The Tramp in British Literature, 1850—1950

Download or read book The Tramp in British Literature, 1850—1950 written by Luke Lewin Davies and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2021-11-07 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tramp in British Literature, 1850–1950 offers an account of the emergence of a new conception of homelessness in the mid-nineteenth century, which it argues reflects the evolution of capitalism and disciplinary society in this period. In the process it uncovers a neglected body of literature on the subject of the tramp written by thirty-three memoir writers and eighteen fiction writers, most of whom were themselves homeless. In analysing these works, The Tramp in British Literature presents select texts as a unique and ignored contribution to a wider radical discourse defined by its opposition to a societal fixation upon the need to be productive.