Power in Politics and Academia in Jonathan Coe’s Novels

This book explores the intricate manifestations of contemporary power, its related ideology, and the resistance and reaction to the dominant discourse in Jonathan Coe’s political fiction, covering the dismantling of the British social-democratic consensus, Thatcherism and Blairism, up to the new ideology of Globalism. Beyond the predictable dichotomy of support-opposition to power, the book argues the modern individual seems to have found another ontological approach, for which it coins the concept of intentional unpower . Furthermore, it demonstrates that there are three possibilities regarding the evolution of this type of social response, and invites the readers to discover them, while enjoying Coe’s subtlety and humour. Given its broad approach, the book will appeal to researchers in a wide range of domains, including literary and cultural studies, political theory, and sociology, as well as any reader fascinated with the essence of power, intellectual response, and discourses containing their own elements of subversion.