity, the focus on the dark sides and heterogeneous tendencies of the city, the theme of crime and criminality, the exploration of the city’s irrational manifestations, and its literary, namely intertextual and palimpsestic, texture. However, one of the most significant defining aspects of Ackroyd’s London is its essentially theatrical nature. Like many prominent literati and scholars in the past, and primarily Charles Dickens whom he acknowledges as his predecessor and influence, Ackroyd notices and renders London’s theatricality, both in the sense of a city of theatres and music halls as well as that of the performativeness and spectacularity of the city’s everyday life. This art...
The article focuses on how the occult and esoteric is employed and explored in selected works of ... more The article focuses on how the occult and esoteric is employed and explored in selected works of Peter Ackroyd, both as a theme and a determining factor of their narrative structure. It aims to discuss the basic constituents of the writer’s mythology of London, namely a cyclic understanding of time, and a focus on the power of the genius loci and the city’s outstanding visionaries. It also shows how the occult aspects of this works undermine the traditional narrative principles of the historical novel and by means of pluralisation and hybridisation attempt to invigorate the genre. In order to illustrate the ways in which Ackroyd incorporates elements of the occult and esoteric in his works five novels have been chosen, Hawksmoor (1985), The House of Doctor Dee (1993), Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem (1994), The Clerkenwell Tales (2003) and The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (2008), along with the non-fiction London: The Biography (2000).
In his London novels, Peter Ackroyd creates a distinct and original fictional world with a number... more In his London novels, Peter Ackroyd creates a distinct and original fictional world with a number of idiosyncratic features, such as the city as being reflection of its dwellers’ minds, a belief in the power of its genius loci, the concept of mystical time challenging the traditional notion of temporal linearity, a focus on the dark sides and heterogeneous tendencies of the city, the theme of crime and criminality, an exploration of the city’s irrational manifestations such as mysticism and occultism, its essentially theatrical nature, and its literary, particularly intertextual and palimpsestic, texture. This paper demonstrates the various ways in which Ackroyd presents and explores London in his latest novel, Three Brothers (2013), and attempts to establish its position within the overall body of his London writing, arguing that it bears a notable affinity especially with his first novel, The Great Fire of London (1982).
Jim Crace is a remarkable contemporary British novelist in the realistic tradition, who deliberat... more Jim Crace is a remarkable contemporary British novelist in the realistic tradition, who deliberately avoids postmodernist experimentation or playfulness. The power of his writing rests in the combination of distinctive main protagonists and the sense of constructing unique fictional topographies. The aim of this article is to demonstrate that his novel Signals of Distress (1994) can be read as both a counterpart and a sequel to its more famous predecessor, Arcadia (1992), as it also explores, through the form of the satirical parable, the position of an individual in the process of a community’s transition due to larger historical, social and economic circumstances.
Nicola Barker’s Clear (2004) was inspired by David Blaine’s endurance stunt “Above the Below”, du... more Nicola Barker’s Clear (2004) was inspired by David Blaine’s endurance stunt “Above the Below”, during which the illusionist fasted for forty-four days confined in a transparent box suspended above the Thames, starting on September 5, 2003. This article focuses on how the theme of self-fashioning through the texts of popular visual culture is explored in the novel and how Barker renders some of the central paradoxical principles that generate these texts’ meanings. It also argues that rather than a documentary fiction Clear represents a novel of ideas because it dramatises some of the recent theories of postmodern popular culture and identity formation.
Here We Are (2020), Graham Swift's latest novel to date, tells the story of a love triangle betwe... more Here We Are (2020), Graham Swift's latest novel to date, tells the story of a love triangle between three young variety artists over a few weeks in the summer of 1959. As it is narrated from the present-day perspective fifty years later, when the last surviving member of the trio looks back on her life, remembering in particular the events of the fateful summer which culminated in the tragic loss of her ex-fiancé, the novel at first sight resembles Swift's immediately preceding piece, Mothering Sunday (2016), which employs a similar narrative strategy and revolves around a similar central theme. This paper, however, argues that besides these similarities, Here We Are differs from Mothering Sunday in a number of key regards, which is why it can be read as its precursor's loose duology which complements rather than replicates it. This paper demonstrates that the novel not only combines its author's idiosyncrasies with the narrative forms and perspectives to which he has turned to recently, but also allows him, through metacommentary, to indirectly express his ideas concerning the social, ethical and aesthetic aspects of fiction writing.
