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Introduction

Hobohemia and the Literary Imperative

from Part I - Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2023

Owen Clayton
Affiliation:
University of Lincoln
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Summary

Transients created what was arguably the first counterculture in the modern United States, known as ‘hobohemia’. This Introduction argues that hobohemia was a literary subculture, the fruits of which included fiction, poetry, autobiography, sociology, journalism, and popular music, including works produced by women and African-Americans. The material examined by this book, much of which has been forgotten or neglected, demonstrates that hobos were not the all-American, white, straight, male hyper-individualists that they have been seen as by much twentieth-century popular history. As well as laying out the argument and structure of the book, the Introduction argues that Hobohemia was a subculture that privileged storytelling, and that the popular genre of hobo memoir emphasises drift as a key aspect of the transient experience.

Type
Chapter
Information
Vagabonds, Tramps, and Hobos
The Literature and Culture of U.S. Transiency 1890–1940
, pp. 3 - 23
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Introduction
  • Owen Clayton, University of Lincoln
  • Book: Vagabonds, Tramps, and Hobos
  • Online publication: 27 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009348065.002
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  • Introduction
  • Owen Clayton, University of Lincoln
  • Book: Vagabonds, Tramps, and Hobos
  • Online publication: 27 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009348065.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Owen Clayton, University of Lincoln
  • Book: Vagabonds, Tramps, and Hobos
  • Online publication: 27 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009348065.002
Available formats
×