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This book follows the figure of ‘the clever girl’ from the post-war to the present and focuses on the fiction, plays and memoirs of contemporary British women writers. Spurred on by an ethic of meritocracy, the clever girl is now facing austerity and declining social mobility. Though suggesting optimism, a public discourse of ‘opportunity’, ‘aspiration’ and ‘choice’ is often experienced as an anxious and chancy process. In a wide-ranging study, the book explores the struggle to move away from home and traditional notions of femininity; the persistent problems associated with women’s embodiment; the pressures of class and racial divisions; the new subjectivities of the neoliberal era; and the generational conflict underpinning austerity. The book ends with a consideration of feminism’s place as a phantom presence in this history of clever girls. This study will appeal to readers of contemporary women’s writing and to those interested in what has been one of the dominant social narratives of the post-war period from upward to declining mobility. .

Literature. --- Social history. --- Literature, Modern --- Social structure. --- Social inequality. --- Sociology. --- Sex (Psychology). --- Gender expression. --- Gender identity. --- Contemporary Literature. --- Twentieth-Century Literature. --- Social History. --- Social Structure, Social Inequality. --- Culture and Gender. --- Gender Studies. --- Sex identity (Gender identity) --- Sexual identity (Gender identity) --- Identity (Psychology) --- Sex (Psychology) --- Queer theory --- Expression, Gender --- Sex role --- Psychology, Sexual --- Sex --- Sexual behavior, Psychology of --- Sexual psychology --- Sensuality --- Social theory --- Social sciences --- Egalitarianism --- Inequality --- Social equality --- Social inequality --- Political science --- Sociology --- Democracy --- Liberty --- Organization, Social --- Social organization --- Anthropology --- Social institutions --- Literature --- Descriptive sociology --- Social conditions --- Social history --- History --- Belles-lettres --- Western literature (Western countries) --- World literature --- Philology --- Authors --- Authorship --- 20th century. --- 21st century. --- Psychological aspects --- English literature --- Women and literature. --- Women in literature. --- Women authors --- History and criticism. --- Woman (Christian theology) in literature --- Women in drama --- Women in poetry --- Literature, Modern-20th century. --- Culture. --- Gender. --- Cultural sociology --- Culture --- Sociology of culture --- Civilization --- Popular culture --- Social aspects --- Literature, Modern—20th century. --- Literature, Modern—21st century. --- Equality.