The multicultural Midlands

Thomas Kew

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9781526154514
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Critica letteraria inglese

The multicultural Midlands is a unique, interdisciplinary study of the literature, music and food that shape the region's irrepressible, though often overlooked, cultural identity. It is the first of its kind to give serious critical attention to a part of the world which is frequently ignored by readers, critics and the culture industries. This book makes a claim for the importance of the Midlands and evidences this with nuanced close reading of a multitude of diverse texts spanning so-called 'high' to 'low' culture; from the Black Country's 'Desi Pubs', to Leicester's 'McIndians' Peri Peri ('you've tried the cowboys, now try the Indians!'); Handsworth's reggae roots to Adrian Mole's diaries.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• Introduction: ‘a so what? sort of place’
• Nottingham: writing the ‘rebel’ city
• Leicester: the ‘model’ multicultural city
• Birmingham: (re)building the second city
• The West Midlands: from Shakespeare to Syal
• The self-deprecating conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index