British Fiction Research Articles

On Translated Modern Iraqi Fiction in English: Target Readership Perspective

English translation of modern Iraqi fiction remains uncharted territory mainly from target readers’ perception. For this purpose, the paper aims to investigate the target ordinary readers’ perception of modern Iraqi novel translated into English using a collected corpus of reviews published in Goodreads online review platform. The study adopts a case study approach to examine target readers’ comments on Ahmed Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad (2013), translated by Jonathan Wright (2018). The novel has succeeded in reaping a number of international literary awards; it was also on the shortlist for the Man Booker International Prize in 2018. This paper draws on non-professional (ordinary) readers’ reviews to explore how English literary readers have welcomed, although slowly, the presence of contemporary Iraqi fiction. In line with this view of readership, a corpus of 164 text reviews and 2030 ratings were collected from Goodreads platform and analyzed to understand the ordinary English-speaking readership perception of the translated novel as to the features of a favorably received translation of Iraqi fiction. Therefore, the study has two aims to address: first, to identify the key features which may impede/enhance the non-professional readers’ enjoyment of the translated novel under study; second, to introduce a brief account of modern Iraqi translated fiction. The study is significant in that it helps to encourage future research on readers’ reception of modern Iraqi fiction translated into other languages and also to fill in a gap in literary translation studies on target ordinary readers’ perspective.

Metabibliographic Fiction: Metafiction After the Death of the Book in Steven Hall’s Maxwell’s Demon and Nicola Barker’s I Am Sovereign

ABSTRACT This essay examines the combination of an aesthetic interest in the book with metafiction’s self-reflexive literary strategies in two recent British fictions, Steven Hall’s Maxwell’s Demon (2021) and Nicola Barker’s I Am Sovereign (2019). Both fictions, I argue, engage in what I describe as “metabibliographic fiction.” Metabibliographic fictions are fictions that explore the intellectual, narrative, and aesthetic dimensions of metafiction, but do so in ways that incorporate forms of self-reference into their linguistic and graphic structures that engage with the book as a media device. Situating this work within the context of what N. Katherine Hayles terms “postprint,” the essay places metabibliographic fiction at the critical intersection of textual materialism, studies of bookishness, and taxonomies of aesthetic self-consciousness. It then analyzes metafictional and metabibliographic devices in Maxwell’s Demon and I Am Sovereign in order to open theories of the contemporary book to metafiction’s narrative and intellectual legacies.

Representation and Negotiation of Masculinities in South Asian English Fiction: Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis

This study traces the representation and negotiation of masculinities in Shamsie’s Home Fire. The analysis and discussion are based, on the one hand, on the deconstruction of Connell’s (1995) models of hegemonic masculinities in the novel and, on the other hand, on the exploration of alternative reshaping and more dialogical models of masculinities as stated in the theory of performativity by Judith Butler (1990, 1999) and represented in the selected fiction. For the data analysis, theoretical insights were taken from the feminist critical discourse analysis. The findings of the study reveal that individuals acknowledge themselves either as masculine or feminine referring to their gender identity. Sociologists intend to refer to gender as an essential status because it is widely recognized as a significant factor in determining identity, involvement in institutions, socialization, and opportunities in life. The negotiation of masculinities is suggested to make society more humane and balanced where individuals express their potential and personality according to their own choices.

The perceptions of undergraduate students toward reading contemporary fiction in English: a case study of content-based ESL instruction at a self-financed tertiary institution in Hong Kong

IntroductionThe study explores the effectiveness of teaching English literature to Hong Kong undergraduate students, particularly in a general education course titled “Fiction and Life: Understanding Human Development.” This course marked the first exposure for students to book-length fiction in English and critical response written in English, revealing the efficacy of using fictional works as content-based ESL instruction at the tertiary level in Hong Kong.MethodsEmploying a mixed-methods approach, the study included questionnaires distributed to 310 students and thematic analysis of semi-structured interview data.ResultsFindings indicate a largely positive attitude toward the reading and writing experience, suggesting benefits for ESL teaching and learning in Asia.DiscussionThe study advocates for incorporating English literature into the general education curriculum to foster a more organic and contextualized language acquisition process. This research uniquely contributes to the field by examining student perceptions in a self-financed tertiary institution context, offering new insights that have not been explored before in Hong Kong’s ESL landscape.

