‘Immaterial Labour and the Work of Modernist Literature’,

Abstract

This chapter draws on the concept of ‘immaterial labour’ to explore two key questions: ‘What is the work of literature?’ and ‘How might literary writing best be theorised as “work”?’ The activity of literary writing has proved peculiarly resistant to many theoretical and historical framings of and approaches to labour. Writing conceived of as a form of labour does not seem to fit comfortably into analyses focussed on the changing temporal and spatial dimensions of industrial labour, or within arguments based on ideas of skill and craft, or indeed approaches based on the centrality of the division of labour to modern experiences of work. The chapter thus considers a theoretical and historical framing that generates significant new insights into the nature of literary work, building on the concept of ‘immaterial labour’. It explores how this term can enable a fresh approach to some of the ‘difficulties’ in theorising literary writing as a form of work.