Akenfield (1969) is a great and rewarding read on rural life and social class in mid-1960s East Anglia (I am glad to see NYRB thought to re-issue it). Here's an excerpt from 29-year-old forester and Labour Party organizer David Collyer's testimonial:
"The village people live almost entirely without culture. I was over twenty before I realized that classical music was just 'music', and therefore all one had to do was to listen to it. I listened and at first believed that I had no right to listen to it. I felt affected. But when I began to enjoy it I stopped worrying. Everything I do begins with doubt and insecurity. It is as though I am using a language which I haven't a right to use." (106)
David Collyer is in real life Richard Risebrow, Labour organiser in North Norfolk, Sudbury & Woodbridge, and finally Ipswich, before becoming Education Officer of Ipswich Co-operative Society. He was later a Labour councillor and Mayor of Ipswich.
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