The balance of her book suggestsshe is far more comfortabledealing with this period. While it would be too harsh to accuse Hapke herself of refusingto understandthe contemporarylabourer,it is possible to suggest that she does not understandthose who are refusingto understand the contemporarylabourer.The problem with Hapke's working-classstudies approach here is that it relies upon discourses of class distinction and economic organization much better suited to the pre-World World II environment. A sense of loss that echoes throughoutis signalledin the prefacewhen she writesabout 'the sad contrastbetween today's refusalto understandthe one who labors and the Depressionera'sprofoundrespectfor thisfigure'(p. Despite these qualities,there are also unresolvedproblemswith Hapke'sbook. 8), in her willingnessto tackle the interconnectionswith labour of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Michael Denning and Alan Wald, whose work, she argues, has 'expanded the multiculturalscrutinyof traditionalAmerican literatureto proletarianand workingclass writing' (p. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:
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