19 research outputs found
âWriting Nowâ
This chapter considers the themes and forms that characterise womenâs writing in the new millennium. Post-9/11, self-representation has become a particularly urgent task for Muslim writers such as Monica Ali and Leila Aboulela. A concern with refugees, asylum seekers, and modern forms of slavery becomes increasingly prominent, not only in fiction â for example, Fadia Faqirâs My Name is Salma (2007) and Monica Aliâs In the Kitchen (2009) â but also in the theatre: Kay Adsheadâs The Bogus Woman (2000), Sonja Lindenâs Crocodile Seeking Refuge (2005), Christine Baconâs Rendition Monologues (2008), Rukhsana Ahmad and Oladipo Agboluajeâs Footprints in the Sand (2008), Natasha Walter's Motherland (2008), and Gbemisola Ikumeloâs Next Door (2010). The impact of global capitalism, consumerism, and branding are explored in novels such as Scarlett Thomasâ Popco (2004), Ali Smithâs Girl Meets Boy (2007), and Wintersonâs The Stone Gods (2007). Ageing is another major theme. Long a pre-occupation of Doris Lessing, it features also in Liz Jensenâs War Crimes for the Home (2002) and Alison Fellâs Tricks of the Light (2003). Anxieties about climate change and environmental apocalypse are addressed through dystopia in Maggie Geeâs The Ice People (1998) and The Flood (2004), Jeanette Wintersonâs The Stone Gods (2007), Sarah Hallâs The Carhullen Army (2007), and Liz Jensenâs The Rapture (2009). Following Suniti Namjoshiâs pioneeringly collaborative Building Babel (1996), the use of multimedia in Maya Chowdhryâs digital poetry, Kate Pullingerâs ânetworkedâ wikinovel Flight Paths (2005-), and the âvisual novelâ (an interactive fiction game), gives literature an entirely new shape