Beschreibung
This book presents a collection of twelve interviews with
eminent English contemporary writers held during a period of
four years. The book allows an illuminating insight into a
very lively and thought-provoking literary culture, stirred
not only by recent ideas of postmodernism but also by the
manifold issues of nationality, culture, and gender
subjected to permanent redefinitions towards the end of the
twentieth century. The interviews with Peter Ackroyd, John
Banville, Julian Barnes, Alain de Botton, Maureen Duffy,
Tibor Fischer, John Fowles, Romesh Gunesekera, Tim Parks,
Terry Pratchett, Jane Rogers, and Adam Thorpe cover topics
such as the relationship between writer and public, the role
of the literary tradition, the relevance of contemporary
literary theory for the production of literature, images of
nationality, intertextuality, changes in the attitude
towards language and meaning, and the reception of literary
texts by critical reviewers and literary critics.
All the
interviewers have worked for the ECCEL
(Erlangen Centre for Contemporary English Literature).
Rudolf Freiburg, who holds
the chair of English Literature, and Jan Schnitker teach
English Literature at the English Department of the
Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg.