Contemporary writing is arguably the most exciting and attractive
reading matter for a vast majority of readers--but by its nature it
is the least charted. What, for instance, are the most interesting
novels written in Israel in the last few years? Who are the leading
contemporary writers in Australia? Or, for that matter, in the
United States? Now, The Oxford Guide to Contemporary
Writing--uniquely international in range and up to date in
coverage--provides in 28 insightful and eminently readable chapters
an accessible, informative, and fluent account of all that is most
significant and worth reading in the mass of writing since
1960.
Truly international in scope, The Oxford Guide to Contemporary
Writing covers the recent literature of cultures as various as
Australian and Spanish-American, French, Israeli, and Canadian, New
Zealand and Russian, as well as American, English, Welsh, Irish,
and Scottish. Here are discussions of the movements, noteworthy
publishing events, and literary happenings in world cultures, with
frank and lively opinions on the individuals and artists involved,
including James Wood on the English, ("Intelligence is A.S.]
Byatt's greatest problem as a writer. She has never learned how to
subjugate it"); John Taylor on the French (he dubs Debord's
Panegyric the "most remarkably pure autobiography of recent
times"); Rhys Williams on the literature of German-speaking
countries ("This was the generation of the student movement, but
also of urban terrorism"); Mark Morris on Japan (who explains the
difference between shosetsu, roughly akin to the novel, and
junbungaku, or "pure literature"). Not merely an annotated
bibliography of authors and titles, The Oxford Guide to
Contemporary Literature is an intriguing narrative in its own
right, and a provocative source for new reading ideas and divergent
literary paths to tread. Written by experts, but demanding no
specialist knowledge of the reader, it concentrates on fiction and
poetry, but is generously inclusive in its scope; each chapter
provides a wealth of biographical and background information,
informed criticism, suggestions for further reading, and an often
controversial view of contemporary writing and its
development.
Sturrock's aim in compiling The Guide has been to create a volume
that is helpful, but not definitive: the judgements it contains may
invite disagreement, but they are offered in a spirit of incitement
and excitement about reading and writing, a roadmap to previously
unknown or obscure authors worth tracking down, or whole
literatures worth a closer look. The Oxford Guide to Contemporary
Literature will be an invaluable companion for anyone for whom a
good book is time well spent.
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