Some parents worry their teens' obsession with dark fiction means they'll grow up and overthrow the government -- like Katniss Everdeen in Hunger Games. How real is this concern?
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Articles on Fiction
Displaying 121 - 140 of 142 articles
Jonathan Coe is under-read and underrated – in the UK. In France, his stinging social attacks on Britain are far more popular.
The distinctions between highbrow and middlebrow fiction are as old as literature itself. So does the current spat over such terms mean anything in the long term for works of literature? Unlikely.
An inspiration for Batman and Superman has faded into obscurity. Can he experience a revival?
Fanfiction is nebulous, confusing and often mocked. It's also explosively popular. So what is it?
Italian novelist Elena Ferrante has been called "one of the great novelists of our time" and her Neapolitan novel cycle "an unconditional masterpiece". But the author herself remains an intangible figure.
You might have thought that the world's most prestigious prize for fiction was a level playing field. In fact, rule changes have made it much easier for big publishers to dominate.
Is the line between truth and fiction clear when it comes to history? And if not, is there scope for historians and novelists to re-engage, with a view to learning from – rather than bludgeoning – each other?
Can history and fiction really be kept separate? A special edition of journal TEXT examines historical fictions and fictional histories. Here, the editors map out the contested territory.
Fictional politicians may have spoilt the party for the real ones -- they're much more charismatic, dramatic and funny. What would happen if seven of the best competed?
Terry Pratchett and Jorge Luis Borges may have been the prophets of the future library.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, has sold tens of millions of copies worldwide, and was voted The Greatest Novel of All Time in a London Daily Telegraph poll of 2008…
Still Alice – starring Julianne Moore – tells the story of Alice Howland, a linguistics professor diagnosed with a form of early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Moore has already netted a Golden Globe and is…
We’re starting 2015 with an experiment in collaborative creative writing. What happens when you ask ten academics to write a story together? Taking our cue from the Exquisite Cadaver game played by Surrealist…
This year’s cultural debates about the constitution of the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards judging panels are now giving way to consideration of the shortlists and their relative worth. Even as these…
Problem or issue-based young adult novels are not new occurrences. From John Green’s Fault in Our Stars (2012) to Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why (2007), books aimed at readers as young as 12, and as…
Historical fiction is booming. The much-publicised success of Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites, Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries and Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall is just the tip of the iceberg for a genre that rivals…
It’s been 21 years since the publication of Irvine Welsh’s groundbreaking and controversial novel, Trainspotting. Since then, it has been widely praised and criticised, rejected by a mainstream audience…
This year marks 40 years since the temple of airport fiction lost its Chief Vestal. Author Jacqueline Susann maxed out her mortal coil back in 1974, on September 21, felled by cancer. She was only 56…
I don’t know whether Australian author Matthew Reilly ever studied Aristotle, but he certainly studied action novels. As the subject of tonight’s Australian Story on ABC, Reilly’s affinity with the Greek…
Top contributors
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Dean, Graduate Research, University of Canberra
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Professor of Creative Writing, University of Technology Sydney
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Honorary Research Associate, Swansea University
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Associate Professor in Media, University of Notre Dame Australia
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Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, The Open University
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Vice Chancellor's Principal Research Fellow, School of Media & Communication, RMIT University
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Associate Professor of English Literature, University of Southern Queensland
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Personal Chair, Literary Studies, Deakin University
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Tutor in Publishing, Manchester Metropolitan University
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Associate Editor, The Letters of Ernest Hemingway and Assistant Research Professor of English, Penn State
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Hilary Marland is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of History, University of Warwick
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Professor of French and Comparative Literature, Georgetown University
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Associate professor in astronomy, Monash University
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Senior Lecturer in Literary Studies, Monash University
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Professor of Writing, University of Technology Sydney
