By the end of this lecture, students will be able to:

  1. Identify key thematic and formal trends in 21st-century British literature, such as autofiction, speculative fiction, cli-fi, and digital literature.

  2. Describe how contemporary British authors respond to cultural crises including post-Brexit identity, climate change, racial justice, and digital alienation.

  3. Analyze the relationship between literary form and political content in works that challenge traditional narratives of Britishness and literary authority. 

  4. Evaluate how literary innovation reflects or critiques broader shifts in society, technology, and global connectivity.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.