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"This book offers a comprehensive account of Britain as a national and cultural formation, exploring the relationships among the ethnic elements that were combined to create it. Shifting understandings of British identity are tracked and contemporary challenges to the ongoing survival of Britishness and British literature and culture are explored"--
List of contents
Part I. Origins: 1. What is Britain? Andrew Murphy; 2. Wales in Britain Helen Fulton; 3. Scotland in Britain Gerard Carruthers; 4. Ireland in Britain Jim Smyth; 5. England in Britain Krishan Kumar; Part II. Writing the Nation: 6. Cultural borrowings Edward Wilson-Lee; 7. Tradition and transformation in literature Neil Rhodes; 8. Milton and the remaking of the Nation in seventeenth-century England David Loewenstein; Part III. Revolutions and Empires: 9. The American revolution Jerome Tharaud; 10. The French revolution David Duff; 11. 'And what should they know of England who only England know?' Ania Loomba; 12. Rather unpleasant stories: popular fictions of Empire Matthew P. M. Kerr; 13. Sun-drowned streets and wasted lives: imperial decline and the colonial Novel Praseeda Gopinath; Part IV. Making the Modern Nation: 14. 'It's being so cheerful that keeps me going': the nation in the second world war Gill Plain; 15. The new British J. Dillon Brown; 16. Censorship Celia Marshik; 17. 'Wake up the Nation': modern pop and the quest for a New England Ben Winsworth; 18. Queer Nation Brian Lewis; Part V. Futures: 19. The future of the Union: a political science perspective Etain Tannam; 20. What is British Literature now? Kristian Shaw; 21. Borderline Britain Andrew Murphy.
About the author
Andrew Murphy has published extensively in the fields of Shakespeare Studies and Irish Studies, with a particular focus on issues of national and cultural identity. He has been awarded fellowships in support of his work by the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust.
Summary
This book offers a comprehensive account of Britain as a national and cultural formation, exploring the relationships among the ethnic elements that were combined to create it. Shifting understandings of British identity are tracked and contemporary challenges to the ongoing survival of Britishness and British literature and culture are explored.
Foreword
A comprehensive overview of how Britain came into being and how literature and culture have both enabled and interrogated 'Britishness'.
