Contemporary British Fiction and the Cultural Politics of Disenfranchisement

By examining the representation of urban space in contemporary British fiction, this book argues that key to the political left's strategy was a model of action which folded politics into culture and elevated disenfranchisement to the status of a political principle.

Beaumont ultimately provides a timely, accessible and highly engaging analysis of the battle between left culturalism and Thatcherism, and its subsequent influence on contemporary British literature. The wide-ranging and interdisciplinary nature of the study ensures the work will be essential reading to cultural theorists and literary researchers alike. (Kristian Shaw, English Studies, Vol. 97 (7), 2016)

Autorentext

Alexander Beaumont is Lecturer in English Literature at York St John University, UK.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: 'What We Need Now...' PART I: IDENTIFYING THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF DISENFRANCHISEMENT 2. Resistance and Rationalisation: Exile and the Inner Cities in Jeanette Winterson's The Passion 3. Rave to the Grave: Hanif Kureishi and the Failure of Left Culturalism 4. Politics is Over: Flexibility and Freedom in J.G. Ballard's Late Dystopias PART II: LOCATING URBAN CULTURE IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY BRITISH FICTION 5. The New Culture Wars: Neo/Liberal Pedagogy in Ian McEwan's Saturday and Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go 6. Placing Politics: Home and the Right to Habitation in Monica Ali's Brick Lane and Zadie Smith's NW 7. Coda: The Postcultural City and the Postculturalist Left Bibliography Index