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Department of English

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Web Resources for Contemporary British Literature

Below you'll find web links for British history and culture and for the authors we're reading this semester, as well as other authors from the period. Some sites are better than others; as always when using the web, evaluate not only the quantity of the information presented, but its quality (the source of that information or its sponsor, date uploaded, etc.).

British History and Culture

Historical background

Cultural Contexts

London
Media
Television
The Prisoner
  • Six of One, The Prisoner Appreciation Society, offers a wealth of information about this cult favorite starring Patrick MacGoohan. "The Prisoner" was broadcast first in the UK in 1967 and then in the US in June, 1968.
  • Kipp Teague's well-organized RetroWeb Classic Television Page for "The Prisoner" is the official "sister site" to that of Six of One, The Prisoner Appreciation Society. It offers "original publicity write-up on the series by ITC, including descriptions of each episode and several high-quality episode images."
  • BBC Four provides a brief overview of the series, which they re-aired for a programme series "Art & the 60s: Summer in the Sixties" in 2004.
  • BFI's Screenland also offers a brief overview of the series, as well as video clips and links.
  • Read about recent re-releases of "Prisoner" episodes and other news in Frantz Lidz's "After 34 Years, Unable to Let Go Of The Prisoner" (New York Times, 19 Oct 2000).
The Avengers
  • The Avengers Forever offers a comprehensive site on The Avengers.
  • James Dawe's Unofficial Home Page about The Avengers, an award-winning site from the UK on this other cult t.v. favorite. [currently offline]
Exhibitions
  • A comphrensive site about the Festival of Britain in 1951, which celebrated "the achievements in all fields of activity of the United Kingdom soley" (Lord Ismay, 1951).
Film
Football
The Booker Prize
The Orange Prize

