Working Class Voices

Contemporary Australian poetry neglects its working
class voices. Literary journals rarely publish poetry
that focuses on working-class life and there is
little analysis of the poetics of class in
contemporary Australian scholarship on poetry. This
book argues that there is a strong and vibrant body
of contemporary Australian working-class poetry that
merits greater public attention and more incisive
critical review. This book offers an analysis of the
content and poetics of contemporary Australian
working-class poetry and of the context in which it
has been produced. It presents works that to date
have been ignored or dismissed by the literary
mainstream. It proposes that working-class poetry can
be regarded as a distinctive genre of poetry, and
argues that working-class poetry provides important
insights into class inequalities. In short, this book
creates a poetic for approaching the academic
analysis of working-class cultural discourse. This
book should be useful to anyone interested in
Australian poetry and working-class studies. The book
is written in an accessible style that will also
hopefully appeal to readers outside of educational
institutions.

Autorentext

Sarah Attfield, P.h.D.: Completed a P.h.D. in contemporaryAustralian working-class poetry at the University of Technology,Sydney, Australia in 2007. Her current areas of research interestare in working-class cultural expression and the empoweringeffects of creativity.

Klappentext

Contemporary Australian poetry neglects its workingclass voices. Literary journals rarely publish poetrythat focuses on working-class life and there islittle analysis of the poetics of class incontemporary Australian scholarship on poetry. Thisbook argues that there is a strong and vibrant bodyof contemporary Australian working-class poetry thatmerits greater public attention and more incisivecritical review. This book offers an analysis of thecontent and poetics of contemporary Australianworking-class poetry and of the context in which ithas been produced. It presents works that to datehave been ignored or dismissed by the literarymainstream. It proposes that working-class poetry canbe regarded as a distinctive genre of poetry, andargues that working-class poetry provides importantinsights into class inequalities. In short, this bookcreates a poetic for approaching the academicanalysis of working-class cultural discourse. Thisbook should be useful to anyone interested inAustralian poetry and working-class studies. The bookis written in an accessible style that will alsohopefully appeal to readers outside of educationalinstitutions.