A Conservative Revolution

This monograph is a revised, expanded and updated version of a series of lectures which I gave to Chinese students at Sun Yatsen University (Guangzhou) in which I tried to explain modern literature to students with very little background in post-1945 Western literary developments. I use the theoretical debate between Brecht and Luk cs on Expressionism as my starting point for examining the differences between Realism and Modernism in British literature during the 1950s. This period was important for the emergence of a genuine working-class culture: the "Angry Young Man", "kitchen-sink drama", strong regional accents and dialects, new gritty cinema and powerful actors like Albert Finney, the son of a northern bookie. I analyse in detail six significant British dramas and six major novels by leading writers like Osborne, Wesker, Pinter, Barstow, Sillitoe and Golding. This book should appeal to anyone interested in literary history and literary theory.