Contemporary British Fiction Cool Britannia and After: British Literature, Culture, and Society from the 1990s to the Present Session One: Introduction

Agenda Introduction: What’s “Contemporary”?, “British”?, and “Fiction”? How is Fiction Contemporary? How do critics look at contemporary British Fiction?

Introduction The point of the course: the production of (good) BA-projects. The BA project: (much) more of the same from your 4th semester project. The outline of the course:

The 4th Semester Project Når modulet er afsluttet, skal den studerende kunne demonstrere: viden om britisk og amerikansk (og i mindre grad andre engelsksprogede landes) tekst- og kulturhistorie, samt detaljeret kendskab til repræsentative tekster inden for dette felt; bredt kendskab til litteraturvidenskabelige teorier og metoder og forståelse af forskellige metoders forudsætninger, muligheder og begrænsninger og af deres anvendelighed i forhold til forskellige teksttyper; forståelse af diakrone og synkrone tekst- og kulturhistoriske periodeafgrænsninger, forståelse af sammenhænge mellem den enkelte tekst og personal-, kultur-, ide-, social-, og materialhistoriske faktorer, særlig indsigt i et udvalgt emne inden for området på baggrund af et emnestudie. Færdighed i at definere og analysere tekst- og litteraturvidenskabelige problemstillinger, sikker færdighed i intertekstuel/kontekstuel tekstanalyse, færdighed i anvendelse af tekst- og litteraturvidenskabelige teorier og metoder i forhold til forskellige teksttyper, færdighed i at formidle opnået viden om tekst- og litteraturvidenskabelige problemstilinger i en adækvat form. Kompetencer i problemanalyse, -afgrænsning og -bearbejdning samt forståelse af tekst- og litteraturvidenskabelige og/eller tværfaglige problemkomplekser. Evne til tværfagligt samarbejde.

The BA-Project Viden – særlig indsigt i et udvalgt emne inden for mindst et af engelskstudiets fagområder – omfattende viden om det eller de valgte emne(r)s kontekst. Færdigheder – sikker færdighed i problemanalyse, -afgrænsning og -bearbejdning, herunder i valg af analysemetoder og teoretiske perspektiver og i anvendelsen af disse – sikker anvendelse af analysemetoder og teoretiske perspektiver inden for det eller de valgte emne(r) – sikker færdighed i at fremstille sine resultater i en velargumenteret, velformuleret og sprogligt passende og korrekt form. Kompetencer – kompetencer i problemanalyse, -afgrænsning og -bearbejdning samt forståelse af faglige og/eller tværfaglige problemkomplekser – Kompetencer i faglig kommunikation og formidling (kompetencer til selvstændigt at kunne fortsætte egen kompetenceudvikling inden for området).

The BA-Project and Exam En ekstern kombineret skriftlig og mundtlig prøve i: Bachelorprojekt (Bachelor Project). Prøven tager udgangspunkt i en af én eller flere studerende udarbejdet projektrapport på højst 20 sider pr. studerende i projektgruppen, højst 25 sider ved individuelt udarbejdede projekter. Der udarbejdes et resumé på højst 1 side på engelsk eller dansk. Normeret prøvetid: 30 min. Vægtning: Hovedvægten lægges på den skriftlige rapport, som vægtes 2/3, mens den mundtlige præstation vægtes 1/3. Der foretages en samlet bedømmelse af projektrapporten og den mundtlige præstation, dog således at begge elementer skal være bestået. Bedømmelsesform: Der gives en karakter efter 7-trinsskalaen. Omfang: 15 ECTS-point. Projektrapporten og den mundtlige samtale skal demonstrere de læringsmål, som er angivet i modulbeskrivelsen ovenfor. Ved bedømmelsen af prøvepræstationen vil der med henblik på opnåelse af karakteren 12 blive lagt vægt på, at den studerende demonstrerer en udtømmende opfyldelse af fagets mål med ingen eller få uvæsentlige mangler.

