The Literature of Labour 200 Years of Working Class Writing [Paperback]

This innovative work is established as the substantive exploration of the literary endeavours of working people and socialists over 200 years. H. Gustav Klaus challenges the complacent assumptions about working class and socialist literature as merely a symptom, arguing that the literature of labour is an integral part of the historical development of the working class and deserves much closer attention. This work breaks away from the Great Tradition and in revealing the rich source of creativity within the literature of labour, introduces an alternative tradition of English literature.This innovative work is established as the substantive exploration of the literary endeavours of working people and socialists over 200 years. H. Gustav Klaus challenges the complacent assumptions about working class and socialist literature as merely a symptom, arguing that the literature of labour is an integral part of the historical development of the working class and deserves much closer attention. This work breaks away from the Great Tradition and in revealing the rich source of creativity within the literature of labour, introduces an alternative tradition of English literature.H. Gustav Klaus is Professor of the Literature of the British Isles, Universit?t Rostock, Germany. He has held visiting posts as visiting Professor, University of Queensland; Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh and visiting Fellow, Corpus Christi College, Oxford. His several publications include: The Rise of socialist fiction, 1880-1914 (1987), Factory Girl (1998) and (as co-editor) British Industrial Fiction (2000), James Kelman (2004), To hell with culture: anarchism and twentieth-century British literature (2005).