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Reading behind the lines
Postmemory in contemporary British war fiction
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2014
About this book
This book takes the concept of postmemory, developed in Holocaust studies, and applies it for the first time to novels by contemporary British writers. Focusing on war fiction, Alden builds upon current scholarship on historical fiction and memory studies, and extends the field by exploring how the use of historical research within fiction illuminates the ways in which we remember and recreate the past.
Using postmemory to unlock both the transgenerational aspects of the novels discussed and the development of historiographic metafiction, Alden provides a ground-breaking analysis of the nature and potential of contemporary historical fiction. By examining the patterns and motivations behind authors’ translations of material from the historical record into fiction, Alden also asks to what extent such writing is, necessarily, metafictional. Ultimately, this study offers an updated answer to the question that historical fiction has always posed: what can fiction do with history that history cannot?
Using postmemory to unlock both the transgenerational aspects of the novels discussed and the development of historiographic metafiction, Alden provides a ground-breaking analysis of the nature and potential of contemporary historical fiction. By examining the patterns and motivations behind authors’ translations of material from the historical record into fiction, Alden also asks to what extent such writing is, necessarily, metafictional. Ultimately, this study offers an updated answer to the question that historical fiction has always posed: what can fiction do with history that history cannot?
Author / Editor information
Contributor: Natasha Alden
Natasha Alden is Lecturer in Contemporary British Fiction at Aberystwyth University
Topics
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Front matter
i -
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Contents
v -
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Acknowledgements
vii -
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1 Introduction
1 -
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2 Regenerating the past
52 -
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3 ‘In the beginning was the word; and to that it came back in the long run’
117 -
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4 Lesbian postmemory
178 -
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5 Conclusion
201 -
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Bibliography
207 -
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Index
225
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
August 3, 2023
eBook ISBN:
9781526102607
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781526102607
Keywords for this book
Postmemory; memory; historical fiction; world wars; queer fiction; contemporary fiction; historiographic metafiction
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
