Working-Class Literature(s) from a global and comparative perspective - Edited Collection

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Malmö University/Univeristy of South Florida
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We are working on an edited collection about working-class literature(s) from a global and comparative perspective, and would like to invite scholars to contribute with text on working-class literatures from various countries/regions.

The project:
Our goal of this collection is two-fold. First, we seek to have essays focused on the history of working-class literatures from specific nations/regions. We seek authors who are experts on definitions/conceptualizations, diversities, contextualizations, and politics of working-class literature. We would like essays committed to a long-view of working-class literature that does not look narrowly at periodizations or particular authors, but follows the threads of the nation's traditions.
After an initial draft, we will meet (in a symposium arraigned by the editors and/or a virtual space) and discuss similarities and differences among the essays. Thereafter, authors will be asked to add a comparative perspective to their texts that seeks to both call attention to similarities as well as marked differences of these literary traditions, allowing for readers to see connections and discrepancies of working class literature(s) from a global perspective.
Our job as editors will be to underline these aspects in our introductory essay but we will invite authors to also participate in these comparative readings.
We are interested in texts on working-class literature(s) from all parts of the world. Currently we have identified scholars working on the following literatures: The United States, The Soviet Union, Scandinavia, Japan, South America, Korea, and Great Britain. We are still looking for participants interested in writing about: Germany, Eastern Europe, China, The Middle East, India, and Africa. If you know of scholars interested in these areas (or others not listed), please do let us know.

About us:
Magnus Nilsson is professor of comparative literature at Malmö University Sweden. His main research interest is working-class literature from Scandinavia and Germany, and his latest book is Literature and Class: Aesthetical-Political Strategies in Modern Swedish Working-Class Literature (Humboldt University 2014).
John Lennon is an assistant professor of English at the University of South Florida. His work focuses on the way minority peoples exert political voices. His first book, Boxcar Politics: The hobo in culture and literature, 1865-1956 was published by the University of Massachusetts Press in 2015. He is currently working on his next book, Conflict Graffiti, that explores the roots and routes of political graffiti from a global perspective.

Publisher:
After we have secured participation from our invited scholars, we will seek to arraign a contract with an academic press (we have already received interest).

Preliminary time line:
* Spring 2016 - draft due.
* Fall 2016 - symposium.
* December 2016 - final submission.

As editors, we are seeking a truly transformative collection that will be substantive on working-class literature(s) from throughout the world that is comparative in perspective. We anticipate new conversations and scholarly endeavors that will emerge in the wake of this collection. We do, sincerely, hope that you will be a part. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.