For contributors and subscribers, the first issue is already
online and available through the website.
The process of creating,
commissioning and seeing an internationally peer reviewed journal through to publication has been a pleasurable experience, but also a huge learning curve for the team. We are very happy with the first issue and look forward to innovating
and developing the journal in response to your future thoughts and needs.
A keyword in our field is diversity and
we hope the first issue of C21 Literature
captures this spirit through a range of creative and critical works. As Jago
Morrison famously argued, C21 literatures are ‘anything but
homogeneous. On the contrary, they are interesting precisely for their ability
to locate themselves in the interstices – the spaces between national cultures,
genders and histories’ (Morrison 2003: 7).
The authors under examination in C21 Literature talk back, they can be
emailed, googled or tweeted, give opinions, change their minds and comment frequently
about literary criticism of their works. The field of C21 Literature is exciting
not in spite of, but precisely due to this dynamic inter-activity. This journal is firmly situated in and seeks to reflect, inform and represent a field that is still in formation as part of that process
of becoming.
No single issue can offer an exhaustive or definitive survey of this
ever-expanding field. Instead, our first issue offers a smorgasbord-style selection,
exploring a selected range of themes, concepts and theories based on writing
published since the new millennium.
We hope you enjoy Issue One and look
forward to receiving your feedback.
Dr Katy Shaw and the C21 Literature
Team
