Snackz logo
No Country

Sonali Perera

250 Pages
2014-01-28

No Country

Working-Class Writing in the Age of Globalization

Columbia University Press

Below is just a GPT summary! If you really want to learn something:

โšก Free 3min Summary

"No Country" - Summary

Sonali Perera's "No Country: Working-Class Writing in the Age of Globalization" is a compelling exploration of international working-class literature. Perera bridges the gap between various noncanonical texts, highlighting the connections between literary radicalism, feminist recovery projects, and anticolonial and postcolonial fiction. By examining works from authors like Mulk Raj Anand, Tillie Olsen, Ambalavaner Sivanandan, Mahasweta Devi, and Bessie Head, Perera paints a vivid picture of the global economy and the working-class experience. This book is special because it challenges Eurocentric perspectives and redefines working-class writing as a significant part of world literature. It is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the intricate relationships between literature, politics, and history.

Key Ideas

1

Global Working-Class Experience

"No Country" emphasizes the shared experiences of the working class across different cultures and time periods. By connecting the struggles of workers from various parts of the world, Perera highlights the universal nature of their challenges and triumphs, making the reader appreciate the global dimension of working-class literature.

2

Intersection of Literature and Politics

The book delves into how literature serves as a powerful tool for political expression and change. Perera showcases how authors use their works to address social injustices, advocate for workers' rights, and challenge oppressive systems. This theme underscores the importance of literature in shaping political discourse and inspiring activism.

3

Feminist Perspectives in Working-Class Writing

Perera brings to light the significant contributions of feminist writers to working-class literature. By examining the works of female authors and activists, she highlights the intersection of gender and class struggles. This theme is crucial as it broadens the understanding of working-class literature to include diverse voices and perspectives, enriching the overall narrative.

FAQ's

The main focus of "No Country: Working-Class Writing in the Age of Globalization" is to explore international working-class literature and highlight the connections between literary radicalism, feminist recovery projects, and anticolonial and postcolonial fiction.

"No Country: Working-Class Writing in the Age of Globalization" examines works from authors such as Mulk Raj Anand, Tillie Olsen, Ambalavaner Sivanandan, Mahasweta Devi, and Bessie Head.

"No Country: Working-Class Writing in the Age of Globalization" is considered significant because it challenges Eurocentric perspectives and redefines working-class writing as an important part of world literature, emphasizing the global dimension of the working-class experience and the intersection of literature, politics, and history.

๐Ÿ’ก Full 15min Summary

Understanding working-class literature requires a global perspective, acknowledging narrative disruptions and socialist ethics.
0:00 / 2:13

"No Country" delves into the world of working-class literature, taking a global and comparative approach. It highlights the works of writers from the global South and brings to light the lesser-known traditions and counter-narratives within the realm of working-class writing.

The crux of the argument is that working-class literature cannot be understood merely by looking at the class background of the authors or through the celebrated stories of labor histories and revolutions in the global North. Instead, it should be viewed through the lens of shared sociologies of form, narrative disruptions, and socialist ethics ideologies that bind working-class writing across different languages, nations, and regions.

Working-class writing often features a "serial interrupted form" - narratives that are broken, filled with gaps, interpolations, and heteroglossia. These interruptions symbolize the challenge of portraying class as a stable identity or a fixed entity. Class is a relationship, not an object. This ephemerality and dispersal of class are vividly portrayed through the literary forms in working-class writing.

Criticism is directed towards the frameworks that define working-class writing solely through famous histories like the English industrial revolution or the US proletarian fiction of the 1930s. These approaches tend to overlook colonial and postcolonial perspectives. Similarly, literary histories that focus solely on autonomous form often disregard the political engagements of working-class writing.

The book delves into the analysis of working-class novels and stories from Indian, Sri Lankan, and southern African writers like Mulk Raj Anand, Ambalavaner Sivanandan, and Bessie Head. It incorporates perspectives from subaltern studies and postcolonialism to broaden the Eurocentric approaches prevalent in labor history and Marxist literary criticism.

A significant argument made is that working-class writing should be viewed through the lens of ethics as well as politics.

Enjoyed the sneak peak? Get the full summary!

