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Spanning over a long stretch of time – from the late eighteenth century to the present – across diverging socio-political and ideological notions and understandings of the working identity, the so-called sub-genre of working-class literature is most notoriously characterized by its vagueness. The lack of a concrete definition for the concept of “working class” along with the question dealing with the adequate way of representing working-class experience – also involving the right over writing agency – lies at the basis of this seminar. By surveying a diverse selection of titles covering the genres of poetry, drama, the short story, the novel and autobiography the seminar will seek to filter out the differentia specifica of working-class writing in an attempt to formulate a working-class poetics of sorts that is at the same time critical of its own (unwanted) normativity.
Among the selected titles are Ellen Johnston’s Autobiography, poems, and songs, Allan Sillitoe’s “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner”, Polly Toynbee’s A Working Life, John Osborne’s “The Entertainer”, Barry Hines’ A Kestrel for a Knave, A.L. Kennedy’s Day and Allan Bennett’s A Life like Other People’s.
Additional/alternative titles will be announced/agreed on with seminar participants on the first session.
The examination form (MAP Mod. 4) for this seminar will be a take-home exam comprising questions from the lecture “Survey of English Literature” and an essay question from the seminar. |
