The rise of the office clerk in literary culture : 1880-1939

This innovative study investigates the emergence and impact of the lower middle class on British print culture through the figure of the office clerk. Using a variety of source materials--including novels, magazines, newspapers, letters, and life writing--the author traces the literary profile of the white collar worker during a time of unprecedented change in class and culture. This interdisciplinary work explores key texts by George Gissing, Trollope, Thackeray, Dickens and Forster. This Innovative Study Investigates The Emergence And Impact Of The Modern Office Clerk On English Literature During A Period In Which Both Clerical Work And The Publishing Industry Were Experiencing Unprecedented Growth: A 350 Per Cent Rise In Office Employees Between 1871 And 1911 Was Mirrored By A Similar Level Of Expansion In The Publication Of New Novels, Magazines And Newspapers. Educational Reforms Carried Out In This Period Triggered The Development Of A New Literate Sector Of Society Able To Take Up Those Posts Increasingly Available In The Burgeoning Commercial World. These Individuals Represented A Substantial New Market For Print Culture And This Study Maps The Effects Of This Dynamic Sector Of Urban Society Upon The Field Of Cultural Production. Employing A Wealth Of Original Source Materials, And Engaging With Current Critical Debates, This Book Offers Unique Insights Into Unjustly Overlooked Aspects Of British Social And Cultural History. Introduction: Leonard Bast's Revenge -- 'getting On'?: The Clerk's Emergence In Literature 1880-1900 -- 'the Decently Ignoble -- Or, The Ignobly Decent?': George Gissing's Fictional Clerks -- The Day Of Inconceivably Small Things: The Clerk In Comic Literature 1888-1900 -- Degeneration In The Edwardian Office -- The Friends And Patrons Of Leonard Bast: Liberal Anxiety And The Edwardian Clerk -- 'a Merciful Heaven-sent Release'?: The Clerk And The First World War -- The Black-coated Worker And The Great Depression In 1930s Literature. Jonathan Wild. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 195-206) And Index. Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction: Leonard Bast’s Revenge....Pages 1-8 ‘Getting On’?: The Clerk’s Emergence in Literature 1880–1900....Pages 9-32 ‘The Decently Ignoble — or, the Ignobly Decent?’: George Gissing’s Fictional Clerks....Pages 33-54 The Day of Inconceivably Small Things: The Clerk in Comic Literature 1888–1900....Pages 55-80 Degeneration in the Edwardian Office....Pages 81-100 The Friends and Patrons of Leonard Bast: Liberal Anxiety and the Edwardian Clerk....Pages 101-122 ‘A Merciful, Heaven-sent Release’?: The Clerk and the First World War....Pages 123-146 The Black-coated Worker and the Great Depression in 1930s Literature....Pages 147-167 Back Matter....Pages 170-211 This innovative study investigates the emergence and impact of the lower middle class on British print culture through the figure of the office clerk. This interdisciplinary work offers important insights into a previously neglected area of social and book history, and explores key works by George Gissing, Forster and JB Priestley. Jonathan Wild investigates the emergence & impact of the lower middle class on British print culture through the figure of the office clerk. He traces the literary profile of the white collar worker across a period of unprecedented societal & economic change