Oh, right: 'to DELIGHT and Instruct!' (Perhaps Sinclair read "Disgust"?)

Some raw thoughts here follow:

If Sinclair's efforts with The Jungle fell on deaf ears, maybe it was because the novel was so graphic and horrifying.  Maybe, as a collective, the American public simply resists casting itself as responsible in any way, for the exploitation of an entire class of working immigrants.  As a tangent, it's also possible that the didactic lessons on Socialism were too indirect for the mass public to see its own role, as consumers, in perpetuating the cycle of capital's exploitation of labor.  In other words, Joe the Plumber doesn't really see himself as having a role at all in The Jungle.

But, for now, I want to focus on the role of Sinclair's tone in the novel.  Which, of course, begs the question of whether or not a different tone might be more effective. A lighter tone, perhaps.  Maybe even a humorous one?  I'm imagining that to shed light on the issues of wage slavery in a humorous tone it might be necessary to be somewhat opaque as opposed to outright didacticism... Maybe not.

In line with this thinking, then, I'd like to look at Tom Robbins Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas through a Marxist lens.  Its falls under the rubric of popular culture--so it has the potential to reach a mass public.  It's certainly written in a playful tone, but not without complex theoretical discourse.  And the notion of work--cheating at work, lack of work, the need to work (or not,) compensation for work, and satisfaction with work, or lack thereof--plays a huge role in the theme of the narrative.

For such an analysis, I think I'll use Marx (duh,) Bahktin, Husserl, and Althusser.  Robbins, of course.  Also, I'll search the databases for other work about parody or irony, and/or humor, with regard to Marxism and any literature.  I don't think I'll find much scholarship about Robbins to work with, so I'll have to go with mostly theory for secondary resources.  And I'll find out whether or not I think the Marxist agenda is: 1) actually present in Frog Pajamas; and 2) more palatable given Robbins' tone.