British Multicultural Literature and Superdiversity

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

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2. Introduction: Old and New Diversity

   • Ulla Rahbek

   Pages 1-24

3. Multicultural Poetry: On Filigrees, Grafting, and Mirrors

   • Ulla Rahbek

   Pages 25-49

4. The Multicultural Memoir: A Politics of Recognition for the Individual

   • Ulla Rahbek

   Pages 51-88

5. The Multicultural Novel, Part 1: Britain Reimagined

   • Ulla Rahbek

   Pages 89-129

6. The Multicultural Novel, Part 2: Bordered Britain

   • Ulla Rahbek

   Pages 131-171

7. The Multicultural Short Story and Intercultural Conversation

   • Ulla Rahbek

   Pages 173-205

8. Conclusion: The Public Good of (British) Multicultural Literature

   • Ulla Rahbek

   Pages 207-218

9. Back Matter

   Pages 219-224

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This book explores contemporary British multicultural multi-genre literature. Considering socio-political and philosophical ideas about British multiculturalism, superdiversity and conviviality, Ulla Rahbek studies a broad range of texts by writers from across the majority-minority divide. The text focuses on figurative registers and metaphorical richness in multicultural poetry and investigates the interlocked issue of recognition, representation and identity in memoirs. Rahbek analyses how twenty-first-century British multicultural novels both envision and reimagine an inclusive nation and thematise the detrimental effects of individual exclusion on characters’ pursuits of the good life. She observes the ways that short stories pivot on ambivalent encounters and intercultural dialogue, and she reflects on the public good of multicultural literature.

• multicultural literature
• superdiversity
• genre studies
• socio-political theory
• multiculturalism
• contemporary british literature
• author background
• Asian British writers
• Black British writers
• identity politics
• British and Irish Literature

“British Multicultural Literature and Superdiversity is a lucidly written, and convincingly argued book that engages in the role of literature in the public sphere. … British Multicultural Literature and Superdiversity is a compelling read for anyone interested in literary representations of multicultural and superdiverse Britain in the twenty-first century.” (Carolin Gebauer, Anglia, Vol. (139) 1, 2021)

“The book recommends itself to scholars and non-specialists. Rahbek’s style is distinguished by its clarity, accessibility and common-sense pragmatism. … Ulla Rahbek’s British Multicultural Literature and Superdiversity is thus a timely intervention on the role of literature in reimagining local, national and diasporic ways of being in a world increasing lacking in multicultural imagination.” (Sneharika Roy, Caliban, French Journal of English Studies, Vol. 63, 2020)

“In British Multicultural Literature and Superdiversity, Ulla Rahbek uses theory illuminatingly and with a light touch to say some compelling things about both emerging and established texts. Particular strengths are the range of genres discussed, and Rahbek’s welcome focus on Jewish, Chinese-British, and white authors as well as Black British and British Asian writers. I learnt a great deal from reading this volume, and thoroughly enjoyed its snappy chapters and the clear line of enquiry.” (Claire Chambers, Senior Lecturer in Global Literature at the University of York, UK, and author of Making Sense of Contemporary British Muslim Novels (2019))

• University of Copenhagen, København S, Denmark

  Ulla Rahbek

Ulla Rahbek is Associate Professor of Postcolonial Literature at Copenhagen University, Denmark. Her most recent publications are Global Voices (2016) and, with Eva Rask Knudsen, In Search of the Afropolitan: Encounters, Conversations, and Contemporary Diasporic African Literature (2016).

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