The Romance of the Archive: Some Examples
George P. Landow, Shaw Professor of English and Digital Culture, National University of Singapore
Suzanne Keen's Romances of the Archive in Contemporary British Fiction examines the following works as examples of what she convincingly shows to be a characteristic postimperial literary form. Romances of the Archive embrace realistic, detective, time-slip fantasy novels, and blends of these various genres.
- Peter Ackroyd, Chatterton, 1987
- Peter Ackroyd, The House of Doctor Dee, 1993
- A. S. Byatt, Possession, 1989
- Lindsay Clarke, The Chymical Wedding, 1989
- Stevie Davies, Impassioned Clay, 1999
- Peter Dickinson, Some Deaths before Dying, 1999
- Margaret Drabble, The Gates of Ivory, 1991
- J. G. Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur, 1974
- Robert Goddard, Past Caring, 1986
- Robert Harris, Fatherland, 1992
- Alan Hollingsworth, The Swimming-Pool Library, 1988
- P. D. James, Original Sin, 1992
- Penelope Lively, According to Mark, 1984
- Larwence Norfolk, Lemprère's Dictionary, 1991
- Barry Unsworth, Sugar and Rum, 1988
- Barry Unsworth, Losing Nelson, 1999
- Nigel Williams, Witchcraft, 1987
Keen also includes discussion of works she considers "postcolonial rejoinders":
- Amitav Ghosh, The Shadow Lines, 1988
- Keri Hulme, The Bone People, 1985
- Bharati Mukherjee, The Holder of the World, 1993
Related materials
References
Keen, Suzanne. Romances of the Archive in Contemporary British Fiction. Tonrono: U. of Toronto Press, 2001.
Last modified 24 September 2002