04-11-2009, 06:56 AM | #1 |
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Social class and literature
Very interesting article on the BBC News web site:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7993920.stm Any comments on it? |
04-11-2009, 07:11 AM | #2 |
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"Thinking Allowed" is a very interesting programme, but I don't think Laurie Taylor has ever managed to separate his political prejudices from his literary, or sociological, opinions.
We are probably all attracted to literature that reinforces our own worldview - but there are few things as worthless as a critic who condemns a book for it's views, rather than its literary merit. Unfortunately, that seems to encompass most of the critics at work today (as a viewing of BBC2's Newsnight Review will illustrate). |
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04-15-2009, 07:29 AM | #3 |
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Well, I have never thought about class and literature in exactly that way. It does sound as if the journalist are using the literature example as a vehicle to say something general about his views on class - not on class in literature.
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04-16-2009, 06:03 PM | #4 | |
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Quote:
Marx always wrote very favourably about Balzac; not because Balzac was in any way socialist (--he wasn't), but because the Comédie humaine showed the workings of all areas of society. If you read the entire cycle of novels then you get a fair grasp of early 19th century capitalism, as well as an engrossing series of stories. I've heard of people recommending Balzac's César Birotteau as a clear exposition of how notes of exchange worked. (The eponymous César Birotteau is a sort of King Lear of capitalism.) And the teenage Laurie Taylor could have made a far better defence of Dickens if he had read Our Mutual Friend and Bleak House. |
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