This important new book provides a comprehensive introduction to British fiction from 1979 to the present. The volume outlines the main developments in contemporary fiction and engages with key themes such as cultural identity, gender, myth and history, postcolonialism and urban culture. In a series of lively and accessible essays, key critics introduce a broad range of leading British writers, including Salman Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson, Will Self, Pat Barker, Kazuo Ishiguro, Martin Amis and Zadie Smith. Offering an illuminating analysis and contextualiztion of British fiction today, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of contemporary literature.

Richard J. Lane is Senior Lecturer in English at South Bank University, London and Reader in British and Postcolonial Studies, at the University of Debrecen, Hungary.

Rod Mengham is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of English, University of Cambridge and Director of Studies in English, Jesus College, Cambridge.

Philip Tew is Reader in English and Aesthetics at the University of Central England in Birmingham, and Reader in English & Aesthetics at the University of Debrecen, Hungary.