The Demotic Voice in Contemporary British Fiction [Hardcover]

This book is an assessment of narrative technique in contemporary British fiction, focusing on the experimental use of the demotic voice (regional or national dialects). The book examines the work of James Kelman, Graham Swift, Will Self and Martin Amis, amongst many others, from a practical as well as theoretical perspective.Contents Acknowledgements Introduction:?A Story so Far? Paradigms: a Taxonomy of Narrative Technique Antecedents: 'The Right to Write a Voice' Graham Swift's Last Orders : the Polyphonic Novel How Late It Was, How Late for James Kelman's 'Folk Novel' Alan Warner: Art-speech and the Morvern Paradox The Demotic, the Mandarin and the Proletentious: Martin Amis, Will Self and English Art-speech Pitfalls and Potentialities: Niall Griffiths and Anne Donovan Conclusions: the Clamouring Continues& Bibliography Index

'... for the more advanced creative writer at Masters and PHD level it could well prove to be a valuable critical source.' - David Manderson, Writing in Education

JEREMY SCOTT lectures at the University of Kent, UK. He has published articles on stylistics and narratology, fictional technique and contemporary fiction. He has also published several short stories.