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The Resource Incognito Social Investigation in British Literature : Certainties in Degradation, by Luke Seaber

Incognito Social Investigation in British Literature : Certainties in Degradation, by Luke Seaber

Creator
Author
Contributor
Summary
"Through his engaged and accessible analysis of social investigation, Seaber casts new light on matters such as identity, performativity, authenticity, subjectivity, and the relationship between the observer and the observed. This excellent study deserves to become the standard work on the topic."--Dr Nick Hubble, Reader in English, Brunel University London, UK "Luke Seaber's book provides a much needed critical history of incognito social investigation, illuminating the methodology employed by the writers who went undercover, tracing major developments in the genre, and exploring its subcategories of casual wards, tramping, work, and settlement housing. With his incisive analysis and thorough contextualization of texts, Seaber offers an astute overview of the genre and fresh insights on individual works. This book is essential reading for a greater understanding of incognito social investigation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." - Dr Laura Vorachek, Associate Professor at University of Dayton Ohio, USA This book is the first full critical history of incognito social investigation texts - in other words, works detailing their authors' experiences whilst pretending to be poor. The most famous example is Down and Out in Paris and London, but there has been a vast array of other works in the genre since it was created in 1866 by James Greenwood's 'A Night in a Workhouse'. It draws up a classification of incognito social investigation texts, dividing them into four subtypes. The first comprises those texts following most narrowly in James Greenwood's footsteps, taking the extreme poor as their object of study. The next is the investigation of poverty through walking, for pedestrianism and poverty are fascinatingly linked. The third is that of people looking at relative poverty rather than absolute, where authors take on badly-paid work in order to report on it, which is when incognito social investigation becomes very much something carried out by women. We end looking at those incognito social investigators who settled in the areas they explored. Not only will this book recover the history of a genre that has long been ignored, however, but it will also offer significant close reading of many of the texts that it places within the tradition(s) it discovers. Luke Seaber taught at various Italian universities before coming to University College London, where he now teaches, as a Marie Curie research fellow in 2012
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
1 online resource (VIII, 274 pages)
Contents
  • Chapter One. Certainties in Degradation: An Introduction to Incognito Social Investigation
  • Chapter Two. Learning by Actual Experience: James Greenwood and the Birth of a Genre
  • Chapter Three. Down and Out: George Orwell and the Death of a Genre
  • Chapter Four. Tramping Ambiguities: On the Road with Harry A. Franck, Hilaire Belloc and James Greenwood
  • Chapter Five. The Daily Grind: T. Sparrow, Olive Christian Malvery and the World of Work
  • Chapter Six. If Men Do These Kind of Journalistic Feats ... : Elizabeth L. Banks and Woman's Work
  • Chapter Seven. The Astonishing Thing Is That They Listen to Us: Modern Work from Celia Fremlin to Polly Toynbee
  • Chapter Eight. Settling Down: From Jack London's London Holiday to Stephen Reynolds's Sea-Change
  • Bibliography
Isbn
9783319509624
Instance
Label
Incognito Social Investigation in British Literature : Certainties in Degradation
Title
Incognito Social Investigation in British Literature
Title remainder
Certainties in Degradation
Statement of responsibility
by Luke Seaber
Creator
Contributor
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
"Through his engaged and accessible analysis of social investigation, Seaber casts new light on matters such as identity, performativity, authenticity, subjectivity, and the relationship between the observer and the observed. This excellent study deserves to become the standard work on the topic."--Dr Nick Hubble, Reader in English, Brunel University London, UK "Luke Seaber's book provides a much needed critical history of incognito social investigation, illuminating the methodology employed by the writers who went undercover, tracing major developments in the genre, and exploring its subcategories of casual wards, tramping, work, and settlement housing. With his incisive analysis and thorough contextualization of texts, Seaber offers an astute overview of the genre and fresh insights on individual works. This book is essential reading for a greater understanding of incognito social investigation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." - Dr Laura Vorachek, Associate Professor at University of Dayton Ohio, USA This book is the first full critical history of incognito social