Brian W. Shaffer – författare

Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000; “This is an excellent introductory study. The selection of texts is intriguing. The volume is well-informed by criticism of the field and Shaffer’s close reading is exemplary. His interpretations cast fresh light on some novels that have become canonical and therefore this study is of great use to students generally and for those teaching them.”Philip Tew, University College Northampton; Director, UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies Written in clear, jargon-free prose, this introductory text charts the variety of English-language novel writing in the second half of the twentieth century. It focuses equally on British and Irish novelists, and on Anglophone novelists from other countries (exclusive of the US). The text provides students both with strategies for interpretation and with fresh readings of ten influential novels. It maps out the most important contexts and concepts for understanding the fiction of the period, considering subjects such as the aftermath of literary modernism and the end of the British Empire. Novels discussed in depth include Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day, and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. The author treats the English-language novel of this period as a socially-engaged and exploratory genre, one that challenges and stretches the prevailing canons of knowledge and literary representation in its bid to depict and probe an evolving present.

Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000; “This is an excellent introductory study. The selection of texts is intriguing. The volume is well-informed by criticism of the field and Shaffer’s close reading is exemplary. His interpretations cast fresh light on some novels that have become canonical and therefore this study is of great use to students generally and for those teaching them.”Philip Tew, University College Northampton; Director, UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies Written in clear, jargon-free prose, this introductory text charts the variety of English-language novel writing in the second half of the twentieth century. It focuses equally on British and Irish novelists, and on Anglophone novelists from other countries (exclusive of the US). The text provides students both with strategies for interpretation and with fresh readings of ten influential novels. It maps out the most important contexts and concepts for understanding the fiction of the period, considering subjects such as the aftermath of literary modernism and the end of the British Empire. Novels discussed in depth include Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day, and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. The author treats the English-language novel of this period as a socially-engaged and exploratory genre, one that challenges and stretches the prevailing canons of knowledge and literary representation in its bid to depict and probe an evolving present.

A Companion to the British and Irish Novel 1945-2000 serves as an extended introduction and reference guide to the British and Irish novel between the close of World War II and the turn of the millennium. Covers a wide range of authors from Samuel Beckett to Salman RushdieProvides readings of key novels, including Graham Greene's Heart of the Matter, Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea and Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the DayConsiders particular subgenres, such as the feminist novel and the postcolonial novelDiscusses overarching cultural, political and literary trends, such as screen adaptations and the literary prize phenomenonGives readers a sense of the richness and diversity of the novel during this period and of the vitality with which it continues to be discussed

This Encyclopedia offers an indispensable reference guide to twentieth-century fiction in the English-language. With nearly 500 contributors and over one million words, it is the most comprehensive and authoritative reference guide to twentieth-century fiction in the English language. Contains over 500 entries of 1000-3000 words written in lucid, jargon-free prose, by an international cast of leading scholarsArranged in three volumes covering British and Irish Fiction, American Fiction, and World Fiction, with each volume edited by a leading scholar in the fieldEntries cover major writers (such as Saul Bellow, Raymond Chandler, John Steinbeck, Virginia Woolf, A.S. Byatt, Samual Beckett, D.H. Lawrence, Zadie Smith, Salman Rushdie, V.S. Naipaul, Nadine Gordimer, Alice Munro, Chinua Achebe, J.M. Coetzee, and Ngûgî Wa Thiong’o) and their key worksExamines the genres and sub-genres of fiction in English across the twentieth century (including crime fiction, Sci-Fi, chick lit, the noir novel, and the avant-garde novel) as well as the major movements, debates, and rubrics within the field, such as censorship, globalization, modernist fiction, fiction and the film industry, and the fiction of migration, diaspora, and exile

The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Literature is a comprehensive new reference resource comprising individual titles covering key literary genres, periods, and sub-disciplines. This set includes The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory, edited by Michael Ryan; The Encyclopedia of the Novel, edited by Peter Melville Logan; and The Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Fiction, edited by Brian W. Shaffer at an extra 10% discount off the list prices. The Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Fiction is an indispensible guide to major writers and their key works; the genres and sub-genres of fiction in English across the twentieth century; and the major movements, debates, and rubrics within the field. Contains over 500 entries of 1,000 to 3,000 words written in lucid, jargon-free prose, by an international cast of leading scholarsArranged in 3 volumes covering World Fiction (edited by John Clement Ball), American Fiction (edited by Patrick O'Donnell, David Madden and Justus Nieland), and British and Irish Fiction (edited by Brian W. Shaffer).The Encyclopedia of the Novel offers authoritative accounts of the history, terminology, genre and theory of the novel written by an international cast of leading scholars, and overseen by an Advisory Board of 37 specialists Comprises nearly 150 accessibly written entries ranging from 500 to 7,000 wordsArranged in A-Z format across 2 fully indexed and meticulously cross-referenced volumesThe Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory is the first comprehensive multi-volume encyclopedia of literary and cultural theory. With explanations of complex terms and important theoretical concepts, and summaries of the work and ideas of key figures, it is a highly informative reference work for a multi-disciplinary readership. Contains over 300 entries of 1000-5000 wordsArranged in three volumes covering Literary Theory from 1900 to 1966 (edited by Gregory Castle), Literary Theory from 1966 to the Present (edited by Robert Eaglestone), and Cultural Theory (edited by M. Keith Booker)

This is a comprehensive guide to the life and work of the author of ""The Remains of the Day"".One of the most closely followed British writers of his generation, the Japanese-born, English-raised and -educated Ishiguro is the author of six critically acclaimed novels, including ""A Pale View of Hills"" (1982, Winifred Holtby Prize of the Royal Society of Literature), ""An Artist of the Floating World"" (1986, Whitbread Book of the Year Award), ""The Remains of the Day"" (1988, Booker Prize), and ""The Unconsoled"" (1995, Cheltenham Prize). Ishiguro's reputation also extends beyond the world of English-language readers. His work has been translated into twenty-seven foreign languages, and the feature film version of ""The Remains of the Day"" was nominated for eight Academy Awards.Brian W. Shaffer's study reveals Ishiguro's novels to be intricately crafted, psychologically absorbing, hauntingly evocative works that betray the author's grounding not only in the literature of Japan but also in the great twentieth-century British and Irish masters - Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, E. M. Forster, and James Joyce - as well as in Freudian psychoanalysis. All of Ishiguro's novels are shown to capture first-person narrators in the intriguing act of revealing - yet also of attempting to conceal beneath the surface of their mundane present activities - the alarming significance and troubling consequences of their past lives.