Marital Discord and Pursuit of Gender Equality in Manju Kapur’s Custody Novel

The landscape of Indian literature has never been found to be equal in contribution from both the genders. It has always been dominated by male writers. It is very fair to say that the aspirations and expectations of Indian women have been largely confined to the ambit of moral and social commitments prevailing in our country. By and large, the Indian women writers in English have come from higher social strata and they do not have felt experience regarding reality of life in India. Despite it, they have started questioning the wisdom of prominent old patriarchal domination and they are no longer willing to play a subservient role to men. They have proved their mettle in literature both qualitative and quantitative wise. In the modern English fiction, the emergence of women centred or feminist approaches have been major developments. For establishing their identity, several Indian women writers have been delving deep into female subjectivity. The image portrayed by these writers regarding women has undergone a complete change. It is due to a paradigm shift in the attitude of the Indian women writers in portraying women as self -sacrificing persons to strong individuals trying to establish their identity. Among the prominent Indian women writers, Manju Kapur has carved a niche for herself by highlighting issues pertaining to patriarchy, family bonding, male –female bonding, inter religious marriage and co -existence of past and present. In 20th century, the works of Indian women writers have been considered as powerful equipment for making modernist and feminist statements. Feminism in India became an accepted doctrine and it was able to gradually set aside the male supremacy prevailing in the society. In fact, the history of feminism in India can be considered in three different phases. The first phase started when the British initiated steps against evil Sati practice. The next co-related with Quit India movement and the third took place after independence when there was a clamour for fair treatment from feminine gender after marriage. This article explains the part played by feminine gender at the domestic front and their willingness to be economically and socially independent and the challenges faced by them in attaining independence in a male dominated society.

The allusive comedy of Kingsley Amis’ L.S. Caton

One of the most fascinating comic characters in British fiction is L.S. Caton, the scheming academic who first appeared in Kingsley Amis’ satire Lucky Jim. Based on Amis’ first publisher, R. A. Caton, the evasive and deceitful L.S. Caton became a running joke in Amis’ early novels; other writers then joined the joke by similarly alluding to him. Since Caton’s appearances subsequent to Lucky Jim allude both to his initial appearance and to his subsequent (allusive) appearances, they are metaallusive—allusions to prior allusions. Until now the existence of the metaallusion as a literary device has passed unnoticed. The allusive use of Caton also highlights two further aspects of allusion that are often overlooked: That they can have more than one object, and that their objects can lie in the future as well as in its past. In addition to addressing these theoretical issues this paper argues that Caton’s appearances enhance readers’ pleasure in the text and thereby facilitate the development of social bonds between them—one of the primary aims of humour. But despite his widespread comic appeal and theoretical interest L.S. Caton has received no sustained academic attention. This paper will correct this oversight by addressing this strangely neglected topic.

Community in Contemporary British Fiction: From Blair to Brexit. Ed. by Sara Upstone and Peter Ely

<i>Community in Contemporary British Fiction: From Blair to Brexit</i>. Ed. by Sara Upstone and Peter Ely

The Misrepresentation of Muslim Community in Post 9/11 English Fiction: A Political Analysis of The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Terrorist

This study shows that Muslims tend to be negatively framed, and Islam is portrayed as a violent religion in the context of the 9\11 incident. The researchers have highlighted the issue of misrepresentation of Muslims and Islam in John Updike’s Terrorist and Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. After 9/11, there came a transformation in the image of Muslims as they have been labelled as fundamentalists, fanatics, and terrorists. The study attempts to explore the politics of Western fiction after 9\11. The Muslims were held responsible for the happenings of 9/11, and this allegation was used as an excuse to augment the antagonism towards Muslims in the name of patriotic sentiments. Western fiction and media have been promoting this pseudo-patriotism since September 11, 2001. It has been depicted in such a biased way that it portrays America and the Western world as a victim of Islamic aggression and bigotry. Muslim bashing has become socially acceptable in the United States and European states. To carry out the analysis, the researchers chose the theory of social constructionism as a basic framework. The study is based on a qualitative research approach and has been carried out by textual analysis of the selected excerpts from the novels. The study attempts to make the world realize the fundamental reasons and core factors that perpetuate aggression and violence in Muslim states. Further, it highlights the main factors behind this intolerance and extremism worldwide. The findings reveal that the neo-colonial approach, imperialistic policies, and vested interests of the superpower breed hatred for it around the world, and such policies are not in favour of its land and people.

