Erlanger Studien 
zur Anglistik und Amerikanistik

herausgegeben von
Rudolf Freiburg

Band 1
This book presents a collection of twelve interviews with eminent English contemporary writers held during a period of five years. The book allows an illuminating insight into a very lively and thought-provoking literary culture, stirred not only by recent ideas of postmodernism but also by the manifold issues of nationality, culture, and gender subjected to permanent redefinitions towards the end of the twentieth century. The interviews with Peter Ackroyd, John Banville, Julian Barnes, Alain de Botton, Maureen Duffy, Tibor Fischer, John Fowles, Romesh Gunesekera, Tim Parks, Terry Pratchett, Jane Rogers and Adam Thorpe cover topics such as the relationship between writer and public, the role of the literary tradition, the relevance of contemporary literary theory for the production of literature, images of nationality, intertextuality, changes in the attitude towards language and meaning, and the reception of literary texts by critical reviewers and literary critics. 
All the interviewers have worked for the ECCEL (Erlangen Centre for Contemporary English Literature).

Table of Contents

Introduction 1
Peter Ackroyd
Introduction 
"I think after More I will do Turner and then I will probably do Shakespeare":
An Interview with Peter Ackroyd (Anke Schütze, Göttingen) 		 5
7

9
John Banville
Introduction
"To make fiction as dense and as demanding as poetry":
An Interview with John Banville (Claudia Pfeiffer, Erlangen)		 21
23
 

25
Julian Barnes
Introduction
"Novels come out of life, not out of theory":
An Interview with Julian Barnes (Rudolf Freiburg, Erlangen)		 39
41
 

47
Alain de Botton
Introduction
"I write really for someone who’s like myself":
An Interview with Alain de Botton (Jan Schnitker, Erlangen)		 67
69
 

73
Maureen Duffy
Introduction
"Variety of image, variety of language, variety of viewpoint":
An Interview with Maureen Duffy (Christoph Bode, Bamberg)		 85
87
 

89
Tibor Fischer
Introduction
"I’m very keen on tea and Shakespeare":
An Interview with Tibor Fischer (Gerd Bayer, Erlangen)		 101
103
 

107
John Fowles
Introduction
"Stay alive to everything":
An Interview with John Fowles (Katharina Gänßbauer, Erlangen)		 119
121
 

125 
Romesh Gunesekera
Introduction
"Culture is not contained, it’s all over the place":
An Interview with Romesh Gunesekera (Hans-Georg Erney, Erlangen)		 135
137
 

141
Tim Parks
Introduction
"Writing is seduction":
An Interview with Tim Parks (Aglaja Frodl, Erlangen)		 151
153
 

157
Terry Pratchett
Introduction
"Fantasy is the whole cake":
An Interview with Terry Pratchett (Alexandra Rehfeld, Göttingen; Jan Schnitker, Erlangen; Matthias Schröder, Göttingen)		 173
175
 

179
Jane Rogers
Introduction
"Novel is character":
An Interview with Jane Rogers (Gerd Bayer, Erlangen)		 201
203
 

207 
Adam Thorpe
Introduction
"I don’t see much point in writing a novel unless the reader works":
An Interview with Adam Thorpe (Sabine Hagenauer, Erlangen)		 219
221
 

225
Selected Bibliography 235
[Seitenanfang]