Despite the funeral sermons that have been constantly pronounced over its death, the novel has probably never been more various, more interesting, more inventive, or more international in its sources and its scopes than today. Editor Malcolm Bradbury begins his defense and examination of contemporary fiction-and in particular the British novel-in his foreword to this DLB volume. Bradbury sees the works of the 106 contemporary British novelists profiled here as taking vital new experimental directions which have challenged the popular notion of what fiction really is.
106 entries include: Martin Amis, Beryl Bainbridge, Anthony Burgess, John Fowles, David Hughes, Iris Murdoch, Edna O'Brien, Barbara Pym, Piers Paul Read, Rose Tremain, William Trevor and Fay Weldon.