Description
Book SynopsisNicola Allen is Lecturer in Contemporary British Fiction at The University of Northampton, UK.
Trade Review"Allen focuses on a key critical concept which, as she demonstrates, has in recent years concerned many of those researching fiction, but has largely been addressed without an adequate theoretical and historical account. Allen's timely book redresses these failings, and rejects essentialist readings that neglect the concept's vitality and heterogeneous signification... Allen's study is original both in its analysis and its framing of a complex account of marginality, demonstrating a depth of knowledge of the study of the novel as a genre." (Professor Philip Tew, Brunel University, UK) Mention - Chronicle of Higher Education, December 12, 2008 "Allen's study is, in sum, fine, both in the sense of effectively fulfilling the research tasks it sets itself and in the sense of providing some excellent, thought-provoking statements about the contemporary British novel." (The Review of English Studies, October 2009) 'A cogent and useful study of a fascinating area.' (Modern Language Review, January 2010) Mention in College Literature, Vol. 36.2, Spring 2009 'This comprehensive book, which is the result of a doctoral project, does more than its title promises... At a time when there is an influx of new texts from the margins, Allen's book is a must for those who want to investigate whether these texts are socially transformative or not.' (English Studies)"
Table of Contents1. Critical Concepts; 2. The Status of the Marginal in Contemporary British Fiction; 3. The Misfit Protagonist; 4. Personal Histories and Renewed Myths; 5. Satire and the Grotesque; 6. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
