The Common Writer in Modern History
Will be published approx. on 20. January 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
264 pages
978-1-5261-9479-4 (ISBN)
Description
This book underlines the importance of writing for the subordinate classes, and the variety of uses to which it was put. In eleven new studies by thirteen leading historians of scribal culture, it foregrounds the 'common writer' and contributes to a 'New History from Below'. The book presents pauper letters, ego-documents, life-writing of various kinds, soldiers' and emigrants' correspondence, handwritten newspapers and graffiti in streets and prisons, analysing the major genres of 'ordinary writings'. The studies draw on different disciplines, including cultural history, sociology and ethnography, folklore studies, palaeography and socio-historical linguistics. They range from the early modern Hispanic Empire to twentieth-century Australia, including studies of modern Britain, Iceland, Finland, Italy, Germany, South Africa and the USA. The book demonstrates the importance of studying manuscript culture to give a voice, a presence and dignity to the ordinary protagonists of history. -- .
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Manchester
United Kingdom
Illustrations
12 images
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
406 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5261-9479-4 (9781526194794)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Martyn Lyons is Emeritus Professor in History at the University of New South Wales -- .
Content
Notes on contributors
1 The common writer in history - Martyn Lyons
2 Writings on the walls: approaches to graffiti in the early modern Hispanic world - Antonio Castillo Gomez
3 'No more for Now or Praps Never': the meaning and function of pauper writing in Britain, 1750s to early 1900s - Steven King
4 Common writers in German-speaking countries from the eighteenth to the twentieth century as agents of a language history from below - Stephan Elspass
5 Narrating injuries and injustices: life stories in the struggle for working-class rights in Britain, 1820-1945 - T. G. Ashplant
6 Music and affective signalling in an immigrant letter from 1844 - David A. Gerber
7 Pen, paper and peasants: the rise of vernacular literacy practices in nineteenth-century Iceland - Sigur?ur Gylfi Magnusson and Davi? Olafsson
8 Questioning 'the common writer': ordinary writings from the Emagusheni trading station, Pondoland, 1880-84 - Liz Stanley
9 Madlands: Vincenzo Rabito as a writer - David Moss
10 Copying, citing and creative rewriting: the transmission of texts and ideas in Finnish handwritten newspapers - Kirsti Salmi-Niklander and Risto Turunen
11 Choreographing correspondences: how the state shaped soldiers' mail in the US and Red Armies during the Second World War - Brandon Schechter
12 'Dear Prime Minister': the rhetoric of apology and affiliation in letters to Robert Menzies, Australian Prime Minister, 1949-66 - Martyn Lyons
Select bibliography -- .
1 The common writer in history - Martyn Lyons
2 Writings on the walls: approaches to graffiti in the early modern Hispanic world - Antonio Castillo Gomez
3 'No more for Now or Praps Never': the meaning and function of pauper writing in Britain, 1750s to early 1900s - Steven King
4 Common writers in German-speaking countries from the eighteenth to the twentieth century as agents of a language history from below - Stephan Elspass
5 Narrating injuries and injustices: life stories in the struggle for working-class rights in Britain, 1820-1945 - T. G. Ashplant
6 Music and affective signalling in an immigrant letter from 1844 - David A. Gerber
7 Pen, paper and peasants: the rise of vernacular literacy practices in nineteenth-century Iceland - Sigur?ur Gylfi Magnusson and Davi? Olafsson
8 Questioning 'the common writer': ordinary writings from the Emagusheni trading station, Pondoland, 1880-84 - Liz Stanley
9 Madlands: Vincenzo Rabito as a writer - David Moss
10 Copying, citing and creative rewriting: the transmission of texts and ideas in Finnish handwritten newspapers - Kirsti Salmi-Niklander and Risto Turunen
11 Choreographing correspondences: how the state shaped soldiers' mail in the US and Red Armies during the Second World War - Brandon Schechter
12 'Dear Prime Minister': the rhetoric of apology and affiliation in letters to Robert Menzies, Australian Prime Minister, 1949-66 - Martyn Lyons
Select bibliography -- .