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ANGRY YOUNG MEN ( onstage also known as "Kitchen sink realists or kitchen sink dramatists")
WHO WERE THESE MEN?
Angry Young Men (AYM for short) were various British novelists who emerged in the 1950s and expressed scorn and dissatisfaction with the established sociopolitical order of their country.
WHAT WERE CHARACTERISTICS OF NOVELS?
revolt against social inequality
criticism of mannerism
portrayal of social status of youth
unconventional hero
WHY DID THEY LOOK BACK IN ANGER?
John Osbourne, an English playwright, screenwriter and actor, was a flag carrier of the movement. Drawing inspiraton from his personal life, he wrote "Look Back In Anger", a play in three acts and also a representative work of the movement, which lived to see its film version on the silver screen portrayed by Mary Ure and Richard Burton playing the part of Jimmy and Alison Porter.
Putting AYM in context, they represented a new breed of post-war intellectuals who were mostly of working-class or of lower middle-class origin. They shared outspoken irreverence for the British class system, its cronyism, nepotism, and last but not least the elitist Oxford and Cambridge universities. While not particularly political, they were definitely in favor of overthrowing the old hypocritical order.
Influential writers of the movement
Influential writers of the movement
Among those who are considered the most influential when it comes to the AYM is John Wain (1925–1994) with his novel Hurry On Down, published in 1953. Kingsley Amis (1922–1995)wrote Lucky Jim in 1954,a comic figure that became a household word in Great Britain in the 1950s. John Gerard Braine's Room At The Top typifies the concerns of a generation of post-World War II British writers.
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Alan Sillitoe (1928–2010) made a name for himself as the author of a novel called Saturday Night And Sunday Morning.It tells the story of a rude and amoral young factory worker for whom sex and his uggly twin, alcohol, provide the only relief from the oppression of the working life.
The rebellion of the rebels: What was the cultural impact on the then British society?
As is often the case with many literary movements, they usually cannot take pride in longevity in itself, which is why the driving forces and crusading zeal behind the AYM movement abated in the early 1960s. The movement played an essential role in British literature because it truly depicted common sentiments in post-WWII Britain. The writers who captured these sentiments felt it as well. People grew weary of the same old policies and hierarchy and the split between the lower classes and upper classes seemed wider than ever. When readers explore works written during the 50s, it’s easy to feel and understand the discontent and disillusionment with which the working-class people struggled somewhere deep down, underneath.
REFERENCES: www.britannica.com/search?query=angry+young+men
Author: Vladimír Šenfeld
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