Brexit anticipated

Lisa Bischoff analyses Eurosceptic novels published by British authors long before Brexit. RUB, Marquard What fiction tells us about Britain's relations to the European Union Eurosceptic dreams of an independent UK and nightmares of faceless EU bureaucrats are not confined to the world of politics, public opinion and the media. Those tropes have also found their way into the literary domain. From 1973 till now, around a dozen novels about the European integration project have been published in Britain. The threat of ever closer union and the fear of a European Superstate, as they prevail in political and media discourses find their expression also in these narratives. In her book -British Novels and the European Union: DysEUtopia-, which is based on her research carried out during her PhD at Ruhr University Bochum, Lisa Bischoff analyses eight Eurosceptic novels, asking: How is the EU represented in British fiction? -Overall, the novels, mostly political thrillers, paint a grim picture of the future European Union and can clearly be assigned to the Eurosceptic tradition - some even anticipate Brexit-, summarizes Bischoff her findings. Most of the novels have been written by authors who are well-known in politics and society.