Contemporary Novelists: British Fiction since 1970 by Peter Childs

Abstract

226 Reviews Contemporary Novelists: British Fiction since 1970. By PETER CHILDS. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2005. Vi+287 pp. CI7.99. ISBN 978-I 4039-II20-9. Peter Childs's book isconcerned with contemporary British fiction,a growing fieldof literarystudy both in theUK and theUS, one where there is a dearth of good critical materials that understand what is distinct about this phase of authorship. Childs attempts todo so.He commences with a brief account of the 'death of thenovel thesis' so popular in the I96os and 1970s epitomized byBernard Bergonzi's The Situation of the Novel (i stedn, London: Macmillan, I970)-so thathemay identify itsreversal, which for him is exemplified by the I983 Book Marketing Council's list of 'Best Twenty Young British Novelists', whose sampled work was published byGranta. In this reading this is where 'anold guard gave way toa new generation, a largenumber of whom have since become the celebrated stalwarts of contemporary fiction' (pp. I-2). Childs historicizes this transformation despite his suspicion that according to some critics 'thenarrative power traditionally associated with fiction' (p. 2) has devolved to science and history.This he offsets with an allusion to theboom in fictionalproduction between 1950 and I990, cited as evidence of the cultural commitment to the novel. The study progresses to an account of 'Politics' from the I950S counterbalanced with broad reference to exemplary texts.What emerges is a sketch of the political and cultural landscape offering some understanding ofBritain from I970. Childs's approach is typifiedby the sections on 'Fiction' and 'Criticism'. In the formerwe learn of the contradictory forces of 'changes in perception of identity in relation to sexuality, ethnicity and gender', and the backlash ofVictorian values that characterize the period (p. 8). The contexts evoked here are instructive. He per ceives contemporary novelists tobe influenced less by Empire and theSecond World War, and more by various emphases, including popular cultural forms, a growing Americanization, postmodern experimental techniques, feminism, and an increasing cultural sense of hybridity. In 'Twelve Novelists' Childs justifies his textual selection (always a somewhat arbitary exercise, as he concedes) on thebasis of date of birth and the impact of the fiction,but finallybecause 'the I2 chapters here concentrate on a selection of thewriters thataremost often studied atUniversity under theumbrella term "contemporary British fiction"' (p. 20). The ensuing chapters on authors ranging from Martin Amis to JeanetteWinter son offer incisive readings, demonstrating a compendious knowledge of these authors from a critic clearly well versed in instructing undergraduates and getting the best from them. The delivery is both confident and uncomplicated. The arrangement of the chapters, each divided into sections featuring 'Literary History', 'Themes', 'KeyWorks', followed by 'References and Further Reading', is eminently sensible, although very occasionally it leads to an outbreak of amild case of repetitiousness. In the chapter on Angela Carter, Patricia Duncker is quoted and yet fails to appear in the subsequent references, something to be amended, one hopes, in future editions. This book will be useful in the lecture room and can be commended as support for undergraduate courses in the field. BRUNELUNIVERSITY PHILIP TEW ExploringLanguage Change. ByMARI C. JONESand ISHTLASINGH. London and New York: Routledge. 2005. XiV+2I3 pp. ?6o (pbk ?I8.99). ISBN 978-0-415 3I774- (pbk 978-0-4I5-31775-7). This book on amuch-debated topic opens up a number of significant new perspec tives. In particular, it isdesigned to reflecta distinction between unconscious changes ...