How might our friendships shape our politics? This book examines how contemporary American fiction has rediscovered the concept of civic friendship and revived a long tradition of imagining male friendship as interlinked with the promises and paradoxes of democracy in the United States. Bringing into dialogue the work of a wide range of authors - including Philip Roth, Paul Auster, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Lethem, Dinaw Mengestu, and Teju Cole - this innovative study advances a compelling new account of the political and intellectual fabric of the American novel today. -- .

Benjamin Markovits is a leading Anglo-American novelist with a varied and ambitious body of work, ranging from a trilogy of historical fictions on the life of Lord Byron (Imposture, 2007; A Quiet Adjustment, 2008; Childish Loves, 2011), to an award-winning portrayal of a gentrification project in Obama-era Detroit (You Don’t Have to Live Like This, 2015), to intimate studies of contemporary family life (A Weekend in New York, 2018; Christmas in Austin, 2019). Prolific and unpredictable, Markovits is one of the most interesting realist writers working today. Featuring contributions from emerging and established scholars, this collection provides fresh perspectives on Markovits’s place in the contemporary literary field, as well as offering a detailed survey of his work to date. The collection begins with Markovits’s early ‘campus novel’, The Syme Papers (2004), before exploring his celebrated ‘Byron Trilogy’, and the 2005 story-cycle, Either Side of Winter. Contributors consider Markovits’s best-known book, You Don’t Have to Live Like This, which won the James Tait Memorial Prize, as well as his more recent fictions focusing on the trials and tribulations of the Essinger family. Taken together, this authoritative collection brings to light the many preoccupations of Markovits’s singular oeuvre—from Byron to basketball, from race relations to real estate. It also includes a frank and wide-ranging interview with the author. The collection will be a first port of call for students and scholars in search of a comprehensive introduction to the work of one of our most exciting contemporary novelists.

Benjamin Markovits is a leading Anglo-American novelist with a varied and ambitious body of work, ranging from a trilogy of historical fictions on the life of Lord Byron (Imposture, 2007; A Quiet Adjustment, 2008; Childish Loves, 2011), to an award-winning portrayal of a gentrification project in Obama-era Detroit (You Don’t Have to Live Like This, 2015), to intimate studies of contemporary family life (A Weekend in New York, 2018; Christmas in Austin, 2019). Prolific and unpredictable, Markovits is one of the most interesting realist writers working today. Featuring contributions from emerging and established scholars, this collection provides fresh perspectives on Markovits’s place in the contemporary literary field, as well as offering a detailed survey of his work to date. The collection begins with Markovits’s early ‘campus novel’, The Syme Papers (2004), before exploring his celebrated ‘Byron Trilogy’, and the 2005 story-cycle, Either Side of Winter. Contributors consider Markovits’s best-known book, You Don’t Have to Live Like This, which won the James Tait Memorial Prize, as well as his more recent fictions focusing on the trials and tribulations of the Essinger family. Taken together, this authoritative collection brings to light the many preoccupations of Markovits’s singular oeuvre—from Byron to basketball, from race relations to real estate. It also includes a frank and wide-ranging interview with the author. The collection will be a first port of call for students and scholars in search of a comprehensive introduction to the work of one of our most exciting contemporary novelists.

How might our friendships shape our politics? This book examines how contemporary American fiction has rediscovered the concept of civic friendship and revived a long tradition of imagining male friendship as interlinked with the promises and paradoxes of democracy in the United States. Bringing into dialogue the work of a wide range of authors - including Philip Roth, Paul Auster, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Lethem, Dinaw Mengestu, and Teju Cole - this innovative study advances a compelling new account of the political and intellectual fabric of the American novel today. -- .