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This book analyses the literary works of Alan Sillitoe, Sam Selvon, Doris Lessing and James Kelman since each of them is a representative of a different class or colour or gender or region in post-war Britain. The overall aim of the book is to reconceptualise the broader economic, cultural and social framework of the processes of alienation and of escape mechanisms employed by the individual as defence mechanisms in capitalist cultures. Suggesting that postmodern identity politics is unable to give a materialistic articulation of poverty and subordination, the book develops an anti-establishment, egalitarian and emancipatory framework in reading its authors: one which might also be implemented as part of a movement that aims to critique, resist and overthrow injustice and oppression.
List of contents
Marxism and Class - Marxist Literary Criticism - Alienation and Escape Mechanism - One-dimensional Postmodern Identity Politics - Post-War British Literature - Alan Sillitoe - Sam Selvon - Doris Lessing - James Kelman
About the author
Sercan Hamza Bälama graduated from the department of English Language and Literature at Hacettepe University, Turkey. He, then, completed his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Patricia Waugh at Durham University, UK. He visited the University of California, Berkeley as a research scholar. He now works in the department of English Literature at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey. His research interests lie in post-war British literature, literary theories and political philosophy.
