The Rise of the Office Clerk in Literary Culture 1880-1939

This innovative study investigates the emergence and impact of the lower middle class on British print culture through the figure of the office clerk. Using a variety of source materials - including novels, magazines, newspapers, letters, and life writing - the author traces the literary profile of the white collar worker during a time of unprecedented change in class and culture. This interdisciplinary work offers important insights into a previously - and undeservedly - neglected area of social and book history, and explores key works by George Gissing, Trollope, Thackeray, Dickens and Forster.