In early 2016, I became convinced that the UK would vote Leave in the EU referendum, chancing a rather large bet on this result coming to fruition. It was my belief that the referendum was not responsible for dividing the UK, but merely revealed the inherent fissures already existing within society. This study, and the development of the term ‘Brexlit’ during 2016 more specifically, was born out of those experiences. My heartfelt appreciation goes out to those researchers and journalists who cited my initial work in this area (academic publishing can often be a painfully slow and agonizing process). Certain established journalists who got in touch to ask for guidance on the emerging genre, but failed to acknowledge the work of academics in their subsequent articles, shall remain nameless.
A number of academics offered generous reflections on specific areas of the study. Tremendous gratitude is extended to Bob Eaglestone, Sara Upstone, Eva Urban-Devereux, Caroline Lusin, Scott Hames, Dawn Miranda Sherratt-Bado, Joanna Rostek, Sibylle Baumbach and Geoff Rodereda – a European constellation of superb researchers. I am also indebted to several prominent writers for permitting interviews and discussing their thoughts on Brexit and literature. Particular thanks go to Adam Thorpe, Niall Griffiths, Sarah Moss, James Hawes, Sam Byers, Glen James Brown, Anthony Cartwright, Fiona Shaw, John King and Marina Lewycka. I’m grateful to the publishers of the fictions cited by this study, for their kind permission to reproduce sections of the works here.
The professionalism of the editorial and production teams at Bloomsbury has been exemplary. I am especially grateful to Ben Doyle, Lucy Brown and David Avital for their guidance and belief in (what eventually became) an extremely long and complicated project. The anonymous reader reports were overwhelmingly positive and encouraged me to broaden the interdisciplinary scope of the study. Thanks also to the University of Lincoln for a sabbatical award during the early stages of the writing process.
Over the last three years I have presented various ideas within this study as keynote speeches or invited talks at several universities, including Georgetown University, University of Stuttgart, University of Goettingen, Royal Holloway, Keele University, Manchester Metropolitan University, Northumbria University and the University of Lincoln. The insightful suggestions of attendees at these conferences and symposiums undoubtedly strengthened my core argument. Working on my special issue for the OLH journal (co-edited with the indomitable Ann-Marie Einhaus), ‘Writers and Intellectuals on Britain and Europe 1918–2018’, has reinforced my belief that academics have an active role to play in shaping national narratives. Generous funding from the British Academy and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation also allowed me to gain insight into wider European perspectives on this moment of political rupture.
Brief comments on British fiction’s response to the referendum were published as ‘BrexLit’, in Brexit and Literature: Critical and Cultural Responses, edited by Robert Eaglestone (Routledge, 2018: 15–30). Elements of Chapter 4 were reworked for the essay ‘Refugee Fictions: Brexit and the Maintenance of Borders in the European Union’, in Borders and Border Crossings in the Contemporary British Short Story, edited by Barbara Korte and Laura Lojo-Rodríguez (Palgrave, 2019: 39–60).
My greatest debt is to Joy, Mike and Katy for their support and kindness, as always. My two cats, Tom Bombadil and Lúthien Tinúviel, were just kittens when I began this study. Their constant companionship and arrogant disregard for current political events has been the best antidote to the horrors of the last few years.