This article focuses on the treatment of the theme of memory and recollection of the past in Ian ... more This article focuses on the treatment of the theme of memory and recollection of the past in Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement (2001). As its theoretical point of departure it refers to selected studies by David Lowenthal and Linda Hutcheon. The main aim is to show the originality with which McEwan explores the theme by employing narrative strategies of multiple perspectives, periphery of vision and fragmentary moments. It argues that the force of the combination of the latter two strategies derives from the fact that the narrative itself resembles the very process of recollection.
This paper focuses on arguably the best contemporary British chronicler of historical and literar... more This paper focuses on arguably the best contemporary British chronicler of historical and literary London, Peter Ackroyd. As its theoretical point of departure it deals with his seminal work on the city’s intertextual and discoursive nature over the course of its development, London: The Biography (2000). In order to illustrate Ackroyd’s fictional historiographic treatment of different historical periods of London, two of his novels have been chosen – Hawksmoor (1985) and Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem (1994), while three others, Chatterton (1987), The Clerkenwell Tales (2003) and The Lambs of London (2004), are also referred to. All these texts are discussed from the point of view of textual and thematic interconnectedness, the mixing of the factual and fictitious in creating London’s topography, and the influences of the city’s milieu on the characters’ psyches.
The aim of this contribution is to show how the progress in Ian McEwan’s literary career is refle... more The aim of this contribution is to show how the progress in Ian McEwan’s literary career is reflected in his treatment of the theme of children, childhood and adolescence. For illustration I have chosen three of McEwan’s novels, The Cement Garden, The Child in Time and Atonement, and his only longer book for children so far, The Daydreamer.
This article aims to explore the position of Ian McEwan’s novel Black Dogs (1992) within the corp... more This article aims to explore the position of Ian McEwan’s novel Black Dogs (1992) within the corpus of his work. It attempts to show how this small in scale yet complex novel both follows and subverts the author’s characteristic themes and narrative strategies. It will also argue that, as the novel’s central concerns are the coming to terms with one’s past and the role of memory in this process, it in many respects anticipates McEwan’s most acclaimed work so far, Atonement (2001). Written soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Black Dogs ranks among his most politically engaged novels. Therefore, a special focus will be put on the author’s treatment of the theme of the often ambivalent relationship between private responsibility and public involvement that he touched upon in The Child in Time (1987) and later returned to in Amsterdam (1998).
This paper focuses on Hanif Kureishi’s image of London as both a setting and a theme of his earli... more This paper focuses on Hanif Kureishi’s image of London as both a setting and a theme of his earlier works from the 1980s and early 90s. The first part deals with the author’s three screenplays - My Beautiful Laundrette, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and London Kills Me, the second attempts to analyse the role of the metropolis in Kureishi’s first novel – The Buddha of Suburbia. The aim of the paper is to show that one of the most significant common denominators of these narratives is the positive depiction of London as a city of countless opportunities which frequently turns into a celebration of the city’s multi-ethnicity, perpetual interaction of different identities, and social and cultural diversity.
Hanif Kureishi, whose works frequently explore the psychology and intimate life of his predominan... more Hanif Kureishi, whose works frequently explore the psychology and intimate life of his predominantly male protagonists, is one of the most acclaimed contemporary British writers of multiethnic origin. This article deals with his fourth novel, Gabriel’s Gift (2001), which, to a certain degree, reassumes the thematic tradition of his earliest works, namely his first novel, The Buddha of Suburbia (1990). It attempts to show that Gabriel’s Gift can be read as a kind of sequel to its more acknowledged predecessor, though its main focus has shifted from racial and political issues to a more private, and also more light-hearted, exploration of the state of humanity. The last section focuses on one of the central characteristics of Kureishi’s oeuvre, his celebratory perception of London as a city of countless opportunities and a positive social and cultural diversity.