An intertextual reading of the novel Defend the Name.

The general objective of this intertextual analysis's was to explore Wolde's novel Defend the Name (1969) with the view to identify and interpret the several thematic and stylistic intertexts that are woven throughout the narrative. Based on available research, there is a scarcity of critical studies that have utilized the theory of intertextuality for the analysis and interpretation of Ethiopian prose fiction in English, particularly within the novel genre. The current study was aimed to partially fill in this critical gap. In doing so, the theory of intertextuality is employed as theoretical-analytical framework of the study. The findings of this intertextual analysis concentrated on the thematic and stylistic intertexts that were woven throughout the plot of the book Defend the Name. These intertexts included biblical allusions, colonial literary devices, contemporary theoretical and ideological works, and cultural and historical discourses that the book intertextually engages with in addition to other literary and nonliterary works. This study provides insightful information about the thematic diversity of Defend the Name and its involvement with multiple intertexts through its intertextual analysis. It enhances the reader's comprehension of the story, characters, and larger sociopolitical situations that the novel addresses, demonstrating the author's skill in fusing together a variety of literary, scriptural, ideological, and cultural aspects.

Desis’ identity crisis in America: examining cultural and racial politics in Samira Ahmed’s Love, Hate and Other Filters (2018) and Sanjena Sathian’s Gold Diggers (2021)

ABSTRACT This paper examines literary representations of Desis, who are commonly associated with the South Asian American diaspora, in terms of their simultaneous identity formations as ethnic Indians and American citizens. It analyses the vulnerabilities of second generation Desis in America while growing up in the post-9/11 era. Poststructuralist philosopher Judith Butler’s concept of a precarious life is critically employed to investigate sociopolitical agendas that underpin racial and cultural othering of Desis. Through a comparative analysis of Samira Ahmed’s Love, Hate and Other Filters (2018) and Sanjena Sathian’s Gold Diggers (2021), the cultural and psychophysical vulnerabilities of the second generation Desis for whom success is configured in the political construct of the American dream are discussed. This critical attention to an emergent genre of Indian diaspora fiction in English paves the way for nuanced understandings of marginal identities within America’s sociopolitical and cultural locales.

Subversion of Conventional Narratives in South Asian English Fiction: A Postmodern Analysis of Language Games and Metanarratives

This study investigates that South Asian English fiction subverts conventional narratives through the use of Jean-François Lyotard’s concept of language games. The study examines the constantly changing and context-dependent storytelling techniques employed in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies and Kamila Shamsie's Burnt Shadows. These techniques challenge established cultural, social, or moral norms. These novels utilize language techniques such as code-switching, ironic symbolism, and idiomatic phrases to highlight the ethnic backgrounds and complex identities of the protagonists. Authors demonstrate the evolution of meanings across time, as well as the varying ways justice is given to various individuals at different periods. They also emphasize the perpetual openness of truth, in accordance with Lyotard’s belief that knowledge is generated through conflicting narratives about reality. The findings clearly demonstrate that individual experiences and the socio-political environment continually influence and reshape our concept of morality.

Subjugation of Indian Women in Anita Nair's Ladies Coupe

Perhaps Anita Nair is a famous postmodern Indian English writer. She writes about the lives of women on streets in her latest book, Women car. The primary focus of this novel is to explore the oppression of Indian men in society through self-discovery. Women coupe here implies a segment saved for ladies within the prepare. In the within the synonyms post-colonial period, most of these books were about the freedom of women and their problems in Indian society. The prevalent nature of Indian society meant that men saw themselves as dominant and ranked second to women, surpassing them. Indian English fiction reflects society. The focus of this article is on women's ongoing emancipation and eventual discovery of themselves.

