Wednesday 30 December 2015

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 377: Twenty-First-Century British Novelists


Holding in my hand another new publication of mine which appeared in print earlier this month: Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 377:  Twenty-First-Century British Novelists, edited by the phenomenal Tom Ue, published by Gale Cengage.  

I am very pleased to have two essays in this volume:  one on P.D. James (6000 words) and one on Sarah Waters (3000 words).  It feels good to see those chapters in print.

The book was quite heavy to hold while taking this picture, as you can probably tell from my straining fingers.  458 numbered pages!

The Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 377:  Twenty-First-Century British Novelists is full of fascinating and illuminating essays on contemporary British writers, and I am proud to be a contributor to this mammoth volume.  

Saturday 19 December 2015

"Violence in American Popular Culture" - new two-volume book

I am so pleased to announce the publication of my new book chapter, entitled "'She decided to kill her husband':  Housewives in American Fictions of Crime""'She decided to kill her husband': Housewives in Contemporary American Fictions of Crime.  In the chapter I discuss portrayals of violence and the housewife figure in short stories by Nevada Barr and Joyce Carol Oates.



My chapter is part of a two-volume collection on Violence in American Popular Culture, edited by David Schmid, and published by Praeger.  The publisher says of the book: "this two-volume work [offers] a series of concise, detailed essays that explore why violence has always been a fundamental part of American popular culture, the ways in which it has appeared, and how the nature and expression of interest in it have changed over time." 




David Schmid, the editor of the two volumes,  has  done a wonderful job bringing together these fascinating and wide-ranging essays in order to investigate the meanings and representations of violence in American popular culture.  It was such a pleasure working with David, and I look forward to reading all these fascinating essays by the other contributors over the Christmas period. You can find further information about this collection here .