James Hanley
Subtitle: modernism and the working class
By: John Fordham.
Publisher: University of Wales Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Cardiff
Language: eng
Number of pages: 315
Subjects: Hanley, James, 1901- -- Criticism and interpretation; Modernism (Literature) -- Wales; Working class in literature; Wales -- In literature
Other titles: Modernism and the working class
Description: "James Hanley (1901-85) was brought up in Liverpool and worked as a merchant seaman before becoming a professional writer. The first of his twenty-four novels, Drift, was published in 1930. In this wide-ranging study of Hanley's life and writings, John Fordham argues that, although Hanley's work is most commonly identified with 'proletarian' realism, it should instead be thought of as a sustained engagement with modernism. Fordham discusses Hanley's relationship to London and the institutional culture of high modernism, as well as his association with his adopted country. Wales, where he lived for more than thirty years and which figures so importantly in his imagination. Through a close analysis of Hanley's writing and the social and cultural contexts of his work. Fordham demonstrates the importance of the category of class for understanding the literary history of modernism and shows how Hanley's work reveals the conflicting and contradictory aspects of modernist culture."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [293]-306) and index.