&sq=&lang=&file=File:LivingNovel.jpg) First edition | |
| Author | Henry Green |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | J. M. Dent (UK) E. P. Dutton (US) |
Publication date | 1929 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 269 |
Living[1] is a 1929 novel by English writer Henry Green. It is a work of sharp social observation, documenting the lives of Birmingham factory workers in the interwar boom years. It is considered a modern classic by scholars, and appears on many university syllabi. The language is notable for its deliberate lack of conjunctives to reflect a Birmingham accent. As well, very few articles are used, allegedly to mimic foreign languages (such as Arabic) that use them infrequently. It is considered a work of Modernist literature.
The novel has been acclaimed for making Green "an honorary member of a literary movement to which he never belonged",[2] i.e. the genre of proletarian literature. Despite his class origin and politics, the novel has been acclaimed as "closer to the world of the working class than those of some socialist or worker-writers themselves".[2]