Faculty Work-in-Progress - Class and Consumption: George Orwell and the Desecration of Bread

Headshot of woman wearing dark turtleneck
Thursday, September 14th, 4:30 PM

Clark Hall Room 206, 11130 Bellflower Road

Food and consumption are signifiers of personal and cultural ethos: they define who we are, and conversely, who we are not. For George Orwell, no other food represents this distinction better than bread, the embodiment of wholesome nourishment and, in its most "virtuous" state, the antithesis of systemization. In her talk, Anisfield-Wolf SAGES Fellow Elysia Balavage, argues that Orwell's depictions of debased consumption and dirty bread in The Road to Wigan Pier (1937) personify the methodical, embedded maltreatment of the British working-class by a capitalist system. 

Registration requested.  Register HERE.


Learn more about Dr.Balavage, as well as other SAGES teaching fellows, here.