THE WATER OF WORK/THE WORK OF WATER INPROLETARIAN AND OTHER FICTION
Panel Chair:
Carolina Núñez Puente ( Universidade da Coruña)
It was only recently that Meridel Le Sueur became known among other American authors of proletarian fiction. Curiously enough, both her activist political life and her surname--"Sueur" being the French word for "sweat"--epitomize the figure of the worker-writer. This panel is open to proposals that explore the allegories of 'water' and their relation to 'work' in proletarian and other kinds of fiction. From this panel, the category "class" is understood not simply as 'status' but as a consequence of 'relations of production.' As an analytical tool, "class" is also a valid means to read a text. Readings that employ class in this way--and that combine it with other tools such as gender, race, and so on--are thus welcome .
Suggested Topics:
- The Socio-Ideological. The water of work can be a metaphor of the workers' sweat. The price of hard work, sweat can also be understood as the stress, insomnia and other problems suffered by many workers. This section is interested in literary works which criticize human beings' work life--e.g. alienation, exploitation, surplus value--, and which can be read as aesthetic-political products.
- The Psychological-Emotional. The reading of literature that moves us to tears is a manifestation of the work of water. This area explores the work of literature in both the representation and teaching of emotions, and how emotions can be linked to class. Furthermore, literature as a site of ethical knowledge, and its allegorical reference to water, can also be a topic for a paper.
- The Bodily-Sexual. Water constitutes an important element of the human body. Although the female body has slightly less than the male, the former has especially been associated with water in literature--e.g. woman as womb, the mermaids, the lady of the lake. This section focuses on the water of work/the work of water in processes such as menstruation, pregnancy, and labour of birth, as well as others. Again, an emphasis on the hierarchical classification of bodies and sexualities is required.
- Other topics dealing with t he water of work and the work of water may also be considered.