Merritt Moseley

A collection of the most illuminating commentary written on the English language academic novel during the last forty years, together with new essays especially commissioned for this volume. As well as general thematic essays, there are discussions of a number of individual novelists: Vladimir Nabokov, Randall Jarrell, Mary McCarthy, Kingsley Amis, Alison Lurie, Robertson Davies, David Lodge, Howard Jacobson. Contributors are: Adam Begley, Ian Carter, Benjamin DeMott, Aida Edemariam, Leslie Fiedler, Philip Hobsbaum, J. P. Kenyon, David Lodge, Merritt Moseley, Dale Salwak, Samuel Schuman, J. A. Sutherland, Glyn Turton, Chris Walsh, Susan Watkins, George Watson.

Academic Novel

Essays on British and Irish novelists discusses the combination of desperation and avant-gardism, bestsellers, masterpieces, competing technologies, hyper fiction, the future of the novel, recent changes in British publishing, and the increase in writings by celebrity authors.

British and Irish Novelists Since 1960

Contains biographical sketches of representative British novelists whose work began to appear roughly around 1960.

Fourth series

British Novelists Since 1960

The Booker Prize, renamed in 2002 to the Man Booker Prize, is the most prestigious literary award given in the United Kingdom and one of the two or three most esteemed such awards in the world and confers literary recognition on novels that reflect and portray the state of culture. Discusses the impact the Booker Prize had on the world of books, the history of the Booker Prize, the rules and judging, and the various controversies that arose over awarding this prize.

Booker Prize Novels, 1969-2005

Understanding Kingsley Amis

Novelist, playwright, teleplaywright, and literary critic, David Lodge ranks as one of English literature's most overlooked and under-appreciated writers of modern fiction. In this new critique, Merritt Moseley examines the many facets of Lodge the man and Lodge the writer, his Catholic and University education, his origins in England's literary rebirth of the 1950s, and his unique ability for fictive change.

How Far Can You Go?

David Lodge

Matthew J. Bruccoli

Richard Layman

Third series

Best known for his play Noises Off, Michael Frayn has garnered widespread critical acclaim and a number of literary honors for his work as a journalist, playwright, novelist, philosopher, and translator. Beginning with Frayn's humorous journalism, which was vital to the "satire boom" of the 1960s, Merritt Moseley assesses the entirety of the writer's literary contributions, including his works of philosophy and autobiography. One of the first scholars to consider Frayn seriously as a novelist, Moseley provides careful readings of his fiction, including The Tin Man, Sweet Dreams, and Headlong. Moseley also explores Frayn's development as a playwright, beginning in 1970 with the critically panned The Two of Us.

Understanding Michael Frayn

Pat Barker is one of the most important authors of her time. Her fiction has won many awards – including the Booker Prize for The Ghost Road, the last novel in her celebrated Regeneration trilogy – and has attracted much critical attention. This stimulating Guide examines the key critical responses to the full range of Barker's fiction, from newspaper reviews and journal articles to revealing interviews and book-length scholarship. Merritt Moseley also explores the central themes which run through Barker's novels and the criticism, such as the issues of gender, class, social realism, violence and trauma. Tracing the development of Barker's fiction through the surrounding critical works, this is an indispensable volume for anyone with an interest in one of Britain's most popular and widely-studied contemporary writers.

The Fiction of Pat Barker

Introduction -- Beginnings -- History, Gender, and Class -- The Regeneration Trilogy -- Regeneration (1991) -- The Eye in the Door (1993) -- The Gost Road (1995) -- The Violence Around Us -- Back to the Front -- Conclusion.

Assesses the divergent works of a daring English writer.

Understanding Julian Barnes

In this book, Merritt Moseley offers a brief history of the Booker Prize since 1992. With a short chapter covering each year, we follow the change in criteria, the highs and lows, short lists, winners, and controversies of the Booker Prize. The book also functions as an example of literary criticism for each of the books involved, analyzing the judging process and the winning books. Exploring themes such as literary vs. popular fiction, the role of Postcolonial work in what began as a very "British" prize, the role of marketing, publishing, and the Booker organization itself, the book offers a crucial view into literary prize culture. The book spends time looking at exclusions, as well as the overall role and function of the literary prize. What books aren’t included and why? Why has the Booker become so significant? This book will be of use to anyone with an interest in, or studying, contemporary literature, literary prizes, literary culture and British literature, as well as publishing studies.

Merritt Moseley

Books

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