Authors

General Literary Resources
Douglas Adams
Fleur Adcock
John Agard
  • The British Council's site on Contemporary Writers offers a brief biography of Agard.
  • A discussion of Agard's time at the poet in residence at the BBC in 1998, the 50th anniversary of the Windrush's arrival.
Monica Ali
  • The British Council's site on Contemporary Writers offers a brief biography of Ali.
  • "My Year as a Star," an interview with Ali for the Telegraph (10 May 2004), offers some details about Ali's life as a writer before and since the publication of Brick Lane.
  • Ali is represented by The Marsh Agency; from their homepage, click on her name or photograph, and then on the link for Brick Lane for a list of countries where the novel has been published and for a collection of reviews.
  • Natasha Walter's review of Brick Lane, "Citrus scent of inexorable desire" (14 June 2003), from the Guardian.
  • "Local Protests over Brick Lane Film" (Guardian, 18 July 2006) describes how residents of Brick Lane are trying to prevent filming of Ali's novel in East London; other Guardianarticle offers some further information.
  • Some history on Tower Hamlets, and a virtual tour of Brick Lane.
  • "It's Brick Lane by any other name" (Guardian, 14 Sept 2003) offers a discussion about the publication of Brick Lane for the US market.
  • Responding to the film adaptation of Brick Lane and the people who criticized Ali's depiction of the community, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown argues for why "Every Londoner Should See This Film" (Evening Standard, 16 Nov 2007).
Monica Alvi
Martin Amis
Kingsley Amis
  • Web resources: "Why Lucky Jim Turned Right" , Gareth Jenkins' interesting essay that reevaluates Amis' "angry young man" status.
  • Listen to excerpts from several BBC Four interviews with Kingsley Amis.
  • Recommended reading: Lucky Jim (1953).
Margaret Atwood
  • Web resources: The Margaret Atwood Society homepage provides up-to-date information on Atwood's writing as well as an extensive bibliography and links to other sites.
  • Recommended reading: The Handmaid's Tale (1985).
Pat Barker
  • Biographies:
  • Interviews:
  • Reviews and critical essays:
  • Information on Dr.W.H.R. Rivers:
  • Links to historical background on the First World War:
    • Explore the site for World War One at BBC Knowledge for links to a summary of the war years, Daily Mirror articles from the 1940s about the war, interviews with veterans, a 3-D virtual tour of a trench, and information about making of the UK feature-length television drama "All the King's Men" (1999).
    • "The War Poets at Craiglockhart" (sponsored by Napier University, which resides on the former site of Craiglockhart Hospital) offers a history the site in the context of WWI and the poets who stayed there.
    • The First World War Poetry Archive: an on-line archive with material on Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, other poets, and WWI which offers an incredibly deep resource for background material on Barker's novel, including digital facsimiles of all of Owen's war poetry, a selection of his letters and photographs, and his personal records. In addition, the archive has over 250 Photographs of the Western Front (1914-1918); 250 Modern Photographs of the Western Front; c.50 Video Clips from the 1916 films "The Battle of the Somme" and "The Battle of the Ancre: The Advance of the Tanks" (QuickTime and MPEG); 100 Audio Clips from interviews with veterans from the Great War (RealAudio);and c.30 Modern Video Clips of the Western Front. (Most of the photos were taken from the collections of the Imperial War Museum.)
    • Information about The Hydra, the publication of Craiglockhart Hospital edited by Wilfred Owen during his stay at Craiglockhart, and about the grounds of Craiglockhart Hospital.
    • Information about the VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment).
Julian Barnes
  • Web resources: The Julian Barnes Page for a brief biographical profile and links to bibliography, critical works, and interviews.
  • Recommended reading: England, England (1998) and Flaubert's Parrot (1984).
A.S. Byatt
Angela Carter
Caryl Churchill
J. M. Coetzee
Merle Collins
Wendy Cope
  • The British Council's website on Contemporary Authors offers a brief biography of Cope.
  • An author profile of Cope from the BBC pages.
  • The Poetry Archive provides a brief overview of Cope's career with links to her reading some of her poems.
  • An interview with Cope from the Guardian ("Happiness Writes Good Poems," 3 June 2001), on the occasion of a new collection of her poetry.
  • Cope discusses the possessions with meaning in her life in the multi-media slide show "Wendy Cope: Pieces of Me" (Guardian, 6 Jul 2008).
Roddy Doyle
  • Web resources: The Roddy Doyle Page.
  • Recommended reading: The Commitments (1987) and Booker Prize Winner Paddy Clark, Ha Ha Ha (1993).
Margaret Drabble
Helen Fielding
  • A overview of Fielding's work as of 2008 appears at the Guardian.
  • Penguin USA has a reader's guide to Fielding's novel, which includes an interview with Fielding, a brief biography and more.
  • Check out the differences between the US and UK dust-jackets for Bridget Jones's Diary and The Edge of Reason.
  • The Bridget Archive provides links to interviews, reviews, and additional information.
  • The transcript from an online chat with Fielding in 1998 with Time.com.
  • "The Chick Lit Challenge" (March/April 2004, Utne) offers an overview of chick lit, a publishing trend which began with Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary.
  • Review of Fielding's Bridget Jones Diary and Nick Hornby's About a Boy.
  • If you enjoyed Fielding, try Nick Hornby or Roddy Doyle.
Penelope Fitzgerald
John Fowles
Brian Friel
Mark Haddon
Tony Harrison
Seamus Heaney
Georgette Heyer
Nick Hornby
  • A brief biography of Horny at the British Council's site for Contemporary Writers.
  • Penguin's web site for Hornby has a link to a recent interview with Hornby about his work, including Fever Pitch, and about his writing interests.
  • Penguin Putnam's web site has a brief biography, as does the "Nick Hornby" page at the BBC Book Pages.
  • The Guardian Books page on "Nick Hornby" offers a brief overview of his work, followed by links to Guardian reviewsof Hornby's work and interviews with Hornby.
  • An interview with Hornby at Salon about High Fidelity (1996) and an interview about Fever Pitch (1995) and About a Boy (1998).
  • For some further cultural context, you might want to read the (often "R" rated) football songs and chants of the English League teams -- such as Arsenal, Leeds United, Man U, and others -- as well as songs and chants for the England National Team.
Ted Hughes
Kazuo Ishiguro
  • The British Council's biography of Ishiguro.
  • "Living Memories" (Guardian, 18 Feb 2005) provides a recent profile of Ishiguro.
  • "The Hiding Place" (Telegraph, 6 March 2005) offers another profile.
  • An interview with Ishiguro -- "For Me, England is a Mythical Place" (Guardian, 20 Feb 2005) --on the occaison of the publication of Never Let Me Go (2005).
