Ken Follett: the Transformation of Writer

This volume focuses on the artistic and cultural implications of an important contemporary novelist -- the author of such best-selling works as Eye of the Needle, The Pillar of the Earth, and The Hammer of Eden. Beginning with his earliest published novel, The Big Needle, this study explores the tension between the popular and the serious that has underlain much of Ken Follett's work, examines his blending of genres, film adaptations of his novels, and his keen ability to extend his readership through a "hybridization" process. Other chapters engage in a linguistic analysis to survey his artistic development and flexibility with forms; explore the structural, archetypal and mythic patterns underpinning much of his more successful work; and demonstrate that his recent involvement in British party politics is reflected not only in his latest works but has been implied by his novels form the very beginning. This study, which should appeal to both the scholar and the general reader, concludes with an assessment of Ken Follett's work so far and demonstrates that while his is part of a continuum, he has uniquely transformed his chosen genre -- the thriller -- and has made a significant contribution to popular cultural forms.