Explore Summaries

The Plot Against America

The Plot Against America

Philip Roth

52 Pages
2010-12-23
The Complete Persepolis

The Complete Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi

356 Pages
2007
Theories of Underdevelopment

Theories of Underdevelopment

Ian Roxborough

198 Pages
1979
The Last Letter

The Last Letter

TikTok made me buy it: The most emotional romance of 2023 from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Fourth Wing

Rebecca Yarros

405 Pages
2022-11-10
The 5 AM Club

The 5 AM Club

Sharma, Robin Shilp Sharma

356 Pages
2018-01-01
GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

JAMES BALDWIN

230 Pages
1953
Good Strategy Bad Strategy

Good Strategy Bad Strategy

The Difference and Why It Matters

Richard Rumelt

338 Pages
2011-07-19
Loose-Leaf for Strategic Management

Loose-Leaf for Strategic Management

Frank T. Rothaermel

576 Pages
2020-01-29
The Infernal Devices

The Infernal Devices

Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess

Cassandra Clare

1485 Pages
2013-03-19
The Count of Monte Cristo Volume 1รขle Comte de Monte-Cristo Tome 1: English-French Parallel Text Edition in Six Volumes

The Count of Monte Cristo Volume 1รขle Comte de Monte-Cristo Tome 1: English-French Parallel Text Edition in Six Volumes

Alexandre Dumas

433 Pages
2010-04-07
Starling House

Starling House

A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick that is the perfect dark Gothic fairytale for autumn!

Alix E. Harrow

392 Pages
2023-10-31
Daniel Kahneman

Daniel Kahneman

A Biography

Blake Stevenson

38 Pages
2017-03-01
They Called Us Exceptional

They Called Us Exceptional

And Other Lies That Raised Us

Prachi Gupta

289 Pages
2024-08-20
Unbroken

Unbroken

A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Laura Hillenbrand

497 Pages
2010-11-16
Pete the Cat: 5-Minute Pete the Cat Stories

Pete the Cat: 5-Minute Pete the Cat Stories

Includes 12 Groovy Stories!

James Dean

0 Pages
2017-01-03
Ali Cross

Ali Cross

James Patterson

201 Pages
2019-11-25
Savage Messiah

Savage Messiah

How Dr. Jordan Peterson Is Saving Western Civilization

Jim Proser

320 Pages
2020-01-21
The Enlightened Sex Manual

The Enlightened Sex Manual

Sexual Skills for the Superior Lover

David Deida

117 Pages
2007-08-01
Happy Place

Happy Place

Emily Henry

401 Pages
2023-04-25
No Way to Behave at a Funeral

No Way to Behave at a Funeral

A Tale of Personal Loss through Suicide

Noel Braun

251 Pages
2018-11-01
Machine Learning For Dummies

Machine Learning For Dummies

John Paul Mueller, Luca Massaron

464 Pages
2021-01-07
Elantris

Elantris

Brandon Sanderson

508 Pages
2005-05
The Sugar Barons

The Sugar Barons

Matthew Parker

484 Pages
2011-07-31
Moonwalking with Einstein

Moonwalking with Einstein

The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

Joshua Foer

341 Pages
2011-03-03
Summer Love

Summer Love

Subina Bhaแนญแนญarฤฤซ

256 Pages
2015
Blood, Sweat, and Pixels

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels

The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made

Jason Schreier

312 Pages
2017-09-05
Age as Disease

Age as Disease

Anti-Aging Technologies, Sites and Practices

David-Jack Fletcher

349 Pages
2021-03-21
The Great Transition

The Great Transition

A Novel

Nick Fuller Googins

352 Pages
2023-08-15
A Scandal in Bohemia

A Scandal in Bohemia

Seven Sherlock Holmes Stories

Arthur Conan Doyle

88 Pages
1981
Along Came a Spider

Along Came a Spider

(Alex Cross 1)

James Patterson

454 Pages
2017-01-01

Find new books. Get instant summaries.

More then 1 million book summaries generated!

Get book summaries directly into your inbox!

Join more than 10,000 readers in our newsletter

Snackz book
Snackz logo

The right book at the right time will change your life.

Get the books directly into your inbox!

โœ… New Release

โœ… Book Recommendation

โœ… Book Summaries

Copyright 2023-2024. All rights reserved.