The financial crisis of 2008 quickly gave rise to a growing body of fiction: "crunch lit". Populated by a host of unsympathetic characters and centred around banking institutions, these 'recession writings' take the financial crisis as their central narrative concern to produce a new wave of literary and popular writings that satirise the origins and effects of modern life, consumer culture and the credit boom. Examining a range of texts from such writers as John Lanchester, Jonathan Franzen, Don DeLillo, Sebastian Faulks and Bret Easton Ellis, this book offers the first wide-ranging guide to this new genre. Exploring the key themes of the genre and its antecedents in fictional representations of finance by the likes of Dickens, Conrad, Zola and Trollope, Crunch Lit also includes a timeline of key historical events, guides to further and online resources and biographies of key authors. Supported by online resources, the book is an essential read for students of 21st century literature and culture.

This book is an exciting and accessible account of an author whose work has played a significant role in shaping contemporary British literature. Drawing on literary theory and genre studies, it provides a detailed analysis of David Peace’s writing, as well as the socio-cultural contexts of its production and dissemination. It covers the full body of Peace’s work to date, with a particular focus on his more recent writing (including his latest book Tokyo Redux), and also includes an interview with the author. This book positions Peace as one of the most dynamic British novelists of the twenty-first century.

This is a unique essay collection on Jim Crace, locating his writing within contemporary philosophical, cultural and political debates. This timely first critical collection of essays on Crace's work provides a retrospective on his work to date, locating his work within a number of contemporary interdisciplinary critical and cultural perspectives and concerns, including post-humanism, post-millennial pastoralism, post-post feminism and gender, intersections between science and literary theory, environmental politics, the symbiotics of authorial and critical archival work, and the context of the burgeoning world of literary prizes. It includes additional contextual material in the form of an interview with Jim Crace and the re-publication of a seminal critical essay on "Craceland" by Adam Begley. As such this critical essay collection will be essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary fiction, and Crace's unique writing.

This book is the first ever collection about twenty-first century genre fiction. It offers accessible yet rigorous critical interventions in a growing field of popular culture and academic study, presenting new genres as a fascinating and powerful means of reading contemporary culture. The collection explores the history and uses of genre to date, analyses key examples of innovations and developments in the field and reflects on how these texts have been mobilised in teaching since the year 2000. It explores a range of new twenty-first century genres through a close reading of key examples, along with a broader critical overview at the beginning of each chapter capturing wider developments, contexts and themes. As a result of this contextual, text-orientated approach, the book promotes a broad appeal beyond the specifics of new genres and authors, and will contribute to a wider understanding of developments in post-millennial fictions.

David Peace is an emerging author who is widely read and taught, and whose novels are increasingly translated into commercial film (The Damned United, March 2009) and television (Channel 4 adaptation of the Red Riding Quartet, March 2009). Dr. Katy Shaws book provides a challenging but accessible critical introduction to his work through a detailed analysis of his writing, as well as the socio-cultural contexts of its production and dissemination. The author explores Peaces attempts to capture the sensibilities of late twentieth century society and contributes to an ongoing debate in the media about Peaces representations. Influenced by critical theory, the text will be the first secondary resource concerning this rising star of contemporary British literature. While UK readers will seek insight into the socio-cultural contexts of Englands regions (and in particular his writing on the Yorkshire Ripper and the 19845 miners strike), Peace also has a following in the US where both The Damned United and Red Riding are set to receive a national cinema release in 2009/10. This broad international appeal and readership will be explored and discussed, especially in the context of crime fiction and social engagement. This text is the first critical resource concerning this author and will cover the full body of Peaces writings to date, the debates this work has generated, and the often contentious representations offered by his novels.

