Andrea Levy: Contemporary Critical Perspectives

ISBN-13: 9781441113603 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 176 str.

Jeannette Baxter; David James

Opis

Andrea Levy has emerged as one of the most significant and popular voices in contemporary black British writing both in the UK and abroad. Drawing on a familial history of emigration, her critically-acclaimed novels - including the multiple award-winning Small Island - attempt to bring a variety of voices to the representation of black experience in post-war Britain. This book is the first of its kind to be devoted to Levy's work. Combining historical, theoretical and textual perspectives, the volume hosts a wide range of current critical approaches to Levy's fiction. With chapters written by leading established and emerging scholars, the book explores issues of literary form, diasporic literature and cultural value, the BBC TV adaptation of Small Island, while also shedding fresh light on Levy's critically neglected early works. The book also includes a new interview with Levy herself, a timeline of her life, chapter summaries, as well as guides to further reading and online resources, making this an essential companion to the writings of one of the most exciting voices in contemporary fiction.

Recenzje

A rich and judiciously edited collection offering (it's hard to believe) the first book-length assessment of this major contemporary novelist. The chapters are beautifully balanced, exposing readers to a wide range of critical perspectives, from meticulous close readings of the novels to questions of literary form, reception, and adaptation. The collection concludes with a revealing, previously unpublished interview with Andrea Levy. James Procter, Reader in Modern English & Postcolonial Literature, Newcastle University, UK

Spis treści

ContributorsForeword by Lawrence ScottSeries Editors' PrefaceAcknowledgementsChronology of Andrea Levy's LifeINTRODUCTION 'Towards Serious Work'Jeannette Baxter (Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge) and David James (Queen Mary University, London)CHAPTER ONE Unhappy BildungsromaneDave Gunning (University of Birmingham)CHAPTER TWO Council Housing and the Politics of the Welfare State in Never Far From Matthew Taunton (University of East Anglia)CHAPTER THREE Existing in More than One Plane of Time: Memory and Narrative Form in Every Light in the House Michael Perfect (University of Cambridge)CHAPTER FOUR The Immediacy of Small IslandDavid James (Queen Mary University, London)CHAPTER FIVE Small Island, Small Screen: Adapting Black British Rachel Carroll (University of Teeside)CHAPTER SIX Exquisite Corpse: Un/dressing History in Fruit of the Lemon/The Long SongJeannette Baxter (Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge)CHAPTER SEVEN 'I am the narrator of this work': Narrative Authority in Andrea Levy's The Long Fiona Tolan (Liverpool John Moores University)CHAPTER EIGHT At the Centre of the Picture: Andrea Levy's The Long Susan Alice Fischer (City University of New York)'Andrea Levy in Conversation with Susan Alice Fischer'ReferencesIndex

O autorze

Jeannette Baxter, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, Anglia Ruskin University, UK. She is the author of J. G. Ballard's Surrealist Imagination, and her recent co-edited collections include J. G. Ballard: Visions and Revisions (2012) and A Literature of Restitution: Critical Essays on W. G. Sebald (2013). David James, Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Literature, Queen Mary, University of London, UK. Editor of several collections, including The Legacies of Modernism (2011), he is author of Contemporary British Fiction and the Artistry of Space (2008) and Modernist Futures (2012).