Maggie Gee: Writing the Condition-Of-England Novel

The first female Chair of the Royal Society of Literature and translated into thirteen languages, Maggie Gee is writing the Victorian condition-of-England novel for 21st-century Britain.

In the first critical study of Gee's work, Mine Özyurt Kiliç identifies the specific social problems her novels address and explains the social consciousness similarities Gee shares with the Victorians. Analyzing how Gee adjusts the condition-of-England novel to reflect contemporary Britain enables Özyurt Kiliç to reveal the accuracy of Gee's rich portraits of Britain. She focuses on Gee's ability to cut across the boundaries of race, class and gender, mix voices from the margin with the majority and challenge and change the idea of the mainstream.

As an active, self-conscious and critical participant in the literary world, Gee paints a panoramic view of society. Her critiques of class, race and the world of publishing, allow Özyurt Kiliç to cover a wide range of topics and detail how English fiction shapes and influences, and is shaped and influenced by, the contemporary literary market.

A detailed study of Maggie Gee's work that illustrates how she is rewriting the mid-Victorian condition-of-England novel for 21st-century Britain.

Mine Özyurt Kiliç is Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Dogus University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Part 1: Introduction
1. Contextualising Maggie Gee's Fiction
Part 2: Major Works
2. Author Flinging Herself From the Ivory Tower: Dying, In Other Words
3. Of the Nuclear Family and the Hibakusha: The Burning Book
4. Telescopic View of England, England: Light Years
5. Hard Times: Grace and Where Are the Snows
6. Are Such Things Done on Albion's Shore?: Lost Children
7. Environmental Crisis, from Fact to Fiction: The Ice People and The Flood
8. Of the Two Nations: The White Family
9. Authorship in a Globalised World: My Cleaner and My Driver
Part 3: Criticism and Contexts
10. Author Interview
Notes
Bibliography
Index