Transformations Within the Black British Novel

Abstract

In the early 1990s, interest rekindled in black British literature. Nevertheless, many critics tended to regard this new black writing as merely a strand growing out of the already existing genre. But the emergence of 1990s black British writers, not only coincided with Britain’s moving into a new century, it came at a crucial time, when the notion of what constitutes British culture was undergoing unprecedented changes. As I suggest here, this newest literary effusion surely has historical roots but it represents, just as clearly, several radical transformations of that venerable tradition.