Workers' Tales: Socialist Fairy Tales, Fables, and Allegories from Great Britain

Michael Rosen

Oct 2018 · Princeton University Press · Narrated by Michael Rosen, Ric Jerrom, Samuel West, John Telfer, Lisa Coleman, Miriam Margolyes, and Peter Kenny

About this audiobook

This audiobook narrated by acclaimed critic and author Michael Rosen breathes new life into the political tales first published in British workers’ magazines
With additional narration by Lisa Coleman, Ric Jerrom, Peter Kenny, Miriam Margolyes, John Telfer, and Samuel West

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, unique tales inspired by traditional literary forms appeared frequently in socialist-leaning British periodicals, such as the Clarion, Labour Leader, and Social Democrat. Based on familiar genres—the fairy tale, fable, allegory, parable, and moral tale—and penned by a range of lesser-known and celebrated authors, including Schalom Asch, Charles Allen Clarke, Frederick James Gould, and William Morris, these stories were meant to entertain readers of all ages—and some challenged the conventional values promoted in children’s literature for the middle class. In Workers’ Tales, acclaimed critic and author Michael Rosen brings together more than forty of the best and most enduring examples of these stories in one beautiful volume.

Throughout, the tales in this collection exemplify themes and ideas related to work and the class system, sometimes in wish-fulfilling ways. In “Tom Hickathrift,” a little, poor person gets the better of a gigantic, wealthy one. In “The Man Without a Heart,” a man learns about the value of basic labor after testing out more privileged lives. And in “The Political Economist and the Flowers,” two contrasting gardeners highlight the cold heart of Darwinian competition. Rosen’s informative introduction describes how such tales advocated for contemporary progressive causes and countered the dominant celebration of Britain’s imperial values.

Provocative and enlightening, Workers’ Tales presents voices of resistance that are more relevant than ever before.

Ratings and reviews

AudioBook Review: Stars: Overall: 5 Narration: 5 Stories: 5 Spanning forty years with short stories from the last two decades of the 19th century and the first two of the 20th century, Michael Rosen has collected these tales, many allegorical and geared to entertain children providing a specific ‘twist’ that reflected the changes in society and a particular political bent I have listened to these forty-five tales over several days. Workers’ Tales: Socialist Fairy Tales, Fables, and Allegories from Great Britain It is often said that the ones who make history are the ‘winning sides’ and that all other ‘noise’ surrounding any conflict is doomed to silence. It’s actually not far off, as achievements of countries, people and civilizations have often been relegated to footnotes or ignored completely by those who have brought the story of their own accomplishments into the history books. But, here is a chance to hear the other part of the story – the ones often suppressed or ignored, rising through great societal and cultural change, and in some circles, tagged as ideas to be feared or reviled. Most interesting for the way in which the authors have presented the story – subtle (and not so subtle) undermining of the social norm and expectations, the dissembling of the ‘imperialistic’ outlook of the history texts and general knowledge. These stories are intriguing and entertaining as well, keeping me interested as I limited myself to 4 or 5 at a stretch – allowing time to digest what I had heard, and occasionally try to see why something was penned, researching historic context, upheavals and changes around the time of authoring. This was all kinds of intriguing and did exactly what I hope to find from a title – provided me with new perspective: tilting a view of a situation and stepping into another’s explanation and view of the scene laid out before me. While I’m not a huge fan of allegorical tales of the modern day, finding them pretentious and often over-burdened with the “look how smart I am” attitude, the clarity of such tales and easy accessibility of the “it’s this signifying or pointing to that” was easy to see, bringing a sort of subtle and occasionally sly humor apparent as the listen continued. Testing messages that hit themes of hard work, less versus more, Darwin and even enforcing the value of a being, these were entertaining and eye opening, and quite a bit different from what I expected going in. Narrated by a cast of voices that included John Telfer, Lisa Coleman, Michael Rosen, Miriam Margolyes, Peter Kenny, Ric Jerrom, and Samuel West, each voice was clear and precise, providing a flow through the listen that varied tone and approach and kept auditory interest, there wasn’t time to feel ‘overburdened’ by to much information or tiring of any singular voice. I received an AudioBook copy of this title from Princeton University Press. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

About the author

Michael Rosen is professor of children’s literature at Goldsmiths, University of London. The author of more than 140 children’s books, he is also known for his work as a broadcaster, political columnist, and scriptwriter, and was Children’s Laureate from 2007 to 2009. His many books for adults include So They Call You Pisher!, Alphabetical, and The Disappearance of Émile Zola. He lives in London.