The Rise of Office Literature: Bureaucratization and Aesthetics in Britain and France, 1810-1900

Explores the social and cultural history of bureaucratization in 19th-century Britain and France via the evolving literary portrayal of office life.

Literary critics have long cited the clerk in 19th-century literature as an emblem of a nascent lower middle class, or of shifting gender roles in the world of work. Moreover, there is growing critical interest in the influence of rapidly evolving organizational systems and data networks on this period's culture. By refocusing on the point at wh...