Alone Together: The Effects of Brexit on Social Cohesion as Portrayed in Perfidious Albion

Abstract

The Brexit Referendum is settled history, but the long-term effects of the United Kingdom departing the European Union are still developing. Present alongside these ongoing developments are works of art which use Brexit as a jumping-off point to discuss the various ways in which society has been changing in recent years, often pointing to Brexit as ground zero. One such work is Perfidious Albion, a novel that tackles racism, misogyny, housing anxiety, and corporate overreach, all of which are issues which found fertile ground in the era of Brexit turmoil. This thesis analyses the ways in which Perfidious Albion navigates these issues, with an eye pointed squarely at how social cohesion has been altered in the wake of Brexit according to the novel, as well as how this reflects on the real-world effects on Brexit[…]