Thesis (doctoral)--Stockholms universitetm 1984. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-263) and index.

The main purpose of this Master’s thesis is to analyse the portrayals of working-class life in a selection of works by the Swedish authors Ragnar Järhult and Per Gunnar Evander. The research questions are: * How is the working conditions described?* What political messages can be found in the works?* What image of the class society is shown?The second aim of this Master’s thesis is to analyse the concept of working-class literature and to investigate if the works of Per Gunnar Evander could be seen as working-class literature. Methodologically, the study draws on established theories, concepts and methods from the sociology of literature and the history of ideas. The core analytical concepts are ”social class” and ”working class literature”. This study shows that there are several similarities between the works of Järhult and Evander, especially in the criticism against the working conditions for the workers at papermills and tileworks. Evander is not normally seen as a working-class author but this study points out that the selected works from both the authors should be seen as working-class literature. The discussion on the concept of working-class literature reveals that it is difficult to find a perfect definition concerning the working-class literature. Every definition seems to be vague and that can either be seen as a weakness or strength. I like to see the broad description of working-class literature as something positive because a wide-ranging definition makes it possible to collect all the different aims and trends under one concept. Working-class literature should be seen as a broad literary current, not as a genre sharply marked off from its surroundings. / Uppsatsnivå: D