A Recuperation of the Oppressed and Subjugated Women in Arundhati Roy’s the God of Small Things

Postmodern Indian literature in English is a powerful expression of Indian women writers who have made significant contributions to the world of English fiction. The volume, diversity and maturity of the Indian novel have grown considerably. Famous writers like Kamala Markandaya, Nayantara Sahgal, Kamala Das, Arundhati Roy, Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande and many others have given their creative outlet the enrichment of literature in recent decades by sensitively exposing various issues on the gender bias of women and society. In their creative writings, female characters either rebel against the subjugation of women and the oppressive role of family, society, religion and culture, including long-standing patriarchy, or they reinvent the feminine ethos. The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy's debut novel is a saga about the eternal suffering of women in a patriarchal society, who were oppressed and even deprived of their socio-political, economic identity and basic human rights. Roy excels at how women are victims of violence, exploitation, marginalization, suffering and exile. The novel deals with the suffering, struggle and transformation of three generations of women: Mammachi, Ammu and Rahel. This idea is the basis of this research, which tries to find out how painfully three generations of Women in the novel suffer.

Reading (in) Graham Greene's The Ministry of Fear (1943)

Abstract This essay offers a transgeneric reading of Graham Greene's 1943 novel The Ministry of Fear, first tracing the emergence of spy fiction from invasion fiction at the end of the nineteenth century and then establishing William Le Queux's influence on the culture of espionage in Britain as well as in British spy fiction. Following on from this genealogy of genre, it interrogates the novel's protagonist's claim that “[t]he world has been remade by William Le Queux” in the context of the dual histories of espionage in Britain and the spy in British fiction, while attending to the novel's own reception of those histories. Focusing on the significance of the novel's intertextual and paratextual evidence in an interpretation of the novel's unconventional narrative strategies, the essay examines hybrid modes of reading the novel, as well as reading in the novel as a way of parsing its entangled narrative modes, levels, and discourses. Greene encourages transgeneric reading as a possible resolution to the epistemological uncertainty readers experience at the novel's close due to its troubling of genre expectations, its allusiveness, and, ultimately, its eschewal of narrative closure. At the same time, the essay proposes that, in attending in spy fiction to what is read and how it is read, we might better appreciate the challenges presented by the rehabilitation of a genre that also requires disentangling the many hierarchies of modernist cultural production.

THE FACETS OF GLOBALIZATION IN SOUTH ASIAN ENGLISH FICTION

The changes are crystal clear in every nook and corner of the human domain with greater emphasis on developments. In the path of development difficulties and challenges have placed the lives of people in jeopardy. With the advent of globalization, individuals are placed in the epicentre to comprehend societal transformations. South Asia is witnessed as the most happening domicile because of its caste, creed, colour, religion, languages and nationalistic strategies in the global scenario. The genres of literature are primarily known for portraying diversified tales in spreading pleasure. But in the global facet, it is an instrument to present the world realistically. It acts as a document to inscribe the dreams, dilemmas, problems and predicaments of the globalized world. The literature of South Asia has shed light on stereotypical issues like violence, insecurity, political turmoil and a dearth of national conscience. Hence, the research harvest embarks on the facets of globalization in South Asian English Fiction with eloquent reference to Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines (1988) and Ahmed Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (1981) within the contemporary framework.

(Re-)Writing the Holocaust After Brexit: The Afterlives of British Fiction

ABSTRACT This article examines the representation of a Nazi-occupied Britain in post-2016 reworkings of earlier alternative histories in which Britain lost the war. It does so by placing the 2017 television series SS-GB and C. J. Carey’s 2021 novel Widowland in conversation with their original counterparts: Len Deighton’s 1978 novel of the same name and Robert Harris’ Fatherland of 1992, respectively. Each text therefore has to imagine the consequences of Nazi victory for the Jews of Britain. Appearing in a post-Brexit context in which questions of national sovereignty and identity have been contentiously brought to the fore, these adaptations reveal a tendency towards British heroism in the face of European domination, and reinforce the isolationist messages that had been central to the referendum’s ‘Leave’ campaign. In each case, the British setting reveals the potential for political danger to be found close to home. The encroachment of what had been considered the European malaise of antisemitic murder into the British present is articulated through the act of revision and adaptation. This article shows how the themes of the original works were employed post-2016, and asks why the wartime murder of the Jews is ultimately not their central concern.

