Economic inequality, Marxist theory, and Swedish-language working-class literature
Keywords:
The conference ‘Is Economic Inequality also a Literary Problem?’ held at Uppsala University, Sweden, in 2017 raised the following questions: What does literature have to do with inequality? Does it contribute to its reproduction, or can it be a force of resistance? Is it fair to even ask of literature and literary studies that they address the problem of economic inequality? This essay claims the answers to these questions are conditioned by the historical contexts of the critics grappling with them and the literatures that they study. Employing an analysis of the theme of poverty in contemporary Swedish-language working-class literature, I argue that the consecration of this literature as an important strand in Swedish national literature has allowed it to express radical critique of the economic inequalities lying at the heart of capitalism. Furthermore, I argue that this insight could be used as a starting-point for challenging some of the more pessimistic views expressed by critics of working-class literature regarding its political potentials.