Fiction of the New Statesman, 1913-1939
By (author) Bashir Abu-Manneh
Publication date:
10 October 2011Length of book:
292 pagesPublisher
University of Delaware PressDimensions:
240x162mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9781611493528
Fiction of the New Statesman is the first study of the short stories published in the renowned British journal theNew Statesman. This book argues that New Statesman fiction advances a strong realist preoccupation with ordinary, everyday life, and shows how British domestic concerns have a strong hold on the working-class and lower-middle-class imaginative output of this period.
The reinstatement of realism at the heart of inter-war fiction is long overdue but is now taking place, partly because literary scholars have been reading some history, partly because historians have been thinking about culture. This readable and argumentative book makes a significant contribution to the process, showing us how important realism was to the literary left, linking as it did the political and literary halves of the New Statesman. That it also introduces us to some worthwhile and neglected writing is a welcome bonus.