Fiction of the New Statesman, 1913-1939

Bashir Abu-Manneh is assistant professor of English at Barnard College, Columbia University.

The reinstatement of realism at the heart of inter-war fiction is long overdue but is now taking place, partly because literary scholars have been reading some history, partly because historians have been thinking about culture. This readable and argumentative book makes a significant contribution to the process, showing us how important realism was to the literary left, linking as it did the political and literary halves of the New Statesman. That it also introduces us to some worthwhile and neglected writing is a welcome bonus.

• Chapter 1 AcknowledgmentsChapter 2 Introduction: Realism and ClassChapter 3 RealismChapter 4 Interwar ClassPart 5 Origins and Foundational Patterns 1913-14Chapter 6 Arnold Bennett and the General StrikeChapter 7 Smells, Threats, Rumblings, Accidents, and SuppressionsChapter 8 R. M. Fox and Working-Class LiteraturePart 9 Ruralism Realized: H. E. BatesChapter 10 Late 20s: Oppression and DesireChapter 11 30s BloomPart 12 Colonial Anxieties and Hopes: From E. R. Morrough to Winifred HoltbyChapter 13 Morrough's EgyptChapter 14 Leslie Mitchell and E. M. Forster on EgyptianChapter 15 William Plomer and HoltbyPart 16 Rise of Modernist WomenChapter 17 Late 20s: Travel and OppressionChapter 18 The 30s and Stella BensonPart 19 Soviet Fictions of the 30s: Bolshevism and Michael ZoshchenkoChapter 20 Against Anti-Bolshevism: Understanding Stalin's RussChapter 21 Michael Zoshchenko's Early Soviet EpisodesChapter 22 Elisaveta Fen's Late 30s ZoshchenkoChapter 23 Self-Criticism or Lies?Part 24 Realism or Documentary in the 30s: V.S. Pritchett and Peter Chamberlain25 Pritchett, Foreigner EnglishmanChapter 26 Chamberlain's Snapshot DocumentaryChapter 27 Conclusion: Realist RelationsChapter 28 Bibliography