Pat Barker, Liza's England

Jessica Gildersleeve (University of Southern Queensland)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1986

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Originally published under the title The Century's Daughter, Liza's England follows on from Pat Barker's first two novels, Union Street (1982) and Blow Your House Down (1984) in its concern with the lives of working-class women. This novel may be read as the unheard testimony of the twentieth-century English working class and, more particularly, of the women within it. Here, Barker moves beyond a romanticised vision of the working class and seeks instead a realist representation of twentieth-century England. She avoids a rosy nostalgic version of the past, but rather recovers and reclaims it through memory: “‘And you talk about the good old days', said Liza. ‘What was so good about them? Women …

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2447 words

Citation: Gildersleeve, Jessica. "Liza's England". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 September 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12907, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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