Hutton as an Author

Reading and writing were cornerstones of the lives of self-educated rough diamonds like Hutton. He is a perfect example of the dreaded rising author, who wrote for money, without education or status. His writings reveal new modes of authorship and the literary culture of an industrial town. Chapter 6 appraises his work by examining 70 periodical reviews of Hutton’s 15 books. Based on personal experience, they mixed history, travelogues, and life writing. Though they suited the nation’s thirst for entertainment and useful knowledge, Hutton has not been recognized as a new kind of writer, who produced unlearned books for a commercial age. His blunt style and breach of polite norms horrified the literary establishment. But his accessible prose satisfied new audiences and led to alternative yardsticks of literary taste. Hutton thus had an impact on two contrasting groups of readers, and helped put the English Midlands on the national literary map.