Seriously thoughtful Social class and literature

[HarryT]

Very interesting article on the BBC News web site:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7993920.stm

Any comments on it?

[Sparrow]

"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).

[Ea]

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.

[Patricia]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

"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).

Ah, but this is Laurie Taylor ironically sending up the limited view of class and literature that he held at the age of seventeen. Presumably he now realises that the issue is not as simplistic as his teenage self had once supposed.

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.