"Essential Workers": Precarious Labor in the Literary Imagination
52nd Northeast Modern Language Association Convention
March 11-14, 2021 / Philadelphia, PA
In light of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and public debate about who or what kind of work is deemed “essential,” this panel seeks to examine the intersection of literature and labor, prioritizing depictions of precarious workers who are sacrificing their personal well-being for the public good, but also to maintain their own economic security.