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At its height, during the 1830s and 40s, Chartism inspired a prodigious literary output, based on its own newspapers and journals. While some Chartist political writings have been reprinted, the fiction of the movement has been largely neglected. Chartist stories represent a unique moment in literary history, when the radical political energies of a mass movement were fused with popular narrative forms. The result was a vital, accessible and popular fiction, informed by an awareness that Chartism had to forge its own brand of fiction in order to challenge the prevailing cultural misrepresentation of the working class and radical politics. This anthology is organised chronologically and includes a wide range of authors and genres, with complete poems and short stories as well as extracts from novels and other full-length works of fiction. The stories are divided into five areas which relect the range, scope and achievement of Chartism's intellectual and political imagination: the condition of England; Ireland; revolution; women and Chartism. The complete collection is set in an analytical framework and has a long historical introduction by the editor.
List of contents
Contents: The Condition of England: Will Harper: A Poor Law Tale; The Widow and the Fatherless; The Convict; A Simple Story; Seth Thompson, the Stockinger; Merrie England: No More!; Ireland: The Defender: An Irish Tale of 1797; The Rebel Chief: A Scene in the Wicklow Mountains, 1803; The Desmonds: A Tale of Landlordism in Ireland; The Meal-Mongers: or, Food Riots in Ireland; Revolution: from Dissuasive Warnings to the People on Street Warfare; The Revolutionist; The Insurgent Leader; ’The Maid from Warsaw’ from The Romance of a People; ’Nationalism’ from The Romance of a People; A Midnight Rising from De Brassier: A Democratic Romance; Women: The Outcast; W J Linton, The Free Servant; The Young Seamstress; The Slave of the Needle; Chartism: Mary Hutton, The Poor Man's Wrongs; The Charter and the Land; The London Doorstep; ’The Convention’ from De Brassier: A Democratic Romance; Index.
About the author
Ian Haywood
Summary
At its height, during the 1830s and 40s, Chartism inspired a prodigious literary output, based on its own newspapers and journals.
Additional text
'a publishing event of no small cultural and critical significance...a brave and highly commendable publishing venture...libraries both here in Scandinavia and elsewhere should not fail to subscribe to this unique and important series of historical reprints.' Ronald Paul, Moderna Språk, No.2
