The Literature of Labor and the Labors of Literature

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Exploring the interplay between labor and literature, this book examines how fictional and nonfictional texts from nineteenth-century America reflect economic discourse and aesthetic representation. The author argues that allegory was critiqued similarly to mechanized labor, revealing a shared flatness in character portrayal that undermined traditional work ethics and American individualism. Through analyses of works by Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, and Henry Adams, the text redefines allegorical narrative as a complex medium for social commentary and authorial engagement.