Literature and Institutions of Welfare

Perspectives on the ways in which welfarist ideology has underpinned the teaching, reading and production of literature from the 1930s to the present.
Perspectives on the ways in which welfarist ideology has underpinned the teaching, reading and production of literature from the 1930s to the present.The welfare state in Britain established a new level of access to literature as a public good alongside other national resources that were grounded in a principle of democratic egalitarianism: the National Health Service, secondary education, promises of full employment and new housing structures. This volume charts the impact of the founding of the welfare state on the teaching, reading and production of literature, and the legacy of this social democratic vision of literature, from the 1930s to the present day; it is especially concerned with the representational possibilities, the social arrangements and political claims that welfare makes possible. Individual contributions consider the ways in which the history of literature is related to the history of welfare; and how it shaped the literary culture that emerged during these years; and how literature has communicated the value and character of the welfare state, moving, like the literature they examine, between a disenchantment with the institutions of welfare and an urgent need to articulate welfare's vision of social repair. Amongst the particular authors discussed are Raymond Williams, T.S. Eliot and Caryl Phillips, as well as an evaluation of the publisher Virago's contribution to the women's movement.

Contributor: Jess Cotton (Edited by), Beci Carver (Contributions by), Gareth Farmer (Contributions by), Helen Charman (Contributions by), Josie Billington (Contributions by), Lara Choksey (Contributions by), Matthew Holman (Contributions by), Neil Vickers (Contributions by), Sarah Bernstein (Contributions by)

UK Delivery:

• Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
• £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
• UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

International Delivery:

• Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.

Dispatch and Delivery Times:

• All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
• UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
• International estimated delivery times:
• Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

View our full delivery infomation here.