Brooker, Joseph (2020) Not winnin’ anymore: Boys from The Blackstuff and the literature of recession. Crossings: A Journal of English Studies , pp. 40-53. ISSN 2071-1107.
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Abstract
This article addresses representations of working-class life in Britain during the 1980s; specifically, experiences of recession, unemployment, and difficulty in the workplace. The primary text considered is the television drama series Boys from the Blackstuff (1982), written by Alan Bleasdale; more briefly this is linked to James Kelman’s novel The Busconductor Hines (1984), and to the post-industrial landscape of the poetry of Sean O’Brien. In the wake of the socialist criticism of Raymond Williams, the article explores how the “Industrial Novel” of the 1840s may be succeeded, in the Thatcher years, by the literature of recession and deindustrialization.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | Boys from the Blackstuff, Alan Bleasdale, James Kelman, Raymond Williams, Thatcherism |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication |
| Depositing User: | Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Jun 2020 08:58 |
| Last Modified: | 31 Jul 2025 07:52 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/32312 |
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