A Temporary Future: The Fiction of David Mitchell

Having emerged as one the leading contemporary British writers, David Mitchell is rapidly taking his place amongst British novelists with the gravitas of an Ishiguro or a McEwan. Written for a wide constituency of readers of contemporary literature, A Temporary Future: The Fiction of David Mitchell explores Mitchells main concernsincluding those of identity, history, language, imperialism, childhood, the environment, and ethnicityacross the six novels published so far, as well as his protean ability to write in multiple and diverse genres. It places Mitchell in the tradition of Murakami, Sebald, and Rushdiewriters whose works explore narrative in an age of globalization and cosmopolitanism. Patrick ODonnell traces the through-lines of Mitchells work from ghostwritten to The Bone Clocks and, with a chapter on each of the six novels, charts the evolution of Mitchells fictional project.