The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories - Softcover

Bradbury, Malcolm

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241952867 ISBN 13: 9780241952863

Publisher: Viking, 2011

Synopsis

The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories, edited by novelist and critic Malcolm Bradbury, is a collection of the finest short stories from our best loved authors, including Samuel Beckett, Graham Greene, William Golding, Kingsley Amis, Doris Lessing, Muriel Spark, J. G. Ballard, William Trevor, Ian McEwan, Martin Amis, Rose Tremain, Salman Rushdie, Graham Swift and Kazuo Ishiguro. 'The short story has become one of the major forms of modern literary expression - in some ways the most modern of them all.' The story of the British short story since the Second World War is one of change and revolution and this powerful and moving collection brilliantly demonstrates the evolution of the form. Containing thirty-four of the most widely regarded postwar British writers, it features tales of love and crime, comedy and the supernatural, the traditional as well as the experimental. This many-storied, many-splendored collection is a brilliant portrait of the generation of writers who have immediately influenced the brightest, sharpest and most intriguing writers who continue to emerge today. Malcolm Bradbury was a novelist, critic, television dramatist and professor of American studies and creative writing. He was awarded the CBE in 1991 for his services to Literature and was knighted in the 2000 New Year's Honours List. He died in 2000.

About this title

About the Author

Malcolm Bradbury was a novelist, critic, television dramatist and professor of American studies and creative writing. He was awarded the CBE in 1991 for his services to Literature and was knighted in the 2000 New Year's Honours List. He died in 2000.

From Library Journal

These 34 stories have all the hallmarks of post-1945 British culture: an amused attitude toward Americans and Australians, a comic fascination with sex, a baffling affection for a cold evening meal called "tea." In most cases, though, as the narrator of Adam Mars-Jones's "Structural Anthropology" says, "just below the surface of story . . . lies the tangled richness of myth." Stylistically, the works vary from Samuel Beckett's succinct avant-gardism to Doris Lessing's extended revisiting of naturalism a la Flaubert. The entire volume is recommended, especially Ian McEwan's "Psychopolis," which makes it clear why many consider him Great Britain's leading writer. David Kirby, Florida State Univ., Tallahassee
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0241952867
• ISBN 13: 9780241952863
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448
• Editor: Bradbury Malcolm