In Introduction to 21st Century Fiction, Peter Boxall discusses three preoccupations of contemporary fiction: first, temporality, encompassing the speeded, slowed, stalled, or fragmented time, as well as a fascination with fleeting moments; second, ‘the real,’ referring to the emergence of new forms of realism and mechanisms for capturing the new reality, with these forms themselves becoming the material substrate of our existence; and third, embodiment. One consequence of the suspension of temporality and the real in ‘our time’ is a sense of estrangement in how we experience our own bodies, with the boundaries of the body, its materiality, and its relationship to forms undergoing fundamental changes. In this episode, William and Raven discuss contemporary British fiction, inspired by a module we did together of the same name. By the end of the module, we realised that the three words in its title aligned with these three preoccupations: temporality refers to the contemporary, ‘the real’ addresses the nature of fiction, and Britishness is something embodied by individuals living in ‘our time’, within or outside of Britian. From the Irish civil unrest, Caribbean migration, and the Battle of Culloden, to espionage activities across the Europe and the UK-US transatlantic alliances, our focus shifts from defining Britishness to examining what is subtly excluded from it or selectively incorporated into it. The module begins with Rachel Cusk’s London-centric perspective and gradually moves toward the edges of Britishness, challenging and rethinking its boundaries.
Peter Boxall在Introduction to 21st Century Fiction中论述了当代小说的三个关注点。一是时间性，时间的加速、减速、停滞、失衡，和对流逝瞬间的迷恋。二是“真实”（the real），或者说，一种新的现实主义的生成，一套捕捉“真实”的形式机制，这种形式本身成为我们存在的物质基础。其三是具身性。时间性和真实被悬置在“我们的时间”中造成的后果之一是我们在体验自己身体的方式上产生了某种疏离；身体的界限、其物质性和身体与形式的关系正在发生根本变化。在这期节目中，William和Raven讨论了当代英国小说。这来源于我们共同参与的一门同名课程，而直到课程结束我们才意识到，在这门课名字中的三个单词中，时间性是对当代的指涉、真实是对小说本质的回应，而英国性则是由生活在“我们的时间”中的人具身感受的（无论是否身在英国）。从爱尔兰内战、加勒比移民、卡洛登战役，到间谍活动、跨大西洋联盟，重要的不是什么是英国性，而是哪些领域以微妙的方式被排除出了英国性，哪些又被选择性地收编了。这门课从Rachel Cusk这样非常伦敦中心的视角开始，逐渐走向英国性的边界、挑战它的边界、重思它的边界。
Host
William, School of English
Guest
Raven, School of English
Materials Mentioned
Cusk, Rachel, Outline: A Novel (London: Faber & Faber, 2018)
Closure: Contemporary Black British Stories, ed. by Jacob Ross (Leeds: Peepal Tree Press, 2015)
Kelman, James, You Have to be Careful in the Land of the Free (London: Penguin, 2005)
Jacques, Juliet, Variations (London: Influx Press, 2021)
Burns, Anna, Milkman (London: Faber & Faber, 2018)
McEwan, Ian, Sweet Tooth (London: Vintage Books, 2013)
Oyeyemi, Helen, What is Not Yours is Not Yours (London: Picador, 2017)
Smith, Ali, Spring (London: Penguin, 2019)
Kunzru, Hari, Red Pill: A Novel (New York: Vintage Books, 2020)
BGM
Danny Boy - Bill Evans
