Graham Swift's second novel,

Shuttlecock

(1981), which won the biannual Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award for fiction in 1983, is a psychological thriller which constructs a nightmarish version of late-twentieth-century urban life through the eyes of Prentis, a weak and self-conscious narrator. The plot, which centres on a dark secret with the potential to turn the protagonist's war hero father from a celebrated spy (code name ‘Shuttlecock') into a traitor, allows Swift to examine, through a parent-child conflict, how the myth of heroism survives the brutality inherent in human nature.

The text of the novel is the diary of Prentis, a police investigator of “dead crimes” known only by his last name. Embedded in his text are extracts from his father's war memoir as well as fragments from

4529 words

Citation: Logotheti, Anastasia. "Shuttlecock". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 August 2004; last revised 23 January 2019. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11971, accessed 29 March 2024.]

11971 Shuttlecock 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.