What happens when literature swears? Working-class life and the pursuit of literature, from John Clare to James Kelman

When:
June 1, 2016 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
2016-06-01T18:00:00+01:00
2016-06-01T19:00:00+01:00
Where:
John Henry Brookes Lecture Theatre
Brookes University (Stop B2)
Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX3
UK
Cost:
Free
Contact:
Events Office
01865 484846

Simon will investigate class and literature ranging across British writers from the early 19th century through to the present day.

Across poetry and fiction, Simon will present works – classic and not so well-known – which foreground issues of social and economic power, work and wealth, language and accent, region and property.

This lecture asks what happens when literary pursuits turn to working-class lives and what happens when working-class people write themselves into these traditions? Is there a continuity, say, between the ‘peasant poet’ John Clare an the Booker-winning Glaswegian novelist James Kelman? Should we even care about class when we read? Is there such a thing as working-class literary tradition?