This innovative work is established as the substantive exploration of the literary endeavours of working people and socialists over 200 years.

Leading scholars combine here a sustained attempt to trace the growth of socialist fiction in the crucial period of the formation of the modern British labour movement. While the importance of the long-neglected literary tradition is now recognised, no other studies have been as comprehensive as this collection. The essays here go beyond the limited concentration on slum fiction which long characterised studies. The remit of this work is the exploration of the emergence of the alternative tradition in English literature, the relationship between socialist fiction and the mainstream. The work...

Leading scholars combine here a sustained attempt to trace the growth of socialist fiction in the crucial period of the formation of the modern British labour movement. While the importance of the long-neglected literary tradition is now recognised, no other studies have been as comprehensive as this collection. The essays here go beyond the limited concentration on slum fiction which long characterised studies. The remit of this work is the exploration of the emergence of the alternative tradition in English literature, the relationship between socialist fiction and the mainstream. The work...

This pioneering work traces the history of the socialist novel, covering 150 years of creative writing. It spans the hopes and aspirations of the Chartist writers in Britain and the modern variety of ideological and literary positions of socialist intellectuals. The major conceptual and individual developments are carefully analysed, and the work brings together essays by such distinguished writers as Raymond Williams, John Goode, Raymon Ortega and Marsha Vicinus. It proves a framework for wider discussion, situating the socialist novel in the overall framework of English literature....

This pioneering work traces the history of the socialist novel, covering 150 years of creative writing. It spans the hopes and aspirations of the Chartist writers in Britain and the modern variety of ideological and literary positions of socialist intellectuals. The major conceptual and individual developments are carefully analysed, and the work brings together essays by such distinguished writers as Raymond Williams, John Goode, Raymon Ortega and Marsha Vicinus. It proves a framework for wider discussion, situating the socialist novel in the overall framework of English literature....