B.S. Johnson, Giles Gordon and a ‘New Fiction’: The Book, the Screen and the E-book

Abstract

Today’s proliferation of reading technologies not only influences the way we read, but may alter it permanently. We are persistently told that the appeal of portable reading devices signifies the obsolescence of print: today’s reader has neither time nor space for paperbound volumes. The emergence of technologically advanced narrative media is not, however, a phenomenon unique to the twenty-first century. Nor indeed is the fervour amongst authors of print fiction to assert the continued importance of books. This essay presents a case study of a lesser-known movement in twentieth-century British writing, a ‘New Fiction’ defined by the Scottish author and agent Giles Gordon (1940–;2003), with the literary innovator B.S. Johnson at its core. Drawing connections between Johnson, Gordon and post-millennial commentary on new media and the printed word, this essay demonstrates that ‘New Fiction’ offers both a historical precedent and a practical response to the supposed ‘death’ of print.