Genres of Political Writing in Britain since 1900

这个研究网络提供了一个新的角度对英国政治自1900年以来，通过研究政治写作和出版物的问题，在系统的，跨学科的方式。这一时期见证了政治性质的根本变化（包括普选的曙光）以及“英国性”性质的戏剧性转变（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）。我们将通过探索不仅仅是关于政治的写作，而是如何写作以及由谁写作来对这些问题进行新的阐释。通过探索形式与内容的关系，该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。总体主题是体裁：写作风格和类别的选择如何影响所写的东西，以及这些风格和类别本身如何被作者和出版商的干预以及更普遍的政治压力所重塑。该网络将在英语，历史和政治科学的学者之间建立对话。关于政治写作和出版问题，这三个学科都做了许多有价值的工作。研究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。该网络将同时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。人们可能很容易将后维多利亚时代视为一个从封闭和顺从的文化（在那里政治家受到尊重，他们的许多行为都被保密）到一个公开和不文明的一个（其中不再有任何真实的秘密，政客们被蔑视）。这有一定的道理：揭露性日记和回忆录的出版是走向披露文化的一个因素。然而，重要的是不要夸大，例如，1914年以前的政治传记的沉闷，这些传记经常全文发表重要文件。此外，爱德华七世时代英国的激烈争论，在爱尔兰问题上有可能演变成暴力，这表明了一个更复杂的图景。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，我们将努力避免过于简单化，同时寻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年后的北方爱尔兰视为“主流”英国政治之外的特殊问题。我们将考虑阶级，性别，种族/民族，宗教及其对政治写作和出版的各种影响。与此同时，我们将注意不要把“政治”和“出版”当作完全分离的活动领域。各政党有自己的出版部门，有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，我们将采取一个广阔的视野，什么构成了“政治写作”，包括反主流文化的产品，如fanzines以及更传统的出版形式，如社会科学，而不是公开的政党political.In总结，网络将提供一个新的方式来看待后1900年的英国政治，通过批判性的检查现象，往往被视为理所当然。出版物是政治史证据基础的核心部分，值得研究的不仅仅是其表面内容，而是作为政治实践的一个方面。通过这种方式，政治写作的体裁可以作为一个窗口，进入更广泛的问题“政治是如何做的”。

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'.