Twenty-First-Century British Fiction and the City

Description

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. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction: Twenty-First-Century British Fiction and the City (Magali Cornier Michael)....Pages 1-14 “Why Should You Go Out?”: Encountering the City in Monica Ali’s Brick Lane (Nick Bentley)....Pages 15-33 The Cosmopolitan Potential of Urban England?: Jon McGregor’s If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things (Magali Cornier Michael)....Pages 35-59 “We Exist Only in the Reflection of Others”: Imagining London’s History in Bernardine Evaristo’s The Emperor’s Babe (Nicola Allen)....Pages 61-79 Gated Communities and Dystopia in J.G. Ballard’s Super-Cannes (Francesco Di Bernardo)....Pages 81-101 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)....Pages 103-129 Belonging and Un-belonging in London: Representations of Home in Diana Evans’ 26a (Katie Danaher)....Pages 131-154 Between Urban Ecology and Social Construction: Environment and the Ethics of Representation in Zadie Smith’s NW (John Hadlock)....Pages 155-179 The Queer Gothic Spaces of Contemporary Glasgow: Louise Welsh’s The Cutting Room (Emily Horton)....Pages 181-204 Convulsions of the Local: Contemporary British Psychogeographical Fiction (Ella Mudie)....Pages 205-231 Trauma, Negativities, and the City in Trezza Azzopardi’s Remember Me (Philip Tew)....Pages 233-248 Back Matter ....Pages 249-252