British Literature in Transition, 1980–2000

Accelerated Times

Eileen Pollard, Berthold Schoene

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781107121423
• eBook ISBN: 9781108651585
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: English Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

The literature of twentieth-century Britain's final twenty years represents a crash course in transitional history. In the aftermath of the 1970s, the nation's hopes of becoming more efficient were high, leading to the fundamental domestic shake-up that was Margaret Thatcher's neoliberal revolution (1979–90). Following the end of the Cold War, Europe was undergoing radical rejuvenation, while the world as a whole began to thrive on new levels of connectivity and proximity brought through rapid advances in communication technology. Later, in the 1990s, Britons were asked to countenance not only internal devolution, but also the crystallisation of a brand-new European and global order. This volume shows how British literature recorded contemporaneous historical change. It traces the emergence and evolution of literary trends as well as enduring transitional shifts in genre, tone, style and thematic preoccupation.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Notes on Contributors
• General Editor’s Preface
• Introduction
• Part I Transitions
• Part II Nation
• Part III Society
• Part IV Acceleration
• Index