  • For historical context for Remains of the Day, visit the historical background resources above for the post-war years, including information on life after WWII and the Suez Crisis of 1956.
  • If you enjoyed Ishiguro, try Penelope Fitzgerald, A.S. Byatt, Pat Barker, or Muriel Spark.
Neil Jordan
Jackie Kay
  • A brief biography of Kay at the British Council's site for Contemporary Writers.
  • A brief biography of Kay at the Poetry Archive, with links to Kay reading from her work.
Hanif Kureishi
Philip Larkin
Andrea Levy
  • The British Council's site on Contemporary Writers offers a brief biography of Levy.
  • "Empire's Child" (Guardian, 31 Jan 2004) offers an interview with Andrea Levy, and "The Guardian Profile: Andrea Levy" (Guardian, 21 Jan 2005) offers more information about Levy and her work.
  • Levy describes her relationship with England and Britain in "This is My England" (Guardian, 19 Feb 2000).
  • In "Made in Britain" (Guardian, 18 Sept 2004), Levy offers her description of the day 50 authors of Caribbean, Asian, and African decent appear to be photographed.
  • Reviews of Levy's Small Island:
  • In "Eyes on the Prizes" (Guardian, 31 Jan 2005), critic and historian John Sutherland reflects on the award culture in the context of the prizes awarded to Small Island: The Orange Prize (2004), Whitbread Novel of the Year (2004), and Whitbread Book of the Year (2004).
Doris Lessing
David Lodge
  • The British Council provides a biography of Lodge as well as some other resources.
  • The "David Lodge" page at Literary Heritage West Midlands offers a brief biography, a bibliography of Lodge's work, and some links to other resources.
  • An interview with Lodge, published by România literar (18-24 April, 15/2001).
  • "Bad Reviews Spoil My Lunch" (Telegraph, 23 Aug 2004) offers a recent profile of Lodge in the context of his recent novel about Henry James.
  • Elaine Showalter reflects on the genre of academic novels in "Campus Follies" (Guardian, 10 Sept 2005), an excerpt from her book Faculty Towers: the Academic Novel and its Discontents (2005).
  • If you enjoyed Lodge, try another academic novel by Kingsley Amis or another view of the 1960s presented by A.S. Byatt or Margaret Drabble.
Colin MacInnes
Ian McEwan
Paul Muldoon
Iris Murdoch
John Osborne
  • A biography of Osborne posted on the BBC - Shropshire pages.
  • "Fifty Years of Anger," by Marc Lawson (Guardian, 31 March 2006), recounts the history surroudning the opening night of Look Back in Anger on 8 May 1956.
  • The National Theatre offers excerpts from critical reviews of a well-received production of Look Back in Anger, staged in 1999. (Link courtesy of the Internet Archive.)
  • Resources on post-war drama from the "1956" program of Changing Stages.
  • In "Godotmania" (Guardian, 4 Jan 2003), director Peter Hall discusses the influence of Beckett's Waiting for Godot on the British theater in the 1950s and the first British production, which appeared the year before Look Back in Anger. (Further information about Beckett is available from the online exhibition "Fathoms from Anywhere," sponsored by the Harry Ransom Center at UT Austin.)
  • Information about Butler's Education Act of 1944 and its implications for education across social classes.
Caryl Phillips
Philip Pullman
Craig Raine
  • A brief biography of Raine at the British Council's site for Contemporary Writers.
  • For a rather acerbic review of recent collections of Raine's poetry and criticism, see Michael Hofman's "Raine, Raine, Go Away" in the Guardian (3 Dec 2000).
Jean Rhys
  • The Christophine Site provides historical background on Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), as well as links to a biography and bibliography for Rhys.
  • Historical background on the Carribean.
  • Compare cover designs for different editions of Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea.
  • Information about Rhys' papers, held in the Special Collections at the University of Tulsa.
J.K. Rowling
Meg Rosoff
  • The British Council website has a brief biography and critical overview of Rosoff's work.
  • Explore Meg Rosoff's own website, including her C.V. and the books she wishes she had written.
  • Read Rosoff's entries for her book blog at the Guardian.
  • At the Random House website, Rosoff offers a brief autobiography and describes the inspiration for and composition of How I Live Now.
  • An interview with Rosoff from the Guardian (30 July 2006) on the occasion of her second book, another interview from Penguin books, and a profile from School Library Journal (1 March 2005)which offers some details on Rosoff's trans-atlantic career.
  • Several reviews of How I Live Now
    • A review from the Observer (25 July 2004)
    • Reviews from the Guardian, both an initial review (7 August 2004) and a later one following the award of the 2004 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (9 October 2004)
    • A review from The Times (London) (14 Nov 2004)
Arundhati Roy
Salman Rushdie
Samuel Selvon
  • A brief biography of Selvon at Peepal Tree Press.
  • The page for "Samuel Selvon" at World Literature in English offers a brief biography with information about his work and its cultural context.
Alan Sillitoe
Helen Simpson
  • The BBC World Service page on Helen Simpson provides a brief biography and an overview of her work to date, including quotations from Simpson about her work.
  • The British Council website for contemporary authors has a brief biograpy of Simpson, which includes the awards she has won.
  • Simpson's author page as Random House includes reviews of her first work published in the States, Getting a Life.
  • Check out the differences between the US and UK dust-jackets for Simpson's Hey Yeah Right Get a Life.
Zadie Smith
Muriel Spark
  • Web resources:
  • Recommended reading: Girls of Slender Means.
Wole Soyinka
  • The "Wole Soyinka" page at the site for Contemporary Postcolonial and Postimperial Literature in English, has links to short critical commentaries as well as some historical and political contexts for Phillips' work.
  • A biography of Soyinka and an overview of his literary work and artistic practice, with links to a bibliography and interviews, sponsored by the Stanford Presidential Lectures and Symposia in the Humanities and Arts.
  • A biography of Wole Soyinka in 1986 at the time of his Nobel Prize.
  • A brief overview of Soyinka's work.
  • A detailed interview with Soyinka (16 April 1998), sponsored by the "Conversations with History" series at U of California Berkeley; the subjects range from Soyinka's early years to his work for the theater and his political activism.
  • Listen (or watch) Wole Soyinka read his work at Harvard's Du Bois Institute (21 April 2003).
Tom Stoppard
Graham Swift
Derek Walcott
Jeanette Winterson
Benjamin Zephaniah
  • The British Council's Author Page on Zephaniah provides a biref biography.
  • An interview with Zephaniah at the Guardian (4 July 2009).
  • A website devoted to Benjamin Zephaniah and his work.