This anthology is in many was a 'best of the best', containing gems from thirty-four of Britain's outstanding contemporary writers. It is a book to dip into, to read from cover to cover, to lend to friends and read again. It includes stories of love and crime, stories touched with comedy and the supernatural, stories set in London, Los Angeles, Bucharest and Tokyo. Above all, as you will discover, it satisfies Samuel Butler's anarchic pleasure principle: 'I should like to like Schumann's music better than I do; I daresay I could make myself like it better if I tried; but I do not like having to try to make myself like things; I like things that make me like them at once and no trying at all...'
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From Library Journal
These 34 stories have all the hallmarks of post-1945 British culture: an amused attitude toward Americans and Australians, a comic fascination with sex, a baffling affection for a cold evening meal called "tea." In most cases, though, as the narrator of Adam Mars-Jones's "Structural Anthropology" says, "just below the surface of story . . . lies the tangled richness of myth." Stylistically, the works vary from Samuel Beckett's succinct avant-gardism to Doris Lessing's extended revisiting of naturalism a la Flaubert. The entire volume is recommended, especially Ian McEwan's "Psychopolis," which makes it clear why many consider him Great Britain's leading writer. David Kirby, Florida State Univ., Tallahassee
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Malcolm Bradbury was a novelist, critic, television dramatist and professor of American studies and creative writing. He was awarded the CBE in 1991 for his services to Literature and was knighted in the 2000 New Year's Honours List. He died in 2000.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best of the best from Britain's best authors,
By juliette montague (seattle) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories (Paperback)
i picked up this book one night and started reading a random story by Malcolm Lowry the book opened on. By the time it was finished, I was hooked. I finished a few others before i finally fell asleep around 4 AM. Stories by Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie and Martin Amis were were written when they were younger, but it's clear why they became celebrated as Britain's finest. Established great writers like Graham Greene, Kingsley Amis, David Hodge, Angela Carter, Rose Tremain are included whose stories leave you satisfied and entertained with a feeling of having secretly glimpsed into another person's unique experience. I looked forward every night to get into bed for a literary treat; I was never disappointed.
Every story seems to exceed the former in biting realism, an unexpected end, or human fantasy. Highly recommended for the insomniac as well.
5.0 out of 5 stars
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This review is from: The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories (Paperback)
This book was exactly what I thought it would be. I was looking for a book of short stories to use in my classroom, and this book has a nice selection appropriate for senior English.
4.0 out of 5 stars
fantastic introduction to British literature,
This review is from: The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories (Paperback)
Good book, haven't read all the stories yet but I only have 3 to go. Faves: I love Ian McEwan's short stories, and I hadn't known about Martin Amis or B.S. Johnson before this. Nice compilation for some good reading, and a dry sense of humor pervades the whole thing.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Sigbjorn Wilderness, an American writer in Rome on a Guggenheim Fellowship, paused on the steps above the flower stall and wrote, glancing from time to time at the house before him, in a black notebook: Il poeta inglese Giovanni Keats mente maravigliosa quanto precoce mori in questa casa il 24 Febbraio 1821 nel ventisessimo anno dell'eta sua. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
meaning light grey, abstract funeral, bare white body, brilliant first chapter, sewn heels, assembly deck, burning baby Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Charles Henderson, Miss Parsons, Miss Armfelt, Cape Kennedy, Rhys Rhys, Lady Ann, Miss Daubernethy, Laura Ann, Miss Pulkinhorn, Miss Townsend, Brodrick Layland, Los Angeles, Rodney Galt, New York, Tetbury Hall, British Museum, The Chelsea Set, Swiss Cottage, Toomin Valley, Cocoa Beach, Ellie Armfelt, Michael Plant, Susan Rawlings, Don Giovanni, Fred's Hotel New!
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Sigbjorn Wilderness, an American writer in Rome on a Guggenheim Fellowship, paused on the steps above the flower stall and wrote, glancing from time to time at the house before him, in a black notebook: Il poeta inglese Giovanni Keats mente maravigliosa quanto precoce mori in questa casa il 24 Febbraio 1821 nel ventisessimo anno dell'eta sua. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
meaning light grey, abstract funeral, bare white body, brilliant first chapter, sewn heels, assembly deck, burning baby Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Charles Henderson, Miss Parsons, Miss Armfelt, Cape Kennedy, Rhys Rhys, Lady Ann, Miss Daubernethy, Laura Ann, Miss Pulkinhorn, Miss Townsend, Brodrick Layland, Los Angeles, Rodney Galt, New York, Tetbury Hall, British Museum, The Chelsea Set, Swiss Cottage, Toomin Valley, Cocoa Beach, Ellie Armfelt, Michael Plant, Susan Rawlings, Don Giovanni, Fred's Hotel New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 40
books:
See all 40 books this book cites
8
books
cite this book:
See all 8 books citing this book
- Memories of the Space Age by J. G. Ballard in Front Matter, and page 222
- To Room Nineteen by Doris Lessing in Front Matter, and page 138
- David Lodge (English Authors Series) by Bruce K. Martin in Front Matter, and page 313
- History Man by Malcolm Bradbury on page 69
- Rates of Exchange by Malcolm Bradbury on page 69
See all 40 books this book cites
- Reading the New Testament (New Testament Readings) by John Court on page 43, and Back Matter
- Understanding Julian Barnes (Understanding Contemporary British Literature) by Merritt Moseley on page 158, and Back Matter
- The Balkans and the West: Constructing the European Other, 1945-2003 by Andrew Hammond in Back Matter
- Research Perspectives on English for Academic Purposes (Cambridge Applied Linguistics) by John Flowerdew in Back Matter
- The Writer's Workbook (Hodder Arnold Publication) by Jenny Newman on page 56
See all 8 books citing this book
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