The Palgrave Handbook of Cold War Literature

‘This ground-breaking, field-defining work will become a go-to volume for those looking for the impact of the Cold War on global literatures, a requisite starting point for further research and a testament to collaborative scholarship.’
  - Steven Belletto, co-editor, Neocolonial Fictions of the Global Cold War (2019).

‘The Palgrave Handbook of Cold War Literature offers a comprehensive, wide-ranging and consistently high quality engagement with the full range of Cold War literatures, forming a one-stop handbook that will allow both neophytes and specialists to immediately grasp the key continuities and differences across national cultures.’
     - Dr Daniel Grausam, Durham University, UK
This book offers a comprehensive guide to global literary engagement with the Cold War. Eschewing the common focus on national cultures, the collection defines Cold War literature as an international current focused on the military and ideological conflicts of the age and characterised by styles and approaches that transcended national borders. Drawing on specialists from across the world, the volume analyses the period’s fiction, poetry, drama and autobiographical writings in three sections: dominant concerns (socialism, decolonisation, nuclearism, propaganda, censorship, espionage), common genres (postmodernism, socialism realism, dystopianism, migrant poetry, science fiction, testimonial writing) and regional cultures (Asia, Africa, Oceania, Europe and the Americas). In doing so, the volume forms a landmark contribution to Cold War literary studies which will appeal to all those working on literature of the 1945-1989 period, including specialists in comparative literature, postcolonial literature, contemporary literature and regional literature.