Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xi, 252 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

1. "This book examines representations of working-class masculine subjectivity in Victorian autobiography and fiction. In it, Ying focuses on ideas of domesticity and the male body and demonstrates that working-class masculinities differ substantially from those of the widely studied upper classes.
2. The book also maps the relationship between two trends: the early nineteenth-century efflorescence of published working-class autobiographies (in which working men construct their identities for a broad readership); and a contemporaneous surge of public interest in "the lower orders" that finds reflection in the depiction of working-class characters in popular novels by middle-class authors.
3. The book mimics this point of convergence by pairing three working-class autobiographies with three middle-class novels. Each chapter focuses on a particular type of work: domestic service, manual (not artisanal) labour, and literary labour (and the opportunities it offers for social advancement). Ying considers the specific ways in which classed and gendered consciousness emerges autobiographically and its significance in the writing of working-class subjectivity for public consumption. Then mainstream novels by Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell and Charles Kingsley are re-read from the perspective of these autobiographical pressure points."--pub. desc.

Series statement

1. Literary criticism and cultural theory

Uniform title

1. Literary criticism and cultural theory.

Subject

1. 1800-1899
2. Geschichte 1832-1902
3. English prose literature > 19th century > History and criticism
4. Autobiography
5. Working class in literature
6. Masculinity in literature
7. Autobiographical fiction, English > History and criticism
8. Working class writings, English > History and criticism
9. Authors, English > 19th century > Biography
10. Autobiographies as Topic
11. autobiography (genre)
12. Authors, English
13. Autobiographical fiction, English
14. English prose literature
15. Working class writings, English
16. Arbeiter Motiv
17. Autobiografische Literatur
18. Englisch
19. Arbeiter > Motiv > Englische Literatur
20. Mann > Motiv > Englische Literatur
21. Englische Literatur > Motiv > Arbeiter
22. Englische Literatur > Motiv > Mann
23. Arbeiter > Autobiographie > englische > Geschichte 19. Jh
24. Autobiographie > englische > Arbeiter > Geschichte 19. Jh
25. Literatur > Englisch > Motiv (Literatur) > Arbeiter > Männlichkeit > Geschichte > 1840-1900
26. Arbeiter > Männlichkeit > Motiv (Literatur) > Englisch > Geschichte > 1840-1900
27. Männlichkeit > Arbeiter > Motiv (Literatur) > Englisch > Geschichte > 1840-1900
28. Selbstbiographie > Englisch > Arbeiter > Geschichte > 1840-1900
29. Arbeiter > Selbstbiographie > Englisch > Geschichte > 1840-1900
30. Englisch

Genre/Form

1. Autobiographies.
2. Biographies.
3. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
4. Autobiography.

Contents

1. Introduction: Gender and genre -- In gentleman's service: Diary of William Tayler, footman, 1837 and The Pickwick papers -- Representing the working man: The autobiography of a working man and Mary Barton -- Autodidacts and men of letters: My story and Alton Locke -- Other "others": Incidents in a Gipsy's life.

Owning institution

1. Princeton University Library

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-246) and index.