The People's Writing, the People's Culture: Meridel Le Seuer's Praxis of Writing for the Working Class

Abstract

"Writer and teacher Meridel Le Sueur's philosophy of writing, articulated through her textbook Worker Writers and other essays from the 1930s, offers a praxis of writing for the working class, which we need again today. Meridel Le Sueur's praxis of writing has more than just historical or theoretical interest. In the past decade, the United States has begun to see income and wealth disparities become the widest they have been in eighty years. Writing teachers, despite perhaps the best intentions, are often complicit in an educational system that confirms the status quo of an unequal, capitalist system...Le Sueur's praxis of writing can act as a guide for counterhegemonic writing instruction that bridges the divide between college and community." -abstract