A Concise Companion to Contemporary British Fiction offers an authoritative overview of contemporary British fiction in its social, political, and economic contexts. Focuses on the fiction that has emerged since the late 1970s, roughly since the start of the Thatcher era. Comprises original essays from major scholars. Topics range from the rise and fall of the postcolonial novel to controversies over the celebrity author. The emphasis is on the whole fiction scene, from bookstores and prizes to the changing economics of film adaptation. Enables students to read contemporary works of British fiction with a much clearer sense of where they fit within British cultural life.

A Concise Companion to Contemporary British Fiction offers an authoritative overview of contemporary British fiction in its social, political, and economic contexts.* Focuses on the fiction that has emerged since the late 1970s, roughly since the start of the Thatcher era.* Comprises original essays from major scholars.* Topics range from the rise and fall of the postcolonial novel to controversies over the celebrity author.* The emphasis is on the whole fiction scene, from bookstores and prizes to the changing economics of film adaptation.* Enables students to read contemporary works of British fiction with a much clearer sense of where they fit within British cultural life.

Notes on Contributors.Introduction: British Fiction in a Global Frame (James F.English).The Increasing importance since the 1970s of transnationalmarkets and circuits of exchange, and the consequent repositioningof British fiction in "World literary space.".Part I: Institutions of Commerce.1. Literary Fiction and the Book Trade (Richard Todd).2. Literary Authorship and Celebrity Culture (James F. Englishand John Frow).3. Fiction and the Film Industry (Andrew Higson).Part II: Elaborations of Empire.4. Tropicalizing London: British Fiction and the Discipline ofPostcolonialism (Nico Israel).5. New Ethnicities, the Novel, and the Burdens of Representation(James Procter).6. Devolving the Scottish Novel (Cairns Craig).7. Northern Irish Fiction: Provisional and Pataphysicians (JohnBrannigan).Part III: Mutations of Form.8. The Historical Turn in British Fiction (Suzanne Keen).9. The Woman Writer and the Continuities of Feminism (PatriciaWaugh).10. Queer Fiction: the Ambiguous Emergence of a Genre (Robert L.Caserio).11. The Demise of Class Fiction (Dominic Hedad).12. What the Porter Saw: On the Academic Novel (BruceRobbins).Index.