Books in the Contemporary British Novelists series

A comprehensive account of the work of J.G. Ballard, one of the most important fiction writers of the past forty years. Traces the development of his career, and the significant contribution he has made to contemporary writing. -- .

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to Booker Prize-winning novelist Graham Swift. Detailed analysis of his work provides an informative, lucid and accessible insight into the writing of one of Britain's most significant contemporary authors. -- .

Jim Crace is one of the most imaginative of contemporary novelists. The author of nine novels, he has received great public and intellectual acclaim across the UK, Europe, Australia and the United States. He was awarded the National Book Critics' Circle Fiction prize (USA) for Being Dead in 2000. Philip Tew's study is the first extended critical examination of Crace's oeuvre and is based on extensive interviews with the novelist, including discussions of his work from his first worldwide bestseller Continent (1986) up to The Pesthouse (2007). Designed especially both for undergraduates of contemporary fiction, and for those who simply enjoy reading the author, Jim Crace is an excellent addition to the Contemporary British Novelists series. Tew's treatment of themes, contexts and narrative strategies illuminates the literary and critical contexts within which Crace operates, situating him as one of the most adventurous and challenging of Britain's twenty-first century authors.

A detailed study of the fiction of Julian Barnes from Metroland to Arthur & George. Approachable, student friendly and comprehensive analysis of all Barnes's novels

This is the first full-length study of Jeanette Winterson's work as a whole. The study establishes the formal, thematic and ideological characteristics of the novels and situates the writer within the general panorama of contemporary British fiction. -- .

The most up-to-date survey of the leading British novelist of his generation, offering the fullest account to date of McEwan's sources, especially concerning his interest in popular science.

This stimulating and comprehensive study of A. S. Byatt's work spans virtually her entire career and offers insightful readings of all of Byatt's fictions up to and including The Children's Book (2009). The authors also consider her role as a critic, cultural commentator and public intellectual.

A clearly written, comprehensive critical introduction to one of the most original contemporary British writers, providing an overview of all of Sinclair's major works and an analysis of his vision of modern London

James Kelman is Scotland's most influential contemporary prose artist. This is the first book-length study of his groundbreaking novels, and it analyses and contextualises each in detail. It argues that while Kelman offers a coherent and consistent vision of the world, each novel should be read as a distinct literary response to particular aspects of contemporary working-class language and culture. Richly historicised through diverse contexts such as Scottish socialism, public transport, emigration, 'Booker Prize' culture and Glasgow's controversial 'City of Culture' status in 1990, Simon Kovesi offers readings of Kelman's style, characterisation and linguistic innovations. This study resists the prevalent condemnations of Kelman as a miserable realist, and produces evidence that he is acutely aware of an unorthodox, politicised literary tradition which transgresses definitions of what literature can or should do. Kelman is cautious about the power relationship between the working-class worlds he represents in his fiction, and the latent preconceptions embedded in the language of academic and critical commentary. In response, this study is boldly self-critical, and questions the validity and values of its own methods. Kelman is shown to be deftly humorous, assiduously ethical, philosophically alert and politically necessary.

This is a comprehensive and definitive study of the Man Booker Prize-winning novelist, Howard Jacobson. It offers lucid, detailed and nuanced readings of each of Jacobson's novels, and makes a powerful case for the importance of his work in the landscape of contemporary fiction. -- .