"To assume that the 'true' working class poem is only a narrative exposition of working class 'experience,' is to buy into normative reading patterns established by post-WWII academic poetries in the U.S. This assumption precludes the full possibilities of language, isolating working class poets to a particular kind of expressionism. It would be difficult to find a parallel prescription placed on the depiction of class in other art forms."
~ Kathy Lou Schultz, "Talking Trash, Talking Class: What's a Working Class Poetic, and Where Would I Find One?" (1998)
[via wood s lot]
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2 comments:
I agree that this is limiting, I haven't thought enough about this.
A flip side of this is expressed in an older post at my "Helquin Artifacts" blog: to what degree is a display of erudition a rejection of one's working-class identity and an attempt to "pass" as a member of the middle class?
Class is such a complicated (and prickly) issue in the U.S., where even Wal-Mart "associates" who earn wages below the poverty line are apt to regard themselves as "middle class."
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