The Cambridge Companion to the Twentieth-Century English Novel

The twentieth-century English novel encompasses a vast body of work, and one of the most important and most widely read genres of literature. Balancing close readings of particular novels with a comprehensive survey of the last century of published fiction, this Companion introduces readers to more than a hundred major and minor novelists. It demonstrates continuities in novel-writing that bridge the century's pre- and post-War halves and presents leading critical ideas about English fiction's themes and forms. The essays examine the endurance of modernist style throughout the century, the role of nationality and the contested role of the English language in all its forms, and the relationships between realism and other fictional modes: fantasy, romance, science fiction. Students, scholars and readers will find this Companion an indispensable guide to the history of the English novel.

Reviews:

"With some 200 Cambridge companions in print, one might suppose that new titles would be routine. Not so this volume, energetically edited...Startling and exciting in equal measure, this volume will engender controversy for some time to come. Summing Up: Highly recommended."
-M. J. Emery, Cottey College, Choice

"The editor...has marshalled a hugely ambitious survey...The result is a stimulating collection of essays which are well-structured to inspire research by both students and the general reader...Uniquely, this book seeks to emphasise continuities in the novel's form across the century, rather than the more traditional division into 'halves' of modernist and postmodernist writing...This Companion is an excellent and affordable...introduction...for undergraduates and the interested general reader, and...should be added to humanities collections. Postgraduate researchers will find it a useful quick reference aid."
-Keith M. C. O'Sullivan, Senior Rare Books Librarian, University of Aberdeen, Reference Reviews 24.1 (2010), 38.

'… energetically edited … Startling and exciting in equal measure, this volume will engender controversy for some time to come … Highly recommended [for] upper-division undergraduates and above.' M. J. Emery, Choice