Killing Children in British Fiction - Thatcherism to Brexit

This book stems from a simple yet disturbing observation: contemporary British fiction is full of children killing or being killed. Thoughtfully considering novels and films, alongside actual murder cases and moral panics, Dominic Dean develops this insight into a complex account of British cultural history, from the Thatcher to Brexit eras. Killing Children in British Fiction argues that the figure of the child provides means for negotiating, and hence for understanding, recent crises in Britain and their intersections with broader transnational conflicts. The book explores works from major British authors such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan, Doris Lessing, Sarah Waters, Alan Hollinghurst, and Peter Ackroyd; emerging writers such as David Szalay and Melissa Harrison; and filmmakers, including Stanley Kubrick, Nicholas Roeg, Robin Hardy, Derek Jarman, and Remi Weekes. Bridging and often challenging existing scholarship in childhood studies, literary studies, psychoanalysis, and critical and queer theory, Dean shows how the child, at once materially present and representative of an insecure future, can provoke relentless fantasies, fears, and, most troublingly, acts of real violence by adults.

About the author

Dominic Dean is Course Tutor and Senior Research Quality and Impact Manager at the University of Sussex.

Product details

• Authors: Dominic Dean
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.10.2024
• EAN: 9781438499550
• ISBN: 978-1-4384-9955-0
• No. of pages: 304
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 25 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 21st Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century, Of specific Gay & Lesbian interest, Ireland, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Literature: history & criticism, PERFORMING ARTS / Film / History & Criticism, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Psychoanalytical and Freudian psychology, Gay & Lesbian studies, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Relating to LGBTQ+ people, Literature: history and criticism, SOCIAL SCIENCE / LGBTQ+ Studies / General, Film Theory & Criticism, Psychoanalytical theory (Freudian psychology), Film history, theory or criticism, Literary studies: from c 2000, LGBTQ+ Studies / topics, PSYCHOLOGY / Psychotherapy / Psychoanalysis