The Angry Young Men

Introduction

The end of the War brought with it a generation of writers who flourished in the 1950s with the new freedoms and attitudes that were forming, as society painfully emerged from the repressive first half of the twntieth century into the brave new world of individual freedom from the previously unchallenged established order. The world that emerged in their plays and books reflected the changing world of Britain as it awoke from the wreckage of the 1940s, and became the new era, when the working class began to demand the same autonomy and disregard for the established order that had always been enjoyed by the predomimately middle class artists of the pre-war period. The 1950s was the era of the painful and angry gestation that gave birth in the 1960s and wiped away the old order forever.

This new world was fuelled by books, plays, films and music that had no respect for authority or tradition; it was non-conforming and radical, a genuine working class voice that enraged the establishment but found favour with a young generation seeking its own place in what was a fast changing, but infinitely exciting time to be alive.

America had its own 'Beat Generation' version of this movement, which I will cover in another section, but in this country it was labelled 'The Angry Young Men' for awhile, and it revolutionised British theatre and film as theatres like The Royal Court, and film companies like British Lion and Woodfall gave us the great era of the 'Kitchen Sink' dramas. These terms were supposed to be disparaging but the movement owned the zeitgeist, and the established order was submerged.

The books that follow are from my own collection and represent the key works that in a dozen years re-wrote the world for a new generation. They are not all masterpieces, and some are better known in performance than print, but they all have the vitality of the iconoclast who creates as he destroys.

'Protest; the Beat Generation and the Angry Young Men'.

Panther paperback 1962

First published 1958

Early recognition of the way the wind was blowing

'Look Back In Anger'

John Osborne

First edition Faber 1957

The essential work that gave the era its name

'Expresso Bongo'

Wolf Mankowitz

First edition Ace Books 1960

Satirical musical play, here in first book form. Made into a movie that completely missed the point

'Alfie'

Bill Naughton

First edition MacGibbon & Kee 1966

Overshadowed by Michael Caine, but the book is well worth reading

'Billy Liar'

Keith Waterhouse

First Edition Michael Joseph 1959

Probably best known as film and play, but a key work from the majestic Keith Waterhouse

'A Kind of Loving'

Stan Barstow

First edition Michael Joseph 1960

Life among the aspiring white collar workers, it made a great movie with an astonishing performance from Thora Hird, the Mother-In-Law from Hell

*

Billy Liar

1st edition Michael Joseph 1960

An early Albert Finney triumph, which I was lucky enough to see

Works very well as a play

*

Borstal Boy

Brendan Behan

1st edition Hutchinson 1958

Although from a slightly different writing tradition, Behan was part of the great theatre renaissance in the 1950s, and this novel fits into the period very well. Fine book

*

'The Quare Fellow'

Brendan Behan

Methuen 1961

Brilliant black comedy from Joan Littlewood's Theatre Royal in Stratford, which was the inspiration of much of the 1950s New Wave Theatre. Behan's masterpiece, and the work that finally confirmed for me that Capital Punishment has no moral justification, and no place in any civilised society

*

'The Hostage'

Brendan Behan

Methuen 1958

Exhilarating play, very funny and must have been a great night at legendary Theatre Royal in Stratford. Said to be as much Joan Littlewood as Behan

*

.One Way Pendlum

N.F.Simpson

1st edition Faber 1960

Simpson was a regular contributor to the Royal Court in its prime, and his form of absurdist theatre flourished in the new era

*

Peenguin 1959

An angry young woman with a Norfolk accent

'Adrift in Soho'

Colin Wilson

First paperback Pan 1964

First published 1961

One of the era's great existentialist thinkers who found time to give us his take on the passing parade

'Hurry On Down'

John Wain

First edition Secker 1953

The first and one of the best, but largely unknown

'The L-shaped Room'

Lynne Reid Banks

First edition Chatto and Windus 1960

Made a fine movie

'Live Now Pay Later'

Jack Trevor Story

First edition Secker 1963

Not so well known, but provided Ian Hendry with a great role in the film

'Lucky Jim'

Kingsley Amis

19th impression Gollancz 1957

One of the funniest books I've ever read

'Room At The Top'.

John Braine

First edition Eyre & Spottiswoode 1957

Ground breaking book and film; perhaps not as good as its reputation, but still a seminal work

'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'

Alan Sillitoe

First edition 2nd print W H Allen 1958.

The book and the film that told us who we were; an immutable classic for those who were there at the time

'Term of Trial'

James Barlow

First edition Hamish Hamilton 1961

Not strictly of the canon, but the film's great cast provides links

'The Angry Silence'

John Burke

Novelisation of a great film

First edition Hodder 1961

This copy signed by Bryan Forbes

'The Entertainer'

John Osborne

First edition Faber 1957

Great Play, great performance

'The Knack'

Ann Jellicoe

First edition Encore 1962

Product of The Royal Court Theatre in its great days

'The Leather Boys'

Eliot George

First paperback edition Four Square 1963

Not as well known as it should be. Superb film

'The Lonliness of the Long Distance Runner'

Alan Sillitoe

First edition W H Allen 1959

The second working class masterpiece from Allan Sillitoe

This copy is signed to me by Tom Courtney, the movie's quintessential working class hero

'This Sporting Life'

David Storey

First edition Longmans 1960

Great book and great film

Methuen paperback 1959

Another Salford Lass who found a home at The Royal Court Theatre

'Inadmissible Evidence'

John Osborne

Faber 1965

Angst on steroids: The Angry Middle Aged Man as the dream turned sour. Notable for a towering performance by the great Nicol Williamson

David Halliwell

1st edition Faber 1967

As the 1960s progressed rebellion turned to rancour........

Methuen 1966

Review copy

...... and Nihilism