Angry young men

In the middle of 50s post war disillusionment and devergence between hopes and reality determined the character of fiction created by a group of writers who came collectively to be known as "The angry young men". Among them were Kingsley Amis, John Wain, John Braine, John Osborn, Collin Wilson. It is important to note that they didn't belong to a clearly defined movement. Far from it they attacked one another in the press and some were even reluctant to appear in the same publications. But they had one thing in common - an attitude of non-conformity to the established social order. Through their characters these writers were eager to describe their anger with society, an anger modified by the fact that it was expressed from the point of view of men who were themselves products of "Wellfare state" (is a system of social security for the workers in nationalized industries proved to be a deception because the benefits grantedby this system were largely nullified by a steady increase of indirect taxation). The major characters of Kingsley Amis's book "Lucky Jim", John Wain's book "Hurry on down", John Braine's book "Room at the top", Collin Wilson's "the outsiders" and Osborn's "Look back in anger" no matter how different they are represent the frustrated young generation who defy everybody in authority. They do not seem to fit in very fewes to put up with society's conventions. Their statements express both political sceptisism and disgust with personal in security. Their anger originates in their inability to communicate with others as fully and meaningfully as they would like to. All of them are intelligent young men from the lower or lower middle class families educated at provincial universities, but they are let loose in a society dominated more than ever by ruthless class distinctions which will never let them become successful wealthy and prominent In the society.

The working-class novel

An important development of late 50s and early 60s having a direct connection with outburst of the Angries was the emergence of the working-class novel. In their vigorous fiction Allan Sillitoe, Sid Chaplin, Stan Barstow and David Storey tried to provide the lower class prospective of the post war situation in Britain. The defiance of authority, the attitude of resentment a working men's constant struggle in a hostile world, all these gave their characters a certain unity of fellow feeling directed against the highest classes exploiting their physical and spiritual powers. Allan Sillitoe who sets his novels against (на фоне) the lowest depths of England's grimy industrial cities makes his reader realize that his young heroes are unable to fulfill themselves within the prison of class-bound system.