The Busker: Writing Occupy, Politics, and Protest

Abstract

The protagonist of my second novel, The Busker, is a singer-songwriter who seeks to use the Occupy London movement as a way of promoting his protest songs. In this paper, I will examine the ways in which folk music allows singers to ‘say whatever needs to be said … at the time when it needs to be said’ and how this character provided the frame to investigate the Occupy movement, which David Graeber describes as ‘changing the national debate to begin addressing issues of financial power, the corruption of the political process, and social inequality’. By analysing the structures and themes of the novel, I aim to show how the narrative explores the contradictions, diversity of opinion and lasting impact of the Occupy movement on our society and our politics, whilst also exploring the potential pitfalls of appropriating a mass movement for individual gain.

Keywords:

• contemporary
• fiction
• creative
• occupy
• protest
• music

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Liam Murray Bell is Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Stirling, having studied for his doctorate at the University of Surrey. He is author of The Busker and So It Is, which was shortlisted for SMIT Scottish Book of the Year 2013.

Additional information

Funding

The novel that is the subject of this paper, The Busker, was supported by an Arts Council England Grant for the Arts.