The Working Class and Twenty-First-Century British Fiction

Reviews / Votes

'What does it mean to be working class in the twenty-first century, decades after industrial jobs and strong unions have given way to low-wage service jobs, contingent labour, and precarity? This book traces how deindustrialisation literature wrestles with this question, revealing how class itself is being reimagined and reshaped by economic restructuring and neoliberalism - while also introducing readers to a range of engaging and entertaining books worth reading'.

Sherry Lee Linkon, Georgetown University, USA.

'This book makes a compelling case for the intersections between class and contemporary literature. It brings the academic study of working-class writing bang up to date'.

Nicola Wilson, University of Reading, UK.

"The Working Class and Twenty-First-Century British Fiction is as thoughtful as it is rigorous. Its arguments are compelling and its close readings convincing; for these reasons alone it would make a valuable addition to university libraries. But for the wider implications of its secondary argument, that fiction has the potential to make significant interventions into critical discourses, it deserves a place on any contemporary fiction reading list. As the book's final words attest, 'class matters' (154), and it will go on mattering; the same goes for fiction, and O'Brien shows us why."

Joseph Williams, University of East Anglia, UK. 'What does it mean to be working class in the twenty-first century, decades after industrial jobs and strong unions have given way to low-wage service jobs, contingent labour, and precarity? This book traces how deindustrialisation literature wrestles with this question, revealing how class itself is being reimagined and reshaped by economic restructuring and neoliberalism - while also introducing readers to a range of engaging and entertaining books worth reading'.

Sherry Lee Linkon, Georgetown University, USA.

'This book makes a compelling case for the intersections between class and contemporary literature. It brings the academic study of working-class writing bang up to date'.

Nicola Wilson, University of Reading, UK.