investigation texts - in other words, works detailing their authors' experiences whilst pretending to be poor. The most famous example is Down and Out in Paris and London, but there has been a vast array of other works in the genre since it was created in 1866 by James Greenwood's 'A Night in a Workhouse'. It draws up a classification of incognito social investigation texts, dividing them into four subtypes. The first comprises those texts following most narrowly in James Greenwood's footsteps, taking the extreme poor as their object of study. The next is the investigation of poverty through walking, for pedestrianism and poverty are fascinatingly linked. The third is that of people looking at relative poverty rather than absolute, where authors take on badly-paid work in order to report on it, which is when incognito social investigation becomes very much something carried out by women. We end looking at those incognito social investigators who settled in the areas they explored. Not only will this book recover the history of a genre that has long been ignored, however, but it will also offer significant close reading of many of the texts that it places within the tradition(s) it discovers. Luke Seaber taught at various Italian universities before coming to University College London, where he now teaches, as a Marie Curie research fellow in 2012
Member of
Cataloging source
AU@
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Seaber, Luke
Dewey number
809.41
Index
no index present
LC call number
PN849.G74
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
dictionaries
http://library.link/vocab/relatedWorkOrContributorName
École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts (France)
Series statement
Palgrave Studies in Life Writing
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Literature
  • Literature, Modern
  • Literature, Modern
  • British literature
  • Social sciences
  • British literature
  • Literature
  • Literature, Modern
  • Social sciences
Label
Incognito Social Investigation in British Literature : Certainties in Degradation, by Luke Seaber
Instantiates
Publication
Antecedent source
mixed
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
not applicable
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Chapter One. Certainties in Degradation: An Introduction to Incognito Social Investigation -- Chapter Two. Learning by Actual Experience: James Greenwood and the Birth of a Genre -- Chapter Three. Down and Out: George Orwell and the Death of a Genre -- Chapter Four. Tramping Ambiguities: On the Road with Harry A. Franck, Hilaire Belloc and James Greenwood -- Chapter Five. The Daily Grind: T. Sparrow, Olive Christian Malvery and the World of Work -- Chapter Six. If Men Do These Kind of Journalistic Feats ... : Elizabeth L. Banks and Woman's Work -- Chapter Seven. The Astonishing Thing Is That They Listen to Us: Modern Work from Celia Fremlin to Polly Toynbee -- Chapter Eight. Settling Down: From Jack London's London Holiday to Stephen Reynolds's Sea-Change -- Bibliography
Control code
on1096639448
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource (VIII, 274 pages)
File format
multiple file formats
Form of item
online
Isbn
9783319509624
Level of compression
uncompressed
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
Other control number
10.1007/978-3-319-50962-4
Other physical details
online resource
Quality assurance targets
absent
Reformatting quality
access
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)1096639448
Label
Incognito Social Investigation in British Literature : Certainties in Degradation, by Luke Seaber
Publication
Antecedent source
mixed
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
not applicable
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Chapter One. Certainties in Degradation: An Introduction to Incognito Social Investigation -- Chapter Two. Learning by Actual Experience: James Greenwood and the Birth of a Genre -- Chapter Three. Down and Out: George Orwell and the Death of a Genre -- Chapter Four. Tramping Ambiguities: On the Road with Harry A. Franck, Hilaire Belloc and James Greenwood -- Chapter Five. The Daily Grind: T. Sparrow, Olive Christian Malvery and the World of Work -- Chapter Six. If Men Do These Kind of Journalistic Feats ... : Elizabeth L. Banks and Woman's Work -- Chapter Seven. The Astonishing Thing Is That They Listen to Us: Modern Work from Celia Fremlin to Polly Toynbee -- Chapter Eight. Settling Down: From Jack London's London Holiday to Stephen Reynolds's Sea-Change -- Bibliography
Control code
on1096639448
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource (VIII, 274 pages)
File format
multiple file formats
Form of item
online
Isbn
9783319509624
Level of compression
uncompressed
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
Other control number
10.1007/978-3-319-50962-4
Other physical details
online resource
Quality assurance targets
absent
Reformatting quality
access
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)1096639448

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