Genres of Political Writing in Britain since 1900

这个研究网络通过系统的、跨学科的方式研究政治写作和出版问题，为1900年以来的英国政治提供了一个新的视角。这一时期见证了政治本质的根本变化（包括普选的曙光）以及“英国性”本质的戏剧性转变（与爱尔兰的分裂、帝国的丧失以及英国与欧洲的麻烦关系有关）。我们将对这些问题进行新的阐释，不仅探究关于政治的写作内容，而且探究它是如何写作的，作者是谁。通过探索形式与内容的关系，网络将考虑围绕政治写作的文学和其他惯例如何影响政治的辩论和讨论。最重要的主题是体裁：写作风格和类别的选择如何影响写作内容，以及这些风格和类别如何在作者和出版商的干预以及更普遍的政治压力下被重塑。该网络将在英语、历史和政治科学的学者之间建立对话。在政治写作和出版问题上，这三个学科都开展了许多有价值的工作。所审查的问题包括政治小说、戏剧和电影；主要政治人物的自传和传记；特定出版商的政治参与；某些类型期刊的持续/衰落；以及工人阶级读者对特定文本的接受程度。这个网络将平行讨论这些和类似的主题，并通过引入新的研究，激发对体裁问题的新见解。人们可能很容易把后维多利亚时代看作是一个从封闭和恭敬的文化（政治家受到尊重，他们的许多行为都被保密）转变为开放和不文明的文化（不再有任何真正的秘密，政治家被蔑视）的时代。这种说法有一定道理：揭露真相的日记和回忆录的出版，一直是走向披露文化运动的一个因素。然而，重要的是不要夸大，例如，1914年以前的政治传记的沉闷，这些传记经常大量发表重要文件。此外，在爱德华七世时代的英国，激烈的争论，在爱尔兰问题上有蔓延到暴力的危险，表明了一个更复杂的情况。第一次世界大战前夕的政治写作往往是粗俗和/或煽动性的。因此，我们将努力避免过度简化，同时力求确定广泛的长期趋势。我们将避免将1922年前的爱尔兰和1922年后的北爱尔兰视为英国“主流”政治之外的特殊问题。我们将考虑阶级，性别，种族/民族和宗教及其对政治写作和出版的各种影响。与此同时，我们将小心翼翼地不把“政治”和“出版”视为完全独立的活动领域。各政党都有自己的出版部门，一些出版商的经营不纯粹是为了盈利，而是为了影响政治气候。此外，我们将对什么构成“政治写作”采取一个宽泛的观点，包括反主流文化的产品，如fanzines，以及更传统的出版物形式，如社会科学，没有明显的政党政治。总而言之，该网络将通过对经常被视为理所当然的现象的批判性审视，为观察1900年后的英国政治提供一种全新的方式。出版物是政治史证据基础的核心部分，不仅因为其表面内容，而且作为政治实践的一个方面，都值得研究。通过这种方式，政治写作的体裁可以作为一个窗口，进入“政治是如何进行的”这个更广泛的问题。

This research network offers a new perspective on British politics since 1900 by examining the issue of political writing and publication in a systematic, interdisciplinary fashion. This period has seen radical changes in the nature of politics (including the dawn of universal suffrage) as well as dramatic shifts in the nature of 'Britishness' (related to the partition of Ireland, the loss of Empire, and Britain's troubled relationship with Europe). We will cast new light on these questions by exploring not simply what was written about politics but how it was written and by whom. By exploring the relationship of form to content, the network will consider how the literary and other conventions surrounding political writing affected how politics was debated and discussed. The overarching theme is that of genre: how the choice of styles and categories of writing influenced what was written, and how these styles and categories were themselves reshaped by authors' and publishers' interventions and by political pressures more generally.The network will create dialogue between scholars from English, History, and Political Science. Much valuable work on the problem of political writing and publishing has been carried out in all three disciplines. The issues that have been examined include political fiction, theatre and film; the autobiographies and biographies of key political actors; the political engagement of specific publishers; the persistence/decline of certain types of periodical; and working-class readers' reception of particular texts. This network will discuss these and like themes in parallel and, by bringing in fresh research, to stimulate new insights into the problem of genre.It might be tempting to see the post-Victorian period as one that moved from a closed and deferential culture (in which politicians were treated with respect and in which many of their doings were kept confidential) to an open and uncivil one (in which there are no longer any real secrets and politicians are regarded with contempt). There is some truth in this: the publication of revealing diaries and memoirs has been one factor in the movement towards a culture of disclosure. Nevertheless, it is important not to exaggerate, for example, the stuffiness of pre-1914 political biographies, which often published important documents in extenso. Moreover, the fiercely fought controversies of Edwardian Britain, that in the case of the Irish question threatened to spill over into violence, suggest a more complex picture. Political writing in the run-up to the First World War could often be ribald and/or inflammatory.We will thus endeavour to avoid oversimplification while seeking to identify broad long-term trends. We will avoid treating pre-1922 Ireland and post-1922 Northern Ireland as peculiar problems that sit outside 'mainstream' British politics. We will consider class, gender, race/ethnicity, and religion and their various impacts on political writing and publishing. At the same time, we will be careful not to treat 'politics' and 'publishing' as wholly discrete spheres of activity. Political parties had their own publishing wings and some publishers operated not purely for profit but with a view to influencing the political climate. We will, moreover, take a capacious view of what constituted 'political writing', to include counterculture products such as fanzines as well as more conventional forms of publication such as social science that were not overtly party political.In summary, the network will offer a fresh way of looking at post-1900 British politics through a critical examination of phenomena that are often taken for granted. Publications are a core part of the evidentiary base of political history and deserve to be investigated not only for their surface content but as an aspect of political practice. In this way, genres of political writing can serve as a window into the broader question of 'how politics was done'.