Eleanor Oliphant Is not that Fine: Exploring the Transformative Potential of Vulnerability in Gail Honeyman’s Debut (2017)

This article explores the notion of vulnerability as a condition of potential and openness towards personal transformation and connection with others. The current approach to the notion of vulnerability focuses on challenging and re-orienting its restrictively negative connotation, as the works by Jean-Michel Ganteau and Susana Onega (2017) or Erinn Gilson (2016), among many others, have shown. The notion has also proved useful in connection with political or social action (Butler 2020), as well as in the framework of ethical philosophy (Maillard 2011, Le Blanc 2011). However, analysing vulnerability in contemporary literary works can be problematic, as sometimes the complexity of the notion hinders the representation of the character’s journey through the good and bad. In this article, my aim is to peruse Gail Honeyman’s debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine (2017), which has received little critical attention in this area in spite of its popularity following its publication. Addressing the ideal of invulnerability, the connection between vulnerability and social isolation, its movement towards openness to the other, and its portrayal through formal choices, I argue that this text is an example of how contemporary literary works of British fiction contribute to portray the potential that can be found in experiences of vulnerability.

A Posthuman Approach to BrexLit and Bordering Practices through an Analysis of John Lanchester’s The Wall

Kristen Sandrock (2020) connects John Lanchester’s 2019 Brexit novel The Wall with what she refers to as ‘British border epistemologies’; that is, a radical process of re-bordering due to global warming and its impact on human mobility. The literary phenomenon that is now referred to as ‘BrexLit’ bears witness to the way in which borders and the fear to the other seem to impinge on contemporary British fiction. BrexLit is framed by an increasing global interest in exploring interdisciplinary bordering practices. Primarily, BrexLit manifests through realist and/or speculative long fiction, although there are numerous short stories and poetry that deal with this seismic political event. This article proposes to focus on different samples of speculative long fiction born from Brexit before highlighting Lanchester’s The Wall. Posthuman studies offer a convenient theoretical framework with which to approach this specific text where the British border, refugees and the fear of the other are the drivers of the plot. Thus, this contribution will explore alien configurations of refugees in contemporary British speculative fiction and the way in which these texts question Brexit rhetoric in an eye-opening and thought-provoking way, assisting readers to understand the context and consequences of such a profound political event.

Empowering Reading Habit of English Fiction Books to Improve English Vocabulary: Evidence from Students in an Indonesian Higher Education

Low English literacy has a major impact on the education sector. In particular, it has an impact on less qualified human resources. This study aims to explore the students’ perception of reading habits on English fiction books to improve English vocabulary in Indonesian higher education. This study used a qualitative case study method. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with four students consisting of two female and two male students from the English Education Department. The results of the study reveal that students believe that reading fiction books can help them memorize English vocabulary, and English fiction books can enrich English vocabulary, especially new words. On the other hand, some challenges appear in reading English fiction books. These include the difficulty of understanding unfamiliar words in English fiction books among male students and the need for sufficient time to read English fiction books completely. Finally, the implication of this study was discussed.

Question of Self in Namita Gokhale’s Paro: Dream of Passion

Namita Gokhale is a remarkable signature in Indian English fiction. She very brilliantly pinpoints the quest of identity of a woman in her very first novel Paro: Dream of Passion. The novel gives stress on concrete individual existence and consequently on subjectivity, individual freedom and choice. By writing Paro: Dream of Passion Namita Gokhale has initiated a new phase in Indian writing in English. Through two women characters –Paro and Priya-Namita Gokhale explores an exceptionally esoteric strata of society. Namita Gokhale’s Paro: Dream of Passion is the world of affluent business class and their idle rich counterparts, the working middle class and the world of legal professional, politician and service cadres. Obviously, the world of the novel is not representative of a cross-structure of Indian society, either in class, occupation, and cultural affiliation. But it is an interpretation of the life of highly Westernized urban Indian.