The Novel Now is an intelligent and engaging survey of contemporary British fiction.

Discusses familiar names such as Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, and Angela Carter and compares them with more recent authors, including David Mitchell, Ali Smith, A.L. Kennedy, Matt Thorne, Nicola Barker, and Toby Litt
Incorporates original coverage of subgenres such as chick lit, lad lit, gay fiction, crime fiction, and the historical novel
Discusses the ways in which notions of regional identity and tribalist views have surfaced in UK and Irish fiction, and how post-Imperial sensibility has become a feature of the British novel
Situates contemporary fiction within its socio-cultural and literary contexts.

Richard Bradford is Professor of English at the University of Ulster. He has published 14 books on a variety of topics, from Milton to literary theory to post-war British literature. His recent biographies of Kingsley Amis (Lucky Him: The Life of Kingsley Amis,2001) and Philip Larkin (First Boredom, Then Fear: The Life of Philip Larkin, 2005) have received excellent reviews.

Preface.

Acknowledgements.

Part I: Realism Versus Modernism: Win, Lose or Draw?.

1. Before Now. A Brief Account of the Pre-1970s British Novel.

2. Something Unusual: Martin Amis and Ian McEwan.

3. The Effects of Thatcherism.

4. The New Postmodernists.

Part II: Excursions From the Ordinary.

5. The New Historical Novel.

6. Crime and Spy Fiction.

Part III: Sex.

7. Women.

8. Men.

9. Gay Fiction.

Part IV: Nation, Race and Place.

10. Scotland.

11. England, Englishness and Class.

12. The Question of Elsewhere.

13. Wales.

14. The Troubles.

15. Epilogue: The State of the Novel.

Select Bibliography: Recommended Further Reading.

Index