Abstract
This chapter discusses the representation and construction of punk in literary fiction. It has two main aims. Firstly, it will analyse how literary techniques are used in fiction and writing about punk to reflect similar styles, approaches and practices in other cultural manifestations of punk, such as in music and fashion. It will, therefore, ask whether ‘punk fiction’ can be identified as distinct mode of writing. Secondly, it will examine the way in which the emergence of punk has been used in fiction to indicate a transition or rupture in social, political and cultural discourses in Britain in the 1970s, especially the move in politics from consensus to confrontation. It discusses fiction by several writers including Richard Allen, Jonathan Coe, Hanif Kureishi and Gideon Sams.
Some of the ideas in this chapter are a developed from another book chapter: Bentley (2018).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Allen, Richard. 1977. Punk Rock. London: New English Library.
Allen, Richard. 1970. Skinhead. London: New English Library.
Allen, Richard. 1971. Suedehead. London: New English Library.
Bentley, Nick. 2018. ‘From Prog to Punk: Cultural Politics and the Form of the Novel in Jonathan Coe’s The Rotters’ Club.’ In Jonathan Coe: Contemporary British Satire, edited by Philip Tew. London and New York: Bloomsbury.
Bradford, Richard. 2007. The Novel Now. Malden, MA. and Oxford: Blackwell.
Bresnan, Mark. 2015. ‘“Consistently Original, Perennially Unheard Of”: Punk, Margin, and Mainstream in Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom.’ In Write in Tune: Contemporary Music in Fiction, edited by Erich Hertz and Jeffrey Roessner, 31–42. London and New York: Bloomsbury.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Trans. Richard Nice. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press.
Clarke, Dylan. 2003. ‘The Death and Life of Punk, the Last Subculture.’ In The Post-Subcultures Reader, edited by David Muggleton and Rupert Wienzierl, 223–38. Oxford: Berg.
Cohen, Phil. 2004 [1972]. ‘Subcultural Conflict and Working-class Community [1972].’ In The Subcultures Reader. 2nd edition, edited by Ken Gelder, 86–93. London and New York: Routledge.
Coe, Jonathan. 2005. Like a Fiery Elephant: The Story of B.S. Johnson. London: Picador.
Coe, Jonathan. 2001. The Rotters’ Club. London: Penguin.
Coe, Jonathan. 1994. What a Carve Up! London: Viking.
Coon, Caroline, 1995 [1976] ‘1976: Rock Revolution.’ In The Faber Book of Pop, edited by Hanif Kureishi and Jon Savage, 490–93. London and Boston: Faber and Faber.
Denby, Joolz. 2009. ‘West One (Shine on Me).’ In Punk Fiction: An Anthology of Short Stories Inspired by Punk, edited by Janine Bullman, 14–18. London: Portico Books.
Elhefnawy, Nader. 2015. Cyberpunk, Steampunk and Wizardry: Science Fiction Since 1980. Create Space.
Ellis, Bret Easton. 1985. Less Than Zero. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Franzen, Jonathan. 2010. Freedom. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Hallberg, Garth Risk. 2015. City on Fire. London: Jonathan Cape.
Hebdige, Dick. 1988 [1979]. Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London and New York: Routledge,
Home, Stewart. 2005. Tainted Love. London: Virgin Books.
Jubilee. 1978. Dir. Derek Jarman. London: Whaley-Maley Productions.
Kureishi, Hanif. 1990. The Buddha of Suburbia. London and Boston: Faber and Faber.
Laing, David. 2015 [1985]. One Chord Wonders Meaning in Punk Rock. Oakland, CA: PM Press.
Luter, Matthew. 2015. ‘More Than Zero: Post-Punk Ideology (and Its Rejection) in Bret East Ellis.’ In Write in Tune: Contemporary Music in Fiction, edited by Erich Hertz and Jeffrey Roessner, 19–30. London and New York: Bloomsbury.
Moore-Gilbert, Bart. 2001. Hanif Kureishi. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Perry, Mark. 1996. ‘A Punk Life’. In Gobbing, Pogoing, and Gratuitous Bad Language: An Anthology of Punk Short Stories, edited by Robert Dellar, 5–8. London: Spare Change Books.
Perry, Mark. 2000. Sniffin’ Glue: The Essential Punk Accessory. London: Sanctuary Publishing.
Rivett, Miriam. 1999. ‘Misfit Lit: “Punk Writing”, and Representations of Punk Through Writing and Publishing.’ In Punk Rock: So What?: The Cultural Legacy of Punk, edited by Roger Sabin, 31–48. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
The Rotters’ Club [album]. 1975. Hatfied and the North. London: Virgin.
Sabin, Roger. 1999. ‘“I Won’t Let that Dago By”: Rethinking Punk and Racism.’ In Punk Rock: So What?: The Cultural Legacy of Punk, edited by Roger Sabin, 199–218. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
Sams, Gideon. 2004 [1977]. The Punk. London: Fortune Teller Press.
The Filth and the Fury. 2001. Dir. Julien Temple. London: Film Four.
Thornton, Sarah. 1995. Clubcultures Music, Media and Subcultural Capital. London: Polity Press.
Ush. 2002. ‘The History of the Skeptix (well in my world, anyway!).’ The Official Website of the Skeptix. Accessed October 31, 2017. www.theskeptix.com/.
Welsh, Irvine. 1993. Trainspotting. London: Secker & Warburg.
Willis, Paul. 2014 [1978]. Profane Culture. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Wilson, Elizabeth. 2000. Bohemians: The Glamorous Outcasts. New Brunswick NJ.: Rutgers University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bentley, N. (2018). Punk Fiction; Punk in Fiction. In: Bentley, N., Johnson, B., Zieleniec, A. (eds) Youth Subcultures in Fiction, Film and Other Media. Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73189-6_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73189-6_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73188-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73189-6
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)