Jonathan Coe, one of my favourite writers, has a new book coming out this week. There's an interview with him in today's Observer:
www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/04/jonathan-coe-interview-middle-england
The novel is set in the present day. This is the snippet that grabbed my interest:
Q: One of your characters is suspended from her job as a university lecturer after being accused of transphobia. Her fictional husband thinks political correctness is running out of control. What is your view?
A: As with everything else at the moment, the situation is so fluid and so complicated. In the book, it’s really more about how quickly the crisis escalates these days and how rapidly and loudly it is amplified by social media and then the mainstream media. Students and teachers have always been in conflict but the issues now seem to be so much rawer. That’s the landscape the book tries to show: a country where we can’t seem to agree about anything; we’re very tribal and polarised.
Very interesting to see that the "crime" the lecturer is suspended for is transphobia. Looking forward to reading it. Coe is very good at reading the pulse of the times.