David Wylot - Reading Contingency: The Accident in Contemporary Fiction

In Reading Contingency: The Accident in Contemporary Fiction, David Wylot constructs an innovative study of the relationship between plotted accidents in twenty-first-century British and American fiction, the phenomenology of reading, and a contemporary experience of time that is increasingly understood to be contingent and accidental. A synthesis of literary and cultural analysis, narratology, critical theories of time and the philosophy of contingency, the book explores the accidents imagination of contemporary time and the relationship between reading and living in novels by writers including A. M. Homes, Nicola Barker, Noah Hawley, J. M. Coetzee, J. G. Ballard, Jesmyn Ward, Jennifer Egan, and Tom McCarthy.

Dr. David Wylot is Lecturer in English at the University of Leeds.

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41 Reading Contingency

The Accident in Contemporary Fiction

David Wylot

For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com

First published 2020

by Routledge

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and by Routledge

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2020 Taylor & Francis

The right of David Wylot to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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ISBN: 978-0-367-44141-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-00796-8 (ebk)

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This book would not have been possible without the support and encouragement from my colleagues, mentors, and friends. Ideas for it began at the University of York in Jane Elliotts classroom, and without Janes early and continued intellectual involvement this project would not exist. I was then lucky to gain the mentorship of my PhD supervisors at Queen Mary, Mark Currie and Shahidha Bari. Marks stewardship has had a profound impact on my intellectual development, and much of what is of value in this project undoubtedly comes from him. Shahidhas advice has always pushed me to consider the bigger picture both of the project and of academic life, and this book is a testament to her rigorous readings. I am also extremely grateful to my viva examiners for encouraging me to continue to develop the projects ideas and ambition. Patricia Waughs mentorship and questioning of the studys fundamental arguments and Caroline Edwardss indispensable guidance on refining and positioning its claims have both continually provided me with the motivation and intellectual push needed to complete this project. Furthermore, Reading Contingencys development would not have been possible without the brilliant guidance and support of Jennifer Abbott and Mitchell Manners at Routledge. And finally, I am extremely grateful to Julia Jordan and James Fisher for their meticulous feedback and extensive reader commentary on early versions of this manuscript.

Much of what is of value in this book exists because of the intellectual contributions made by many of my colleagues at Queen Mary between 2012 and 2019: James Dunkerley, Alexandra Effe, Katherine Fleming, Niall Gildea, Helena Goodwyn, Joel Grossman, Suzanne Hobson, Matt Ingleby, David James, Ellen Jones, Ivan Juritz, Rosie Langridge, Jacob McGuinn, and Helen Tyson. I want to thank, in particular, Hetta Howes and Clare Whitehead for the coffee and mutual encouragement during our shared research days. I am also extremely grateful to the readers of early and late versions of the chapters in this study, without whom a great deal of clarity, rigour, and argument would be missing: Huw Marsh, Emily Hogg, Sam McBean, Zara Dinnen, and Charlotte Terrell.

I am also very thankful to the School of English at the University of Leeds for providing me with a welcoming environment in which to complete the final stages of this manuscript, and I am particularly grateful to Stuart Murray, John McLeod, and Ian Fairley for their mentoring and support.

My sincerest thanks also extend to the numerous intellectual contributions made by colleagues at other institutions, including Alexander Beaumont, Amy DeAth, Seb Franklin, George Legg, Rafael Lubner, Christine Okoth, Karina Lickorish Quinn, Charlotte Terrell, and countless other colleagues and friends. I am particularly thankful to have early versions of this work receive detailed feedback at a variety of conferences and workshops, including BAMS: Modernism Now! at the University of London, Time, Freedom, and Narrative at the University of Manchester, Post-45 at Kings College London, and BACLS: What Happens Now? at Loughborough University.

I also wouldnt be writing this without the generous support of the various institutions in which I have studied and worked. Thank you to the University of Kent, in particular, Alex Padamsee and David Stirrup, for helping to kick-start my journey in this industry, and also to staff at the University of York. None of this would have been possible also without the brilliant School of English and Drama at Queen Mary, in particular, Faisal Abul, Jonathan Boffey, Rob Ellis, and Suzi Lewis. Much of the initial writing for this study was completed during my evening shifts in the peaceful Whitechapel Library, and for that I am very grateful to the Queen Mary Library Services team. I am also grateful to the generous staff at Hult International Business School. My thanks also to the Arts and Humanities Research Council, whose generous support funded the PhD thesis on which this study is based.

Lastly, I couldnt have done any of this without the vast support from friends and family. Thank you to Tadhg Caffrey, Kyle Canning, Harry Cockburn, David George, Jane Elliott, Debbie Hannan, Hetta Howes, Charlie Martin, Kate Mason, John Nugent, Maxim Whenray-Hughes, Clare Whitehead, and Alex Whiteman. Thank you also to my family, Claire and Chris Wylot, Rose and Tom, and my grandparents. And, of course, to my partner Arcadia, whose mixture of friendship and impatience at academia couldnt have made for better support. Sorry we havent done much this summer.