Aesthetics and Ethics in Twenty-First Century British Novels - Zadie Smith, Nadeem Aslam, Hari Kunzru and David Mitchell

A fresh set of concerns face the twenty-first century British novelist. In this study of the four key novelists Zadie Smith, Nadeem Aslam, Hari Kunzru and David Mitchell, the the changes in narrative approaches and critical directions of a new post-1989 fiction are explored. Close readings of the writers are informed by a range of contemporary theorists, critics and commentators to reveal the emphases of twenty-first century fiction. Terror, fear, consumerism, multinationalism, and corporatism: the terms circulating in culture and social networks are evident in Smith's faith in ethical living, Aslam's consideration of multiculturalism, the novels Kunzru builds around the politics of identity and in the importance Mitchell places on the interconnectedness of human life. By putting the emergence of a new British literary dynamic in the context of ethical as well as global contexts, this study analyzes the transformed fictional perceptions of a world no longer defined by the stand off of super powers.

List of contents

Introduction \ 1. Zadie Smith: Altruistic Instincts \ 2. Nadeem Aslam: the Ethical Imperatives of Multiculturalism \ 3. Hari Kunzru: the Politics of Identity \ 4. David Mitchell: Weaving the Local and the Global \ Conclusion \ Bibliography \ Index

About the author

Peter Childs is Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research & Scholarship and Professor of Modern & Contemporary English Literature, Newman University, UK. He has published widely on twentieth and twenty-first century fiction.

Product details

• Authors: Peter Childs, Peter Green Childs, James Green
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 15.08.2013
• EAN: 9781441114273
• ISBN: 978-1-4411-1427-3
• No. of pages: 192
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; English, LITERARY CRITICISM / General, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, 21st century, c 2000 to c 2100, Philosophy: aesthetics, Literary studies: general, Ethics and moral philosophy, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Literary studies: from c 2000