Far from being an actual public servant, each of these famous literary figures have played some role in the zeitgeist of the working man. Dostoevsky and Kafka (Russian and Czech respectively) were the sons of upper middle class parents who were able to provide a basic education, which puts them each in a position to be hard-working middle class themselves.
The confused and tortured lives of these proletariat have always intrigued me, in addition to being existentialist fiction writers, they have a penchant to look out for the little guy. The primary contributions and explanations I have are:
1.) Dostoevsky's novella "Notes From the Underground" seems to grasp public servitude and the possible misanthropic feelings or malaise that would accompany retirement. He hit the nail on the head for me when I was 20 years old or so and working only part-time in a public library.
2.) As an insurance worker, Kafka did advocate for workers in some capacity. He is known to be the inventor of the contemporary hard hat, used on construction sites today.
I don't know of any other great authors who have made any impact to the workers of the world, I haven't been able to stomach Ayn Rand, but I get the idea that she has something to say about the political economy... There is a lot of reading left for me to do. Suggestions are appreciated!
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