Peter Ackroyd is one of the most acclaimed and prolific of contemporary British historical writer... more Peter Ackroyd is one of the most acclaimed and prolific of contemporary British historical writers. His fiction exemplifies the genre of historical metafiction, which employs, apart from the eponymous thematisation of the writing process itself, many of the typical postmodernist narrative techniques such as intertextuality, generic hybridity, blurring of the borderline between fiction and historiography by mixing fictitious characters and events with real ones, and open or otherwise inconclusive endings. However, there are two more idiosyncrasies that can be traced in Ackroyd’s novels: the first is the author’s fascination with London and his subsequent representation of the British capital as both a setting and a theme; the second is his interest in the obscure, enigmatic and occult, through which he expresses his persuasion that irrational forces should never be underestimated when we attempt to comprehend the world around us. Both of these tendencies can be found in The Casebook ...
In 2003 a highly original debut novel, Politics, by the young writer Adam Thirlwell (1978), appea... more In 2003 a highly original debut novel, Politics, by the young writer Adam Thirlwell (1978), appeared on the British literary scene. The emergence of a unique talent had been acknowledged even before the novel was published as Granta had placed him on its 2003 list of Best Young British Novelists under forty merely on the basis of a twelve-page extract printed in the literary magazine Areté, where Thirlwell was an assistant editor. The aim of this article is to elaborate on the multiple, seemingly incompatible yet, in fact, complementary narrative and discursive strategies Thirlwell uses in Politics in order to achieve the desired effect on his readers – the narrative perpetually oscillates between an essay on various themes and a mock-philosophical novel. The article also attempts to show that, despite its occasional immaturity, Thirlwell’s debut novel represents a unique and fresh narrative voice in contemporary British fiction.
Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) has inspired many artists to render or remake its... more Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) has inspired many artists to render or remake its story of the classical myth of everlasting youth and beauty, the result being countless stage adaptations and film versions rather than literary attempts at rewriting the novel. Will Self ’s Dorian (2002) creates an analogous story to Wilde’s by setting it exactly one century later in time, in 1980s and 90s London. The aim of this article is to present Will Self as a writer and to demonstrate that rather than an imitation or a shocking provocation, Dorian represents an original metafictional literary experiment which, apart from rendering Wilde’s novel, explores a wide range of themes, such as the psychogeography of London, the role and influence of mass media in contemporary Western consumer society, and the eternity of human imagination and creativity
Louis de Bernières is known especially for his international bestseller Captain Corelli’s Mandoli... more Louis de Bernières is known especially for his international bestseller Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (1994) and the historical saga Birds Without Wings (2004). His most recent novel, A Partisan’s Daughter (2008), represents a strikingly different kind of writing, much more subtle and intimate and therefore less ambitious in terms of its plot construction and thematic structure. Through the use of diverse narrative and stylistic techniques, particularly that of the male mock-testimonial, de Bernières manages to explore many of the thematic concerns of his previous works as well as several new ones.
The parallel between the prison and the city is almost as old as the penal institution itself. In... more The parallel between the prison and the city is almost as old as the penal institution itself. In the English literary tradition it is represented namely by London and its places of confinement – it goes back to the seventeenth century and has been rendered vivid and topical in numerous literary works ever since. Peter Ackroyd, one of the foremost contemporary British London writers, has always been interested in the unofficial history of the city, in its dark, obscure and otherwise irrational sides. One of these is the city’s criminality and violence which, naturally, involves the theme of punishment. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the various ways in which Ackroyd makes use of the city-as-prison parallel both as a setting and a metaphor in his selected London novels. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish and Ackroyd’s non-fictions London: The Biography and Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination, it offers a theoretical concept of the metaphor as wel...
In the early 1990s a new tendency in the British urban novel appeared which resulted in the trans... more In the early 1990s a new tendency in the British urban novel appeared which resulted in the transformation of the genre’s perception of its central subject. The atmosphere of dereliction and inner-city decay typical of the urban novels of the 1980s gave way to more optimistic points of view. This shift is particularly seen in Penelope Lively’s City of the Mind (1991), Angela Carter’s Wise Children (1991) and Jim Crace’s Arcadia (1992). The novels of both Lively and Carter have strong elements representing a paean to London’s immortal greatness, and therefore could be seen, to a certain extent, as fictionally anticipating Peter Ackroyd’s London, The Biography (2000). Both the novels also touch on the theme of the vanishing city and can be seen to reflect a very popular narrative strategy of 1990s British fiction – psychogeography. Crace’s Arcadia is a much more complex work as far as the theme of the city is concerned as it brings to bear a wide range of perspectives, such as the amb...
