This chapter argues for the importance of developing an understanding of working-class literature that both acknowledges its heterogeneity and historicity and makes it possible to conceptualise it as a cross-historical and transnational phenomenon. It begins by documenting recent critical and theoretical trends in the study of working-class literature and argues that this collection of essays contributes to these debates by focusing on three key areas; the relationship between working-class literature and the canon within specific national traditions, the ways in which working-class literature establishes itself within nations and national literatures, and the role played by international exchanges in the construction of working-class literature. This chapter continues by summarising the various essays included in the volume and concludes by considering some of the avenues for further research which are prompted by those essays, particularly the need to attend to working-class literature beyond Europe and the Anglosphere.