Romances industriais do século XIX: proximidades e distanciamentos entre Tempos Difíceis, de Charles Dickens e Norte e Sul, de Elizabeth Gaskell

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the applied views of the Industrial Revolution, especially on the organization and movements of the workers in England, based on the literary works Hard Times by Charles Dickens and the North and South works by Elizabeth Gaskell. Both works were written in the mid-1850s, thus, at the height of the industrialization and urbanization of England, which allowed the authors an account of the reality observed through fiction. The results of the study will allow us to broaden our view of the period through the literature, after all, these studies of this type still gaining space in the academic world. Through the analysis of literary works, they will be compared in order to present the proximities and distances present in certain themes, such as the figure of the bosses, the employees and their relationships as protagonists. To do so, starting from the concept of representation, developed by Roger Chartier, will be carried out the analysis of literary narratives, which will have as an exponent of the study of English Social History and the relationship between History and Literature, such as Edward P. Thompson and Raymond Williams.