In his London novels, Peter Ackroyd creates a distinct and original fictional world with a number... more In his London novels, Peter Ackroyd creates a distinct and original fictional world with a number of idiosyncratic features, such as the city as a reflection of its dwellers’ minds, the belief in the power of the genius loci, the concept of mystical time challenging the traditional notion of temporal linearity, the focus on the dark sides and heterogeneous tendencies of the city, the theme of crime and criminality, the exploration of the city’s irrational manifestations, and its literary, namely intertextual and palimpsestic, texture. However, one of the most significant defining aspects of Ackroyd’s London is its essentially theatrical nature. Like many prominent literati and scholars in the past, and primarily Charles Dickens whom he acknowledges as his predecessor and influence, Ackroyd notices and renders London’s theatricality, both in the sense of a city of theatres and music halls as well as that of the performativeness and spectacularity of the city’s everyday life. This art...
The article focuses on how the occult and esoteric is employed and explored in selected works of ... more The article focuses on how the occult and esoteric is employed and explored in selected works of Peter Ackroyd, both as a theme and a determining factor of their narrative structure. It aims to discuss the basic constituents of the writer’s mythology of London, namely a cyclic understanding of time, and a focus on the power of the genius loci and the city’s outstanding visionaries. It also shows how the occult aspects of this works undermine the traditional narrative principles of the historical novel and by means of pluralisation and hybridisation attempt to invigorate the genre. In order to illustrate the ways in which Ackroyd incorporates elements of the occult and esoteric in his works five novels have been chosen, Hawksmoor (1985), The House of Doctor Dee (1993), Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem (1994), The Clerkenwell Tales (2003) and The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (2008), along with the non-fiction London: The Biography (2000).
In his London novels, Peter Ackroyd creates a distinct and original fictional world with a number... more In his London novels, Peter Ackroyd creates a distinct and original fictional world with a number of idiosyncratic features, such as the city as being reflection of its dwellers’ minds, a belief in the power of its genius loci, the concept of mystical time challenging the traditional notion of temporal linearity, a focus on the dark sides and heterogeneous tendencies of the city, the theme of crime and criminality, an exploration of the city’s irrational manifestations such as mysticism and occultism, its essentially theatrical nature, and its literary, particularly intertextual and palimpsestic, texture. This paper demonstrates the various ways in which Ackroyd presents and explores London in his latest novel, Three Brothers (2013), and attempts to establish its position within the overall body of his London writing, arguing that it bears a notable affinity especially with his first novel, The Great Fire of London (1982).
Jim Crace is a remarkable contemporary British novelist in the realistic tradition, who deliberat... more Jim Crace is a remarkable contemporary British novelist in the realistic tradition, who deliberately avoids postmodernist experimentation or playfulness. The power of his writing rests in the combination of distinctive main protagonists and the sense of constructing unique fictional topographies. The aim of this article is to demonstrate that his novel Signals of Distress (1994) can be read as both a counterpart and a sequel to its more famous predecessor, Arcadia (1992), as it also explores, through the form of the satirical parable, the position of an individual in the process of a community’s transition due to larger historical, social and economic circumstances.
Nicola Barker’s Clear (2004) was inspired by David Blaine’s endurance stunt “Above the Below”, du... more Nicola Barker’s Clear (2004) was inspired by David Blaine’s endurance stunt “Above the Below”, during which the illusionist fasted for forty-four days confined in a transparent box suspended above the Thames, starting on September 5, 2003. This article focuses on how the theme of self-fashioning through the texts of popular visual culture is explored in the novel and how Barker renders some of the central paradoxical principles that generate these texts’ meanings. It also argues that rather than a documentary fiction Clear represents a novel of ideas because it dramatises some of the recent theories of postmodern popular culture and identity formation.
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