Part 6: Contemporary fiction 1975 - present

Introduction

Whereas the majority of titles that we have looked at in the preceding instalments of this guide have established their place in the literary canon through a combination of critical consensus and enduring popularity, the situation is less certain when we come to contemporary fiction. New authors can rapidly attract the attentions of collectors on the back of an acclaimed debut but, if subsequent efforts fail to satisfy the expectations that have been built up, then the value of the preceding works may well be reassessed. As a recent example Adam Thirlwell was included in Granta’s 2003 list of young British novelists on the strength of his debut work Politics, published later that year, which was generally well-received. However his non-fiction follow up, Miss Herbert, received something of a savaging at the hands of the critics (most notably in The Observer and The Times). Whilst many of the works featured here represent the efforts of well-regarded novelists writing at the peak of their powers, it’s impossible to say with any certainty that they will be as well thought of or influential 25 or 50 years from now.

Eighties Excess

The promotion of free market values by the Thatcher and Reagan administrations in Britain and America during the 1980s helped to foster a more materialistic culture with the focus being much more on individual gain rather than the common good. Two novels which encapsulate (or rather satirise) the values of this period are Martin Amis’ Money and Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities.

Money, published by Cape in 1984, is the story of John Self (who, as a director of television commercials, holds a quintessentially 1980s position) and his attempts to get his first feature film off the ground. Self is the embodiment of consumerism and hedonism – constantly smoking (“Unless I specifically inform you otherwise, I’m always smoking another cigarette”), drinking and eating to excess and spending copious amounts on prostitutes and pornography. Spending just under 400 pages in the company of the boorish and violent Self ought not to be an enjoyable or engaging experience but, thanks to the exuberance and outrageous humour of Amis’ prose, together with Self’s undeluded recognition of his multitude of faults, it is. Copies of the first edition are usually priced between £30 and £40.

The protagonist of The Bonfire of the Vanities – Sherman McCoy – is also an embodiment of the ideals of the time. McCoy is a millionaire bond trader who regards himself as a “Master of the Universe”. However, despite his wealth and privileged position, an encounter with two young black men, after taking a wrong turn into the Bronx whilst driving into Manhattan with his mistress, sows the seeds of his downfall. Whilst Wolfe had written a series of highly regarded non-fiction works based upon his journalism, The Bonfire of the Vanities was his first novel. It was originally serialised in 27 instalments in Rolling Stone magazine, starting in 1984 before being heavily revised for publication in novel form in 1987 becoming an instant bestseller.

Religious Fundamentalism

Whilst a number of works in the immediate post-war period (such as Graham Greene’s The Heart of the Matter and Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited) were written from an expressly Catholic standpoint, novels with an overtly religious theme are much less common today. However, this is not to say that authors do not continue to explore the influence of religion in today’s more secular society.

One example is Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Set in the near future it depicts a totalitarian state, the Republic of Gilead, which has been established following the overthrow of the United States government in a military coup. The theocratic dictatorship demands adherence to a strict set of rules drawn from the Old Testament with harsh punishments for anyone who transgresses. Dwindling birth rates and the high incidence of birth deformities (caused by disease, radiation and pollution) mean that children are a prized rarity. In response to this, a class of fertile women (termed the “handmaids”) has been created whose sole purpose is to serve as concubines to the members of the male ruling elite (the “commanders”) and bear them children. This practice takes its authority from the story of Rachel and Leah in the book of Genesis and The Handmaid’s Tale generally is a warning of the loss of individual freedom that can result from a fundamentalist interpretation of religious texts. The Handmaid’s Tale was awarded the 1986 Booker Prize and the true first edition (published in Canada by McClelland & Stewart) is worth up to £40.

The most notorious example of religious debate engendered by a work of fiction in recent years has to be that generated by the publication of Salman Rushdie’s fourth novel The Satanic Verses in 1988. Rushdie’s inclusion of some fictionalised references to Islamic history in the book (the title of which refers to some apparently pagan verses from the Qu’ran alleged by some to have been uttered by the prophet Muhammad) was regarded by many Muslims as blasphemous. The ensuing furore led to the book being banned in Muslim countries and burned in demonstrations in the United Kingdom. The most extreme reaction came from Iran whose leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling on all Muslims to kill Rushdie and his publishers - a move which resulted in Rushdie being placed under police protection and going into hiding.  The controversy highlighted the contrast between the Western value of freedom of expression and the Muslim belief that no-one should disparage the founder of Islam.

Death

Benjamin Franklin famously classed death (along with taxes) as being one of the certainties of life. Whilst the latter has formed the basis of few notable novels, death has certainly provided the inspiration for many authors throughout literary history.

Ian McEwan is a significant author of the contemporary period whose novels – particularly his earlier works - focus heavily on death. The Cement Garden, published in 1978, looks at the coping mechanisms that four children employ to come to terms with the deaths of first their father (who suffers a heart attack whilst attempting to concrete over the garden of the family home) and then their bedridden mother. Either through an inability to confront the situation or to avoid being taken into care, they bury the mother in a trunk in the cellar and encase her body with the remaining concrete. As the school holidays start they begin to exhibit increasingly strange and dark behaviours in their isolation from the rest of the world. With The Cement Garden being McEwan’s debut novel, you would need to part with between £200 and £300 to obtain a copy in its dustjacket depicting weeds growing through cracked cement.

