Modern British novel

Between 1950 and 1960 the angry young man expressed their disillusionment and bitter feelings, anger against the society.

• they are angry with the establishment (zřízení),  they criticized snobs and people in power
• they brake the rules
• they can be compared to American beat generation

Kingsley Amis was the most famous member of this group. He is world famous for his Lucky Jim. The main character is Jim Dickson – a lecturer at one small university. He tries to keep his post, but everything turns out wrong. He is invited to a house of a professor, offends him, gets drunk and gets into a row with his son Bertrand, from whom he wins Margaret, a very beautiful girl. During his lecture he is drunk and he parodies all the eminent professors. He is fired. On the other hand he is happy with Margaret and finds a better employment.

John Wain expressed disillusionment , he was angry and dissatisfied with the establishment and society, criticize snobs and people in power. He wrote a satirical novel Hurry on Down. In this work he depicted the life of Charles Lumley, who after graduation from Oxford University, had different jobs as a window-cleaner until he became a writer.

John Braine  wrote the Room at the Top. He described the strong effort of young people who wanted to regulate their fate and reach better position in the society. That was very difficult for people who came from the working class. Joe succeeded in gaining his position only thanks to the love of Susan, who was a rich daughter of a successful manufacturer. In Life at the Top Brain returned to the character of Joe again. Joe had everything- a prosperous job, a happy family life. But his life changed after he had found that his daughter wasn´t his daughter and that his wife had been unfaithful. He left his family to start a new life. But then his son needed him very much, so he returned to the family.

     Alan Sillitoe wrote very naturalistic novels. One of the most well-known is Saturday night and Sunday Morning. Arthur is the main character. He has no respect for anybody. He works only because he must, but his real life starts when he leaves his factory. His Saturday nights are spent in drinking and in adventures with women.

Campus Novel 

David Lodge is considered as founder of so called campus novel

• the plot of most campus novels is set into a smaller town
• the hero is always a teacher of English literature, language or history and he causes some scandal
• adventures, sexual life are secondary features of these novels

David Lodge

Changing Places  (Hostující profesoři)

• it´s a grotesque story, he gives a portrait of English and American universities and about 2 professors
• they changed their places at university and at the end they changed their wives too

William Golding was awarded a Nobel Prize. He took part in the World War II and his experiences are often seen in his works. His well- known book is Lord of the Flies. He was a teacher but after the success of this book he devoted himself only to literature. The story is set to the future, when an air–crash leaves a group of young boys on an island. At first they are happy without their parents and they try to form an ideal society. Later they form 2 groups and they are fighting. Some of them even die. But there´s a lucky ending. A captain of a British ship arrives. Boys regret what had happened.

J.R.R. Tolkien based the stories of his fairy- tale novels on his  knowledge of old Germanic and Celtic myths. He created a fantasy world of Middle-Earth where small hobbits seek happiness, goodness and live many adventures. He wrote Hobbit, The Lord of The Rings, Two Towers and The Return of the King. These stories were filmed.
George Orwell wrote excellent novels criticizing totalitarian society:  Animal Farm, 1985.

Nineteen eighty-four – he describes a future world where every word and action is seen and controlled by the state, which has developed a kind of television, that can watch people in their own homes.

Animal farm – it’s a political allegory, it tells the story of a political revolution that went wrong. The animals on the farm led by the pigs drive out  their master Jones and take control of the farm. The purity of their political ideas is soon destroyed end they end by being just as greed (nenasytní) and dishonest (nečestní) as the farmer Jones who they drove out. It’s written in the form of fable, it represents the revolutionary Russia of 1917. Mr. Jones is czar Nicolas. In the last chapter the basic idea is changed: „all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal.“

Agatha Christie is the most widely read author in the world. She is the queen of a detective story and wrote about 70 novels – The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Ten Little Niggers, Sleeping Murder, Curtain. She wrote a play Mousetrap.
Plays are concerned with contemporary social probléms:
     George Bernard Shaw is the most famous personality in drama of this period. He was born in Dublin. He attacked the whole society in his criticism. In his plays he criticises the false morals of the society He was awarded the Nobel Prize.
His well- known play was called Pygmalion. It is the story about a poor flower girl Liza. Professor Higgins wagered with his friend Pickering, that he will change Liza into an educated and well- behaved lady. Liza can´t pronounce right at first. She used to speak common, she used cockney. But she is very intelligent and ambitious, so she learns quickly. She charmed the high society at the ball. Higgins won the bet. But then he was not interested in the of Liza anymore. She couldn´t go back to the dirty suburb.

Samuel Beckett was born in Dublin. He admired James Joyce. He was awarded the Nobel Prize. He is important both for drama and prose. His famous play is called Waiting for Godot. There are two tramps waiting for Godot. Both lay great importance on his arrival but every day they are told that he will not come that day, but perhaps on the following day. The waiting for mythical Godot represents the feelings of disappointed people of that time.