Scandalous Fictions : The Twentieth-Century Novel in the Public Sphere

This study re-examines the twentieth-century novel as a form shaped by its problematic, often scandalous relation to the public sphere. Discussing ten texts against the challenges of their milieus, it considers twentieth-century fiction as a tradition of transgression, perennially caught between license and licentiousness, erudition and sedition. Riven by world wars and cold wars, atrocities and genocides, the twentieth century was also one of sexual, cultural and ideological revolutions, each inscribed across the fictions it produced. This fascinating new collection of original essays re-examines the twentieth-century novel as a form shaped by its problematic, often scandalous relation to the public sphere. Such iconic texts were crucial in negotiating a public space and voice for fiction in the twentieth century, repositioning their readers and challenging popular notions of privacy and probity. Leading contributors consider ten novels that changed readers' lives as well as public perceptions of the purpose of fiction: The Satanic Verses, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Beloved, On The Road, Disgrace, Ulysses, The Well of Loneliness, A Man of the People, Native Son, and The Hand that Signed the Paper. Three were the subject of famous trials for obscenity; others were accused of being blasphemous, libellous, seditious, even racist. Rewriting the critical consensus, the collection is an attempt to think afresh about the twentieth-century novel as a tradition of transgression, perennially caught between license and licentiousness, erudition and sedition Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction: the Twentieth-Century Novel in the Public Sphere....Pages 1-26 The ‘nameless shamelessness’ of Ulysses: Libel and the Law of Literature....Pages 27-47 ’The aristocracy of intellect’: Inversion and Inheritance in Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness....Pages 48-69 The Law and the Profits: the Case of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover....Pages 70-82 ’You Reckon Folks Really Act Like That?’: Horror Films and the Work of Popular Culture in Richard Wright’s Native Son....Pages 83-98 Scandalous for being Scandalous: ‘monstrous huge fuck[s]’ and ‘slambanging big sodomies’ in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road....Pages 99-116 Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People: the Novel and the Public Sphere....Pages 117-135 ’Precious Gift/Piece of Shit’: Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and the Revenge of History....Pages 136-149 Toni Morrison’s Beloved: the Scandal that Disturbed Domestic Tranquillity....Pages 150-171 Helen Darville, The Hand that Signed the Paper: Who is ‘Helen Demidenko’?....Pages 172-186 J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace: Reading Race/Reading Scandal....Pages 187-205 Afterword....Pages 206-208 Back Matter....Pages 209-219 Riven by world wars and cold wars, atrocities and genocides, the 20th century was also one of sexual, cultural & ideological revolutions, each inscribed across the fictions it produced. This text re-examines the 20th century novel as a form shaped by its problematic, often scandalous relation to the public sphere