The essential companion for lovers of the contemporary novel
Over the past fifty years, fiction in English has never looked more various. Books bulkier than Victorian three-deckers appear alongside works of minimalist brevity, and experiments with form have produced everything from verse novels to Twitter-thread narratives. This is truly a golden age. But what unites this kaleidoscopic array of genres and styles? Celebrated writer and critic Peter Kemp shows how modern writers are obsessed with the past. In a series of engaging and illuminating chapters, Retroland traces this novelistic preoccupation with history, from the imperial and the political to the personal and the literary. Featuring famous names from across the United Kingdom, United States, and the wider Anglophone world, ranging from Salman Rushdie to Sarah Waters, Toni Morrison to Hilary Mantel, this is a work of remarkable synthesis and clarity-a wonderfully readable and enjoyably opinionated guide to our current literary landscape.
| ISBN: | 9780300269628 |
| Publication date: | 4th July 2023 |
| Author: | Peter Kemp |
| Publisher: | Yale University Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 384 pages |
| Genres: |
Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers |
The essential companion for lovers of the contemporary novel
Over the past fifty years, fiction in English has never looked more various. Books bulkier than Victorian three-deckers appear alongside works of minimalist brevity, and experiments with form have produced everything from verse novels to Twitter-thread narratives. This is truly a golden age. But what unites this kaleidoscopic array of genres and styles? Celebrated writer and critic Peter Kemp shows how modern writers are obsessed with the past. In a series of engaging and illuminating chapters, Retroland traces this novelistic preoccupation with history, from the imperial and the political to the personal and the literary. Featuring famous names from across the United Kingdom, United States, and the wider Anglophone world, ranging from Salman Rushdie to Sarah Waters, Toni Morrison to Hilary Mantel, this is a work of remarkable synthesis and clarity-a wonderfully readable and enjoyably opinionated guide to our current literary landscape.
Retroland features in the following genres: Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers
Retroland is available in Hardback
Retroland was written by Peter Kemp and published by Yale University Press
Retroland has 384 pages
£18.00