The 1950s: A Decade of Modern British Fiction (The Decades Series)

"How did social, cultural and political events in Britain during the 1950s shape modern British fiction? As Britain emerged from the shadow of war into the new decade of the 1950s, the seeds of profound social change were being sown. Exploring the full range of fiction in the 1950s, this volume surveys the ways in which these changes were reflected in British culture. Chapters cover the rise of the 'Angry Young Men', an emerging youth culture and vivid new voices from immigrant and feminist writers. A major critical re-evaluation of the decade, the book covers such writers as Margery Allingham, Kingsley Amis, E. R. Braithwaite, Rodney Garland, Martyn Goff, Attia Hosain, George Lamming, Marghanita Laski, Doris Lessing, Colin MacInnes, Naomi Mitchison, V. S. Naipaul, Barbara Pym, Mary Renault, Sam Selvon, Alan Sillitoe, John Sommerfield, Muriel Spark, J. R. R. Tolkien, Angus Wilson and John Wyndham."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Contents Contributors Series Editors’ Preface Acknowledgements Introduction: The 1950s: A Decade of Change The postwar consensus Social change and everyday life Fiction, the New Left and the birth of cultural studies The 1950s: A decade of modern British fiction Notes Works cited 1 ‘The Choices of Master Samwise’: Rethinking 1950s Fiction ‘Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age’ The legacy of the 1930s John Sommerfield and the politics of social representation Cosy catastrophes and generational changes 4 ‘Forget the story’ 6 Notes Works cited 2 Angry Young Men? A Product of Their Time Works cited 3 ‘Mere bird-watching indeed’: Feminist Anthropology and 1950s Female Fiction Kinship and village life Debutantes at native dances The ‘reformer’s science’ Works cited 4 ‘Is it a queer book?’: Re- reading the 1950s Homosexual Novel Under surveillance: homosexuality, the media and the police Social problem, private affairs Comic turns: seriousness and the homosexual novel Works cited 5 A Vision of the Future: Race and Anti-Racism in 1950s British Fiction Racism and anti-racism in postwar Britain Writing the Caribbean from exile The Caribbean novel of arrival Writing white anti-racism Conclusion: some visions of the future Notes Works cited 6 Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On: The Politics of Youth in 1950s Fiction Youthquake Teenage rampage Teddy boys Birth of the Cool Bohemians, beatniks and bums Calypso Conclusion Notes Works cited 7 Detective Fiction and the Prose of Everyday Life: Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh and Gladys Mitchell in the 1950s Wreaking havoc: Allingham’s The Tiger in the Smoke Mysterious autoethnographies Christie in the 1950s Insiders and outsiders: Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced (1950) The detective as dramaturg; the detective as clinician Detective fiction and modern form Works Cited Detective fiction and modern form 8 Chance in the Canon: Uncertainty and the Literary Establishment of the 1950s The chance to rebuild Freedom and fear: the politicization of chance The angry dissentients Falling against structuring structures A contradictory novel tradition A burgeoning aleatory style Performing a culture of contradiction Works cited Timeline of Works Timeline of National Events Timeline of International Events Biographies of Writers Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y