The State of the Novel offers a lively yet rigorous investigation into the present state of the contemporary novel--in Britain and beyond--and some speculation about its future. Against the backdrop of globalization, Dominic Head establishes the interests shared by contemporary theorists, cultural commentators, and consumers of novels. Key topics are re-evaluated, including: literary prize culture; the idea of a literary renaissance in the 1980s; provincial fiction; the "post-9/11 novel"; and the presumed superiority of the novel in the US. False, but influential myths about the contemporary novel are challenged. This timely book contributes substantially to a revitalized form of novel criticism, emerging from the shadow of academic professionalism as a relevant and necessary medium.

Dominic Head is Professor of Modern English Literature in the School of English Studies at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of several books on twentieth-century and contemporary literature, including The Cambridge Introduction to Modern British Fiction, 1950-2000 (2002), and, most recently, Ian McEwan (2007). He is also the editor of The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English, third edition (2006).