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Class on Page and Stage

The Australian Working Class in Contemporary Literature and Theatre

by Sarah Attfield (Author)
©2025 Monographs VIII, 244 Pages
Series: Australian Studies, Volume 7

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Summary

This book explores how working-class experience is represented in contemporary Australian literature and theatre and asks whether working-class stories continue to be underrepresented in the contemporary Australian literary scene. The book examines a wide range of examples from published Australian fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and theatre that has working-class content, and considers what kinds of representations are present in these works. Is the nuance of working-class life being included? Do the authors challenge stereotypes? What kinds of stories are privileged? Who is writing about working-class people? And what can we learn about working-class Australia from reading contemporary literature? The book also takes an intersectional approach and considers how contemporary Australian authors and playwrights such as Melissa Lucashenko, Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Tony Birch and Alana Valentine show the intersections of class with race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality.

Details

Pages
VIII, 244
Publication Year
2025
ISBN (PDF)
9781789977325
ISBN (ePUB)
9781789977332
ISBN (MOBI)
9781789977349
ISBN (Hardcover)
9781789977356
DOI
10.3726/b16482
Language
English
Publication date
2025 (September)
Keywords
Working-Class Literature Australian Literature Working-Class Representation Australian Working-Class Literature Working-Class Fiction Working-Class Non-Fiction Working-Class Poetry Working-Class Theatre
Published
Oxford, Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, 2025. viii, 244 pp.
Product Safety
Peter Lang Group AG

Biographical notes

Sarah Attfield (Author)

Sarah Attfield is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication in the Faculty of Design and Society at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. She has published widely on the representation of working-class experience in popular culture and literature and also writes poetry based on her experiences of growing up working class. She is the founding co-editor of the Journal of Working-Class Studies.

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Title: Class on Page and Stage