English Fiction in the 1970s: Susan Hill and the Problem of Alienation

Vesela Katsarova Doctor, of Sciences, is a professor of English literature in the Department of English and American Studies, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". Her academic work focuses on contemporary English fiction and the female tradition in English literature. She delivered lecturs in Northwestern University and the University at Albany, USA. Prof. Katsarova was president of the Bulgarian Society for British Studies (2002-2006). She has translated some significant English novels.

The major argument in the present study is that the distinctive features of Hill`s "serious" fiction are those displayed by English fiction in the 1970s: exclusion of cardinal social issues, emphasis on individual consciousness, preoccupation with psychological experiences, with alienation, depersonalisation, insanity, etc. As a body of writing Hill`s "serious" fiction shows marked unity: similar preoccupations, plots, themes, motifs recur and all her books in the 1970s deal with issues of detachment. Therefore, the problem of alienation has suggested itself as the appropriate theme of the present study. Although Hill`s "serious" novels have attracted considerable critical attention, no separate critical study of her fiction has been published in England or abroad yet. It is there that the contribution of the present study lies.