Walter Greenwood

Chris Hopkins (Sheffield Hallam University)

Ed. by Peter Childs, Birmingham Newman University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

Born 17 Dec 1903
Died 13 Sep 1974
Activity 1923-1974

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Autobiographer
Novelist

Resources

Greenwood's Works

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Walter Greenwood is remembered chiefly as the author of

Love on the Dole

(1933) – a novel which had a wide impact on public perceptions of the intolerable living conditions of the unemployed in the nineteen-thirties. Greenwood came from a poor working-class background in Salford and, after a variety of low-paid jobs, he was unemployed from 1929 till 1933. He wrote

Love on the Dole

towards the end of this period, and it was unsurprisingly regarded as an authentic account of the misery caused for individuals and communities by long-term unemployment and poverty. The novel sold well and was reprinted many times during the nineteen thirties and nineteen-forties, and has remained in print ever since. Both the literary qualities of the novel and its sustained publication history have made it…

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2750 words

Citation: Hopkins, Chris. "Walter Greenwood". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 November 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1866, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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