Literary Politics: The Politics Of Literature And The Literature Of Politics

Literary Politics Also by Deborah Philips FAIRGROUND ATTRACTIONS: An Archaelogy of The Narratives of The Pleasure Garden WRITING ROMANCE: Post-War Women’s Fiction 1945–2005 WRITING WELL: Creative Writing and Mental Health (with Liz Linington and Debra Penman) BRAVE NEW CAUSES: Postwar Popular Fictions for Women (with Ian Haywood) THE TROJAN HORSE: The Growth of Commercial Sponsorship (with Garry Whannel) Also by Katy Shaw MINING THE MEANING: Re-Writing the 1984–5 UK Miners’ Strike ANALYSING DAVID PEACE DAVID PEACE: Texts and Contexts Literary Politics The Politics of Literature and the Literature of Politics Edited by Deborah Philips Professor in Literature and Cultural History, University of Brighton, UK and Katy Shaw Senior Lecturer in Literature, University of Brighton, UK Introduction, selection and editorial matter © Deborah Philips & Katy Shaw 2013 Individual chapters © Contributors 2013 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-27013-9 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-44426-7 ISBN 978-1-137-27014-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137270146 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. R.I.P., The English Subject Centre This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements ix Notes on Contributors x 1 Introduction: The Politics of Literature and the Literature of Politics Deborah Philips 1 2 Literature and Politics Stuart Laing 15 3 Shakespeare v. The BNP Adam Hansen 25 4 Roaring Boys and Weeping Men: Radical Masculinity in Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi Kate Aughterson 45 5 Having the Last Word: World War I Fictions as Counter-Narratives Zacharoula Christopoulou 65 6 ‘Show an Affirming Flame’: Writers and Readers in Modern Dark Times Rosalind Brunt 77 7 Literature, Politics and History Paddy Maguire 95 8 The Politics of Nostalgia in the Rural English Novel Dominic Head 117 9 (Re)Writing the 1984–1985 UK Miners’ Strike Katy Shaw 137 10 Can the Environment be Saved? Post-Apocalyptic Children’s Novels of the 1980s Dave S