Literature and Poverty

Literature and Poverty offers an engaging overview of changes in literary perceptions of poverty and the poor.　 Part I of the book, from the Hebrew Bible to the French Revolution, provides essential background information. It introduces the Scriptural ideal of the 'holy poor' and the process by which biblical love of the poor came to be contested and undermined in European legislation and public opinion as capitalism grew and the state took over from the Church; Part II, from the French Revolution to World War II, shows how post-1789 problems of industrialization, population growth, war, and urbanization came to dominate much European literature, as poverty and the poor became central concerns of major writers such as Dickens, Dostoyevsky, and Hugo.　　　



David Aberbach uses literature - from the Bible, through Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Zola, Pushkin, and Orwell - to show how poverty changed from being an endemic and unavoidable fact of life, to a challenge for equality that might be attainable through a moral and rational society. As a literary and social history of poverty, this book argues for the vital importance of literature and the arts in understanding current problems in International Development.

Literatura si saracia ofera o imagine de ansamblu captivanta asupra schimbarilor perceptiilor literare despre saracie si saraci. Partea I a cartii, de la Biblia ebraica la Revolutia franceza, ofera informatii esentiale de baza. Acesta introduce idealul Scriptural al „sfintilor saraci” si procesul prin care dragostea biblica pentru saraci a ajuns sa fie contestata si subminata in legislatia europeana si in opinia publica pe masura ce capitalismul a crescut si statul a preluat de la Biserica; Partea a II-a, de la Revolutia franceza la cel de-al doilea razboi mondial, arata cum problemele de industrializare, crestere a populatiei, razboi si urbanizare de dupa 1789 au ajuns sa domine o mare parte din literatura europeana, intrucat saracia si saracii au devenit preocupari centrale ale scriitorilor majori precum Dickens, Dostoievski si Hugo. David Aberbach foloseste literatura - de la Biblie, pana la Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Zola, Puskin si Orwell - pentru a arata cum saracia s-a schimbat de la a fi un fapt endemic si inevitabil al vietii, la o provocare pentru egalitate care ar putea fi atinsa printr-un mod moral si rational. societate.