By the end of this lecture, learners will be able to:
- Identify key thematic and formal trends in 21st-century British literature, such as autofiction, speculative fiction, cli-fi, and digital literature.
- Describe how contemporary British authors respond to cultural crises including post-Brexit identity, climate change, racial justice, and digital alienation.
- Analyze the relationship between literary form and political content in works that challenge traditional narratives of Britishness and literary authority.
- Evaluate how literary innovation reflects or critiques broader shifts in society, technology, and global connectivity.
- Integrate various literary and theoretical viewpoints to evaluate the ways in which British literature is developing as a vehicle for speculative imagination and social commentary.
- Reflect on the role of the writer and reader in imagining ethical futures and the significance of literature as a cultural force in an age of transformation.