Contemporary Fiction, Method, Manifesto: Towards a Response

Chair: Emma Crowley, University of Reading

Speakers:

Martin Paul Eve, Birkbeck, University of London – Contemporary Textual Scholarship, Canon, and Publishing

Bryan Cheyette, University of Reading – The Contemporary Novel is Not Necessarily New

Peter Boxall, University of Sussex – The Value of the Contemporary Novel

In his 2013 Textual Practice article, ‘Contemporary Fiction in the Academy: Towards a Manifesto’, Robert Eaglestone outlines a number of “not-yet-” (but should-be) “problems” for the academic study of contemporary fiction. Centring on the legitimation crisis of university English in the age of the internet and the super-fan, Eaglestone turns his focus to the challenges of period, archive, textual scholarship (agents and publishers), authors, globalisation, genre, value, and form. In this panel, we respond to Eaglestone’s not-yet-manifesto.

Thursday 6th July, 11.00