The Handbook systematically charts the trajectory of the English novel from its emergence as
the foremost literary genre in the early twentieth century to its early twenty-first century
status of eccentric eminence in new media environments. Systematic chapters address The English
Novel as a Distinctly Modern Genre The Novel in the Economy' Genres' Gender'
(performativity masculinities feminism queer) and The Burden of Representation (class and
ethnicity). Extended contextualized close readings of more than twenty key texts from Joseph
Conrad's Heart of Darkness (1899) to Tom McCarthy's Satin Island (2015) supplement the
systematic approach and encourage future research by providing overviews of reception and
theoretical perspectives.