What’s “Contemporary”?, “British”?, and “Fiction”? Some Uses of ”Contemporary”: –Institute of Contemporary Art –Contemporary Magazine –Contemporary Writers –The Centre for Contemporary British History

1. The Institute of Contemporary Art Key words: –Artistic products, works of art. –New –Exploration –Shape –Adventure –Tomorrow

1. The Institute of Contemporary Art “4. a. Modern; of or characteristic of the present period; esp. up-to-date, ultra- modern; spec. designating art of a markedly avant-garde quality, or furniture, building, decoration, etc., having modern characteristics (opp. PERIOD n. 15)”. (OED)

2. Contemporary Magazine Key words: –Emerging galleries –The institutions of art –Appearing, materialising, coming forth –The future becoming present

3. Contemporary Writers Key words: –”most important living writers” –The producers of art –Contemporary writers are alive –Not all living writers are contemporary –Only important living writers are contemporary

The Centre for Contemporary British History Key words: events of the 20th century : the past

The Uses of ”Contemporary” x 2. x

The uses of ”contemporary” A symptom of a fundamental loss of orientation? A device in the construction of a narrative: products, institutions, producers, events? [Exclusive device; selection and significance (good, relevant, valuable)]

The Concept of ”British” England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland

The Concept of ”Fiction”? Fiction and fact Print and / or electronic media? Hypertext fiction

How Is Fiction Contemporary? Literature Fiction text Society History Context

How Is Fiction Contemporary? Does fiction transcend the contemporary? Does fiction reflect the contemporary? Does fiction produce the contemporary?

Geri Halliwell (Brit Awards 1997)

Geri's back in the Union Jack (The Sun 15 Dec. 2007)

Noel Gallagher

Noel’s Guitar

Interpretations of Contemporary British Fiction “As early as E.M. Forster, what one might call the novel of liberal humanism is acknowledging the limits of its own vision. […] Indeed, liberal humanism as an ideology is already rapidly souring in the later George Eliot, and in the writings of Henry James finds itself confronting its own relative impotence in the face of power, greed, evil and violence. It remains, however, an extraordinarily powerful influence in the contemporary English novel, as it does in the English theatre. For all their manifest differences, it is the world-view which unites Ian McEwan and Fay Weldon, A. S. Byatt and Martin Amis, Julian Barnes and Rose Tremain. It is, in a word, the official ethical and political doctrine of literary London – a remarkably resilient, deep-seated consensus which has survived a whole series of historical upheavals, and which helps to determine what counts as acceptable belief or fiction today. It is an honourable world view, humane, enlightened and morally serious. Whether it is adequate to a globalized world of terrorism and transnational corporations is a different question.” (Terry Eagleton, The English Novel: An Introduction (2005)

Interpretations of Contemporary British Fiction ”The aesthetic pluralism […] seems to me to be now a generally accepted fact of literary life. It is sometimes described as a post-modern condition […] the astonishing variety of styles on offer today, as if in an aesthetic supermarket, includes traditional as well as innovative styles, minimalism as well as excess, nostalgia as well as prophecy […] what we have now is a literary situation in which everything is in and nothing is out.” (David Lodge, ‘The Novelist Today,’ (1996))

1971 Interpretation David Lodge, The Novelist at the Crossroads, Routledge 1971

1971 Interpretation ”The situation of the novelist today may be compared to a man standing at a crossroads. The road on which he stands … is the realistic novel, the compromise between fictional and empirical modes.” (18) ”Realistic novels continue to be written – it is easy to forget that most novels published in England still fall within this category – but the pressure of scepticism on the aesthetic and epistemological premises of literary realism is now so intense that many novelists, instead of marching confidently straight ahead, are at least considering the two routes that branch off in opposite directions from the crossroads. One of these routes leads to the non-fiction novel, and the other to what Mr Scholes calls ’fabulation’.” (19)

Interpretations of Contemporary British Fiction ”In the last twenty-five years the older idea of the British Novel (or, more often, the English Novel), carefully capitalised in its spelling and drawing on a recognised historical tradition, has disintegrated and fragmented. In truth, the monolithic notion of the British Novel was always something of a mythical beast. Even as the tradition was being constructed, there were other voices – those in righteous rebellion against it – that demanded to be heard. Certainly, in 2004 there is no such strange creature as the British Novel (or English Novel). Making sweeping generalisations about British fiction has always been a perilous pastime, but now it seems more than ever counterproductive. There is no great tradition of the English novel any longer. There are only individual novels.” (Nick Rennison, Contemporary British Novelists (2004))