British contemporary fiction

Engelsk A (HHX) · HHX · A-niveau · Litteratur og kultur

🇬🇧 British contemporary fiction

British contemporary fiction (1980-) dominates global literary scene.

Major authors + works:

1.

Ian McEwan (b. 1948) — Atonement (2001, filmed 2007), Saturday (2005), On Chesil Beach (2007), Machines Like Me (2019). Psychological realism + moral dilemmas.

2.

Zadie Smith (b. 1975, Jamaican-British) — White Teeth (2000), NW (2012), Swing Time (2016). Multicultural London.

3.

Kazuo Ishiguro (Japanese-British, Nobel Prize 2017) — Remains of the Day (1989), Never Let Me Go (2005, dystopian cloning), Klara and the Sun (2021, AI).

4.

Hilary Mantel (1952-2022) — Wolf Hall trilogy (2009-2020) about Thomas Cromwell. Booker Prize 2x.

5.

Sally Rooney (Irish, b. 1991) — Conversations with Friends (2017), Normal People (2018, BBC adaptation 2020), Beautiful World, Where Are You (2021). Millennial relationships.

6.

Bernardine Evaristo (b. 1959) — Girl, Woman, Other (2019, Booker Prize). 12 black British women's stories.

7.

Julian Barnes (b. 1946) — The Sense of an Ending (2011, Booker).

8.

Sebastian Faulks — Birdsong (1993, WW1).

9.

Nick Hornby — About a Boy (1998), High Fidelity (1995).

10.

Jojo Moyes — popular romance (Me Before You 2012).

Themes in contemporary British fiction: post-imperial identity, multiculturalism (Brexit-debate), class (still relevant), gender + feminism (#MeToo), climate anxiety, technology (AI, social media), mental health, nostalgia.

British literary prizes:

Læringsmål

• Analysere et værk af en samtidig britisk forfatter
• Redegøre for centrale temaer i britisk samtidslitteratur
• Diskutere værkets samfundsmæssige relevans

Sådan kan du arbejde med emnet

• Analyser temaet social klasse i et værk af Zadie Smith (White Teeth) og diskuter dets relevans for nutidens britiske samfund og postkoloniale identitet
• Læs et uddrag af Ian McEwans Atonement og analyser, hvad fortællerens upålidelighed betyder for læserens fortolkning af begivenhederne
• Sammenlign to britiske forfatteres fremstilling af migration og identitet og diskuter, hvad det siger om det multikulturelle Storbritanniens selvopfattelse

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