Problems of a "Democratic Text": Walter Besant's Impossible Story

Abstract

Few novels have had impact of Walter Besant's All Sorts and Conditions of Men of 1882: few have come so close to realizing Oscar Wilde's adage that nature imitates art. Within years of novel's publication, Besant saw his Utopian scheme for a popular of Delight, on which story culminates, realized in East End of London and later in other big cities. Walter Besant was a practical man, first president of Society of Authors and active in their struggle for fairer contracts and copyright regulations. A professional man in newly commercialized world of letters, he opposed romantic cliche of author as a seer. Yet Besant himself seemed peculiarly in touch with subliminal anxieties of his audience: he obviously struck a resounding note with this, his first independent venture after a long partnership with James Rice, and his most successful novel. Besant himself was of course heavily engaged in public discussion that accompanied construction and inauguration of People's Palace in London. In an article written in 18871 he applauds its near-completion and implores his fellows in polite society to trust the working man to make good use of it. His democratic sentiments are outspoken: Let us remember, and constantly bear in mind, that Palace is to be governed by people for themselves. If it is not, better for East London that it had never been erected.2 Besant's confidence in workers of East London was based on his fundamental confidence in