Genres of Political Writing in Britain since 1900

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

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'.