Post-millennial writings function as a useful prism through which we can understand contemporary English culture and its compulsion to revisit the immediate past. The critical practice of hauntology turns to the past in order to make sense of the present, to understand how we got to this place and how to build a better future. Since the Year 2000, popular culture has been inundated with representations of those who occupy a space between being and non-being and defy ontological criteria. This Pivot explores a range of contemporary English literatures - from the poetry of Simon Armitage and the drama of Jez Butterworth, to the fiction of Zadie Smith and the stories of David Peace - that collectively unite to represent a twenty-first century world full of specters, reminiscence and representations of spectral encounters. These specters become visible and significant as they interact with a range of social, political and economic discourses that continue to speak to the contemporary period. The enduring fascination with the spectral offers valuable insights into a contemporary English culture in which spectral manifestations signal towards larger social anxieties as well as to specific historical events and recurrent cultural preoccupations. The specter confronts the contemporary with the necessity of participation, encouraging the realisation that we must engage with it in order to create meaning. Narrative agency is the primary motivating force of its return, and the repetition of the specter functions to highlight new meanings and perspectives. Harnessing hauntology as a lens through which to consider the specters haunting twenty-first century English writings, this Pivot examines the emergence of a vein of hauntological literature that profiles the pervasive presence of the past in our new millennium.

This book is the first ever collection about twenty-first century genre fiction. It offers accessible yet rigorous critical interventions in a growing field of popular culture and academic study, presenting new genres as a fascinating and powerful means of reading contemporary culture. The collection explores the history and uses of genre to date, analyses key examples of innovations and developments in the field and reflects on how these texts have been mobilised in teaching since the year 2000. It explores a range of new twenty-first century genres through a close reading of key examples, along with a broader critical overview at the beginning of each chapter capturing wider developments, contexts and themes. As a result of this contextual, text-orientated approach, the book promotes a broad appeal beyond the specifics of new genres and authors, and will contribute to a wider understanding of developments in post-millennial fictions.

This is a unique essay collection on Jim Crace, locating his writing within contemporary philosophical, cultural and political debates. This timely first critical collection of essays on Crace's work provides a retrospective on his work to date, locating his work within a number of contemporary interdisciplinary critical and cultural perspectives and concerns, including post-humanism, post-millennial pastoralism, post-post feminism and gender, intersections between science and literary theory, environmental politics, the symbiotics of authorial and critical archival work, and the context of the burgeoning world of literary prizes. It includes additional contextual material in the form of an interview with Jim Crace and the re-publication of a seminal critical essay on "Craceland" by Adam Begley. As such this critical essay collection will be essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary fiction, and Crace's unique writing.

Post-millennial writings function as a useful prism through which we can understand contemporary English culture and its compulsion to revisit the immediate past. The critical practice of hauntology turns to the past in order to make sense of the present, to understand how we got to this place and how to build a better future. Since the Year 2000, popular culture has been inundated with representations of those who occupy a space between being and non-being and defy ontological criteria. This Pivot explores a range of contemporary English literatures - from the poetry of Simon Armitage and the drama of Jez Butterworth, to the fiction of Zadie Smith and the stories of David Peace - that collectively unite to represent a twenty-first century world full of specters, reminiscence and representations of spectral encounters. These specters become visible and significant as they interact with a range of social, political and economic discourses that continue to speak to the contemporary period. The enduring fascination with the spectral offers valuable insights into a contemporary English culture in which spectral manifestations signal towards larger social anxieties as well as to specific historical events and recurrent cultural preoccupations. The specter confronts the contemporary with the necessity of participation, encouraging the realisation that we must engage with it in order to create meaning. Narrative agency is the primary motivating force of its return, and the repetition of the specter functions to highlight new meanings and perspectives. Harnessing hauntology as a lens through which to consider the specters haunting twenty-first century English writings, this Pivot examines the emergence of a vein of hauntological literature that profiles the pervasive presence of the past in our new millennium.

The financial crisis of 2008 quickly gave rise to a growing body of fiction: "Crunch Lit". These 'recession writings' take the financial crisis as their central narrative concern and explore its effects on consumer culture, gender roles and contemporary communities. Examining a range of texts including Sebastian Faulks' A Week in December, Adam Haslett's Union Atlantic, and John Lanchester's Capital, this book offers the first wide-ranging guide to these new millennial writings.