Constructing Identity in the Poetry of Tony Harrison

The book examinees the multi-layered and multidimensional theme of identity construction in Tony Harrison's work, focusing on key texts such as v. and the School of Eloquence sequence.

When, in 1948, Tony Harrison entered Leeds Grammar School as a scholarship boy, he found himself, as Richard Hoggart saw, at the friction point of two cultures. His schooling introduced him to the classics; but it also deprived him of a clear identification with the place where he grew up. His work reflects and explores this tension; and it may be seen, in some ways, as a form of identity construction.

The book examines key texts such as v. and the School of Eloquence sequence, where this construction takes different formsoscillating between identity as a state, or a process; as continuity, or change; or as the outcome of conformity, or revolt.

This second edition has been extensively revised and includes a new chapter on Harrison's Elegies.

Autorentext

Agata Handley works as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Lodz, Poland. Her main areas of academic interest are contemporary British poetry, with a special focus on the representation of memory; and on intermedial issues. Her current research looks at the use of ekphrasis in contemporary Anglophone literature.

Inhalt

identity studies Tony Harrison British poetry, elegy, contemporary poetry memory studies nostalgia studies working-class culture