Producing the Popular: John Monk Foster and the ‘Industrial Romance’
This article argues that John Monk Foster’s serialised novel A Pit-Brow Lassie (1889) is an example of the quietist ‘culture of consolation’ which conflates the popular with the commercial and decouples the former from its earlier radical implications. It begins with a brief biographical sketch of M...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/10937 |
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| author | Michael Sanders |
| author_facet | Michael Sanders |
| author_sort | Michael Sanders |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article argues that John Monk Foster’s serialised novel A Pit-Brow Lassie (1889) is an example of the quietist ‘culture of consolation’ which conflates the popular with the commercial and decouples the former from its earlier radical implications. It begins with a brief biographical sketch of Monk Foster and his writing career. It then considers the formal pressures associated with serialised newspaper fiction and the kinds of narrative pleasure generated within those constraints. Next, it argues that the narrative structure of A Pit-Brow Lassie displays an uneven and, at times, uneasy combination of elements derived from a variety of genres, as well as demonstrating many features of the folk tale. The article traces the ways in which these structural elements reduce the interpretative work required of the novel’s readers and also considers the novel’s defence of popular fiction. The article argues that despite its resolutely and recognisably proletarian milieu, class conflict is almost entirely absent from A Pit-Brow Lassie which posits instead a cross-class moral code based on the work ethic. The article concludes by analysing the tensions between the novel’s ‘social mobility’ and ‘marriage/happiness’ plots and argues that Monk Foster has to decouple these plots in order to arrive at an ideologically satisfactory happy ending. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bbe931592fea40dca619d1d6b2ab8fb6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0220-5610 2271-6149 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| spelling | doaj-art-bbe931592fea40dca619d1d6b2ab8fb62025-01-30T10:20:52ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492022-03-019510.4000/cve.10937Producing the Popular: John Monk Foster and the ‘Industrial Romance’Michael SandersThis article argues that John Monk Foster’s serialised novel A Pit-Brow Lassie (1889) is an example of the quietist ‘culture of consolation’ which conflates the popular with the commercial and decouples the former from its earlier radical implications. It begins with a brief biographical sketch of Monk Foster and his writing career. It then considers the formal pressures associated with serialised newspaper fiction and the kinds of narrative pleasure generated within those constraints. Next, it argues that the narrative structure of A Pit-Brow Lassie displays an uneven and, at times, uneasy combination of elements derived from a variety of genres, as well as demonstrating many features of the folk tale. The article traces the ways in which these structural elements reduce the interpretative work required of the novel’s readers and also considers the novel’s defence of popular fiction. The article argues that despite its resolutely and recognisably proletarian milieu, class conflict is almost entirely absent from A Pit-Brow Lassie which posits instead a cross-class moral code based on the work ethic. The article concludes by analysing the tensions between the novel’s ‘social mobility’ and ‘marriage/happiness’ plots and argues that Monk Foster has to decouple these plots in order to arrive at an ideologically satisfactory happy ending.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/10937narrativeclasspopular fictionworking-class writingideologymining |
| spellingShingle | Michael Sanders Producing the Popular: John Monk Foster and the ‘Industrial Romance’ Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens narrative class popular fiction working-class writing ideology mining |
| title | Producing the Popular: John Monk Foster and the ‘Industrial Romance’ |
| title_full | Producing the Popular: John Monk Foster and the ‘Industrial Romance’ |
| title_fullStr | Producing the Popular: John Monk Foster and the ‘Industrial Romance’ |
| title_full_unstemmed | Producing the Popular: John Monk Foster and the ‘Industrial Romance’ |
| title_short | Producing the Popular: John Monk Foster and the ‘Industrial Romance’ |
| title_sort | producing the popular john monk foster and the industrial romance |
| topic | narrative class popular fiction working-class writing ideology mining |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/10937 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT michaelsanders producingthepopularjohnmonkfosterandtheindustrialromance |