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Landscape and Labour

Work, Place, and the Working Class in Eliot, Hardy, and Lawrence

Brian Elliott

In the novels of George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, and D.H. Lawrence a miniature history of the English working class can be found. Through their sympathetic portrayals, these authors transformed working-class culture from a patronizing pastiche into a vital reality. This achievement was crucial to the rise of the English working-class as the key agency of democratic reform from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. In our own times, by contrast, depictions of working-class culture are patronizing at best, if not openly denigrating. This crisis of representation has born recent fruit in the phenomenon of populism, a long-term consequence of the undermining of genuinely popular rule under neoliberal capitalism. Returning to the works of Eliot, Hardy, and Lawrence allows us to regain a sense of direction for contemporary politics, by rediscovering the vital force of working-class culture.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International

Pages: 168 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-78660-910-6 • Hardback • August 2021 • $105.00 • (£81.00)

978-1-5381-5856-2 • Paperback • February 2023 • $40.00 • (£31.00)

978-1-78660-911-3 • eBook • August 2021 • $38.00 • (£29.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Social Classes & Economic Disparity, Literary Criticism / Subjects & Themes / Politics, Social Science / Social Change

Landscape and Labour

Work, Place, and the Working Class in Eliot, Hardy, and Lawrence

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

In the novels of George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, and D.H. Lawrence a miniature history of the English working class can be found. Through their sympathetic portrayals, these authors transformed working-class culture from a patronizing pastiche into a vital reality. This achievement was crucial to the rise of the English working-class as the key agency of democratic reform from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. In our own times, by contrast, depictions of working-class culture are patronizing at best, if not openly denigrating. This crisis of representation has born recent fruit in the phenomenon of populism, a long-term consequence of the undermining of genuinely popular rule under neoliberal capitalism. Returning to the works of Eliot, Hardy, and Lawrence allows us to regain a sense of direction for contemporary politics, by rediscovering the vital force of working-class culture.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International

Pages: 168 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-78660-910-6 • Hardback • August 2021 • $105.00 • (£81.00)

978-1-5381-5856-2 • Paperback • February 2023 • $40.00 • (£31.00)

978-1-78660-911-3 • eBook • August 2021 • $38.00 • (£29.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Social Classes & Economic Disparity, Literary Criticism / Subjects & Themes / Politics, Social Science / Social Change

Author

Brian Elliott is assistant professor of philosophy at Portland State University.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The political economy of work and place (5,000 words)
Chapter 1: George Eliot: The English working class finds its voice (15,000 words)
Chapter 2: Thomas Hardy: Situating working-class politics (15,000 words)
Chapter 3: D.H. Lawrence: A future politics of work (15,000 words)
Chapter 4: New land, new labour (15,000 words)
Conclusion: Neoliberalism and a new working-class politics (5,000 words)

Landscape and Labour

Work, Place, and the Working Class in Eliot, Hardy, and Lawrence

Brian Elliott

Landscape and Labour

Work, Place, and the Working Class in Eliot, Hardy, and Lawrence

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