The two central characters of Don DeLillo’s White Noise – Jack Gladney and his wife Babette – are preoccupied with the thought of death, each having a horror of dying before the other and being left alone. Whilst both are in healthy middle age at the outset of the novel, Gladney’s exposure to a “toxic airborne event” following a chemical spill at the nearby railway freight depot leaves him feeling that he is living under a death sentence whilst Babette resorts to participating in trials for an experimental drug that has been developed to reduce the fear of dying. White Noise was DeLillo’s eighth novel and the one that brought him to the attention of a wider audience. In part it is a contemplation of modern society’s fear of death despite of our increasing longevity. It is also an effective satire on other contemporary phenomena, including consumerism (DeLillo originally intended to call the book “Panasonic”) and academic life (Gladney has established the field of “Hitler studies” although suffers insecurities over his inability to speak German).

Cormac McCarthy’s 2006 novel The Road, deals with death on a much bigger scale depicting a post-apocalyptic America, which has been reduced to a burnt-out wasteland by some unspecified disaster. Two characters - an unnamed man and his young son - travel on foot towards the coast in search of the remnants of humanity, surviving by scavenging for tinned food and avoiding those other survivors who have reverted to a feral state and turned to enslaving and eating those who are weaker. Although the novel highlight’s man’s dogged attempts to survive even the most hostile environments, it offers a bleak and harrowing vision of the future of humanity. 

The “Great American Novel”

Whilst it is an overused term, a number of major novels published during the contemporary period can lay claim to falling into this category through capturing something of the American Zeitgeist with two particularly worthy candidates being Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and Philip Roth’s American Pastoral.

Published in 1985, Blood Meridian is based upon historical events which took place between 1848-51 and follows the fortunes of “the Kid” a 14-year old Tennessean who has run away from home. In search of adventure, he falls in with a band of mercenaries led by Captain White who are seeking to continue the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. After surviving the slaughter of White’s group by Comanche the Kid joins the Glanton Gang, a notorious group of scalp hunters who are hired by the Mexican authorities to clear the border area of Indians. As the novel progresses, the gang turns from the officially sanctioned slaughter of Indians to the killing of Mexicans, and the narrative becomes an unflinching account of the gang’s descent into increasing violence and depravity, the hellish quality of which is enhanced by McCarthy’s poetic use of language. Essentially the novel provides a nihilistic alternative to the usual heroic vision of the birth of the American West.

Although it attracted little attention at the time of publication, Blood Meridian’s critical reputation has increased significantly in the intervening years and in 2006 it was placed third in a poll of authors and publishers conducted by The New York Times Magazine to list the greatest novels of the previous 25 years. Today you could expect to pay over £1,000 for a copy of the American first edition in very good condition.

American Pastoral is set in the much more recent past, spanning the social and political upheaval of the late sixties, through Watergate up until the 1990s. Narrated by Philip Roth’s alter ego Nathan Zuckerman, the novel follows the fortunes of successful high school athlete and businessman Seymour “Swede” Levov whose comfortable existence is thrown into turmoil after his daughter becomes radicalised by the Vietnam war and plants a bomb in a local post office. The novel, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1998, draws parallels between the manner in which a comfortable, successful life can be ruined with the evaporation of America’s post war optimism.

Multiculturalism

Another significant theme of the contemporary British novel is the exploration of the increasing diversity of our society. Whereas in a previous era, novelists such as EM Forster wrote about our attitudes towards the colonies, now a number of leading novelists write about the experiences of immigrants and their descendants in this country. A notable example of this is Zadie Smith’s White Teeth which depicts characters from a range of cultures (including Jamaican, Bangladeshi and white British) and religions (including Jewish, Islamic and Jehovah’s Witness). Rather than resorting to stereotypical portraits, the novel presents the qualities and negative aspects of the various cultures as well as the conflict that immigrants experience between preserving their traditions and assimilating into the new society. 

CONTEMPORARY FICTION: 1975-present – SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

A guide to current values of first editions in Very Good condition (with dustjackets).

McEwan, Ian: THE CEMENT GARDEN

            (Jonathan Cape, 1978)......................................................£20-£40 (£200-£300)

Amis, Martin: MONEY

            (Jonathan Cape, 1984).............................................................£6-£8 (£30-£40)

Atwood, Margaret: THE HANDMAID’S TALE

(McClelland & Stewart, Toronto, 1985)…...….……....................£8-£10 (£30-£40)

Ditto (Jonathan Cape, 1986)…………….....................................£3-£5 (£20-£25)

DeLillo, Don: WHITE NOISE

(Viking, US, 1985)…….…………………...….………................£12-£15 (£70-£80)

Ditto (Picador, 1985)….………………....................................£10-£12 (£50-£60)

McCarthy, Cormac: BLOOD MERIDIAN

(Random House, US, 1985).………...........................£150-£200 (£1,000-£1,100)

Ditto (Picador, 1989)……..……..........................................£25-£30 (£200-£225)

Wolfe, Tom: THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES

(Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, US, 1987)…...………........................£5-£8 (£15-£20)

Ditto (Jonathan Cape, 1987)….……….......................................£5-£8 (£15-£20)

Rushdie, Salman: THE SATANIC VERSES

            (Viking, 1988)......................................................................£10-£12 (£40-£50)

Roth, Philip: AMERICAN PASTORAL

(Houghton Mifflin, US, 1997).……….........................................£8-£10 (£30-£40)

Ditto (Jonathan Cape, 1997)………..........................................£8-£10 (£20-£25)

Smith, Zadie: WHITE TEETH

            (Hamish Hamilton, 2000)..........................................................£5-£8 (£15-£20)

McCarthy, Cormac: THE ROAD

(Knopf, US, 2006)..…..….……….............................................£8-£10 (£20-£25)

Ditto (Picador, 2006)……………............................................£12-£15 (£75-£80)

Part 7: Literary prize winners