The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
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| Author | Robert Tressell |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Grant Richards |
| Released | 23 April 1914 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is a novel by Robert Tressell (17 April 1870 - 3 February 1911). It was first published in 1914, after his death. An explicitly political work, the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is widely regarded as a classic of working-class literature and is frequently cited as an inspiration by socialists and Labour politicians in the United Kingdom. Based on his own experiences as a painter and decorator, Tressell embarks on a detailed and scathingly witty anlaysis of the everyday life of his fictional town of Mugsborough (based on the southern English town of Hastings).
'Robert Tressell' was the nom-de-plume of Robert Noonan, who feared that the socialist views expressed in his book would have him blacklisted. He chose the surname Tressell as a pun on the trestle table, an important part of a painter and decorator's kit.
He completed The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists in 1910, but the 1,600 page-long hand-written manuscript was rejected by the three publishing houses to which it was submitted. The rejection severely depressed Noonan, and his daughter had to save the manuscript from being burnt. It was placed for safekeeping in a metal box underneath her bed.
After Noonan died, his daughter Kathleen was determined to have her father's writing published. In April 1914, a publishing house bought the rights to the book for £25, and it appeared that year in Britain, Canada, and the United States. It was later published in the Soviet Union (1920) and Germany (1925). It was only an edited version, however, and much of the socialist ideology was excised.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
Clearly frustrated at the refusal of his contemporaries to recognise the iniquity of society, Tressell's cast of hypocritical Christians, exploitative capitalists and corrupt councillors provide a backdrop for his main target -- the workers who think that a better life is "not for the likes of them". Hence the title of the book; Tressell paints the workers as "philanthropists" who unselfishly (read: stupidly) throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters.
The hero of the book, Frank Owen, is a socialist who believes that the capitalist system is the real source of the poverty he sees all around him. In vain he tries to convince his fellow workers of his world view, but finds that their education has trained them to distrust their own thoughts and to rely on those of their "betters". Much of the book consists of conversations between Owen and the others, or more often lectures by Owen in the face of their jeering, which seems likely to have mirrored Tressell's own experiences.
[edit] Major themes
The book is a fascinating glimpse of social life in Britain at a time when socialism was beginning to gain ground. It was around this time that the Labour Party was founded and began to win seats in the House of Commons.
The original title page of the book included the following subtitle by the author: "Being the story of twelve month in, Hell, told by one of the damned, and written down, by Robert Tressell".
