SOURCE: “‘Unconfessed Confessions’: the Narrators of Graham Swift and Julian Barnes,” in The British and Irish Novel Since 1960, edited by James Acheson, Macmillan, 1991, pp. 174–91.

In the following essay, Higdon analyzes some of the contributions to fictional structure made by Julian Barnes and Graham Swift.

Who will be for the British novel of the 1980s what John Fowles and Margaret Drabble were for the 1960s? Which new novel will capture attention as did The Magus and The French Lieutenant's Woman, as did The Millstone and The Waterfall? The decade has not been lacking in contenders: D. M. Thomas, though, has been unable to maintain the audience and high praise garnered by The White Hotel (1981); Bruce Chatwin's promise has been lost in an unfortunately early death; Salman Rushdie may have been co-opted and compromised by world politics. Two of the most promising authors, however, have consistently broadened their appeal with...