"Keep it unreal": key characteristics of Black Country literature revealed

Researchers at the University of Wolverhampton have revealed the key ingredients of Black Country literature in their new book 'Smell, Memory, and Literature in the Black Country' that has recently been released.

A keen interest in history and myth, specific metaphors including fire as symbol for transformation and creativity, a rejection of realism, sensory provocation and laughter are among the key devices used by Black Country writers, according to Professor Sebastian Groes and Dr Robert Francis.

Professor Groes said: “Together, writers capture a Black Country texture that, just as the smells and childhood memories that belong to the area, are quite specific.

“Indeed, when reading the work by contemporary writers who recreate the region in their imagination, we can construe a unique Black Country Poetics.”

According to Professor Groes and Dr Francis, what unites their stories are the following characteristics:

• Black Country metaphors
• A Black Country sensibility
• History and mythologies
• Collective memory
• Black Country psychogeography
• Black Country language and dialect
• Anti-realism
• Laughter

Explaining some of the components, Professor Groes said: “Even just the name Black Country itself is an ambiguous metaphor; it combines the colour of death and funerals, and a certain kind of darkness associated with industrialisation with ‘country’, a word that evokes mental images of the countryside and natural beauty.”