Literary Slumming: Slang and Class in Nineteenth-Century France

Literary Slumming explores how upper-class writers, lexicographers, literary critics, and bourgeois readers participated in "literary slumming," the appropriation of lower-class and criminal language and culture, in nineteenth-century French literature and dictionaries. This phenomenon prioritized lower-class and criminal life and culture, expanding class boundaries and increasing visibility and agency for minorities in the public sphere.

Format: Hardback
Length: 298 pages
Publication date: 06 August 2021
Publisher: Lexington Books

Literary Slumming: Slang and Class in Nineteenth-Century France delves into the sociolinguistic realm to explore the representation of slang in French literature and dictionaries, shedding light on the intricate ways in which upper-class writers, lexicographers, literary critics, and bourgeois readers engaged in a phenomenon known as "literary slumming." This term encompasses the appropriation of lower-class and criminal language and culture, revealing the complex interplay between social hierarchies and linguistic practices. By examining the spoken and embodied manifestations of slang in the works of renowned authors such as Eugène François Vidocq, Honoré de Balzac, Eugène Sue, Victor Hugo, the Goncourt Brothers, and Émile Zola, Literary Slumming compellingly argues that the nineteenth-century French literary discourse on slang played a pivotal role in the emergence of this sociolinguistic phenomenon. This phenomenon prioritized lower-class and criminal life and culture, thereby expanding class boundaries and granting increased visibility and agency to minorities within the public sphere.

Literary Slumming: Slang and Class in Nineteenth-Century France delves into the sociolinguistic realm to explore the representation of slang in French literature and dictionaries, shedding light on the intricate ways in which upper-class writers, lexicographers, literary critics, and bourgeois readers engaged in a phenomenon known as "literary slumming." This term encompasses the appropriation of lower-class and criminal language and culture, revealing the complex interplay between social hierarchies and linguistic practices. By examining the spoken and embodied manifestations of slang in the works of renowned authors such as Eugène François Vidocq, Honoré de Balzac, Eugène Sue, Victor Hugo, the Goncourt Brothers, and Émile Zola, Literary Slumming compellingly argues that the nineteenth-century French literary discourse on slang played a pivotal role in the emergence of this sociolinguistic phenomenon. This phenomenon prioritized lower-class and criminal life and culture, thereby expanding class boundaries and granting increased visibility and agency to minorities within the public sphere.

Weight: 653g
Dimension: 229 x 161 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781793621146