York Notes Companions: New Directions

Dr Fiona Tolan is a lecturer in English at Liverpool John Moores University, where she teaches on a variety of twentieth- and twenty-first century literature modules. Her first book, Margaret Atwood: Feminism and Fiction (Rodopi, 2007), won the Margaret Atwood Society ‘Best Book’ Award for 2007, and she is co-editor of Writers Talk: Conversations with Contemporary British Novelists, with Philip Tew and Leigh Wilson, for Continuum (2008). Fiona has also published articles and book chapters on a number of contemporary British and Canadian writers, including Pat Barker, Zadie Smith, Alice Munro, Kate Atkinson, and Ian McEwan. Her current research is on ethics and contemporary British fiction. She is a Council Member of the British Association of Canadian Studies and an associate editor of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.

• Part One: Introduction  Part Two: A Cultural Overview  Part Three: Texts, Writers and Contexts   The Neo-Victorian Novel – A. S. Byatt, Peter Carey, Sarah Waters Extended commentary, Waters, Fingersmith (2002)Contemporary Theatre – Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill, David Hare Extended commentary, Kane, Blasted (1995)Multicultural/Postcolonial Writing – Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali, Zadie Smith Extended commentary, Ali, Brick Lane (2003)New Diversities in Contemporary Poetry – Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay, Benjamin Zephaniah Extended commentary, Duffy, Feminine Gospels (2002)Gender and Sexuality – Jeanette Winterson, Helen Fielding, Alan Hollinghurst Extended commentary, Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty (2004)Writing the Self: Biography and Autobiography – Frank McCourt, David Lodge Extended commentary, Lodge, Author, Author (2005)Part Four: Critical theories and Debates   Remembering the Past Post-Millennial Anxieties and Dystopia Literature and Celebrity Writing the Child    Part Five: Resources  Timeline  Further reading  Index