Knowing the ‘Angry Young Men’ in English Literature

The term ‘Angry Young Men’ initially refers to a loose group of British writers who emerged in mid and late 1950s. The writers linked to this group were mostly male, young and 'angry' towards the ideologies and the establishment of post-war British society during the 1950s.

Post-War Britain and ‘The Movement’

To know more about 'The Angry Young Men' we must first cast our minds back to 1950s Britain. While the post-war economy in Britain was booming under the governance of Harold Macmillan, the deeply-entrenched inequalities between classes and class privileges were still prevalent in British society. Although people enjoyed higher wages and investment compared to before, few opportunities were available for the working class to advance themselves in the stratification structure, thus inciting anger. This was also generally linked to the sense of political disillusionment felt by young men who were also working or lower-middle class writers. They were displaced and had to confront Britain in the face of the changing environment due to stratification.

Forced by anger and dissatisfaction, 'The Movement' in 1950s literature was led by major figures in English literature including poets and novelists, namely Donald Davie, Thom Gunn, Kingsley Amis, Philip Larkin, John Wain and Robert Conquest. It was seen as a patriotic backlash against the ever-present elites in the era, and a rejection of the growing modernism, especially in writings.

The Angry Young Men

The 'Angry Young Men' and their fictional heroes generally came from working to lower-middle class, with class distinction as the main source of 'anger,' which was rampant in their works. Born in the late 1920s and early 1930s, it is said that their teenage years and freedom were marred by war and national services. Therefore, it is hardly surprising for them to have rebellious characters adorning their narration as they had such little time for authority and individuality expression during their youth.

Once the term caught the mood of the era, it held a cultural significance and was often irresponsibly or uncritically applied to any young white male figure who was in grievance with the establishment. By 1958, almost Everyman was referring to any misfit or outsider as an ‘Angry Young Man'. There was never an organized group of writers, but Stan Barstow, John Braine, William Cooper, Alan Sillitoe, David Storey, and Keith Waterhouse (novelists); John Arden, Harold Pinter, and John Osborne (dramatists) were names highly associated with the notion of 'Angry Young Men’.

The term was also said to be coined by the Royal Court Theatre's press officer, George Fearon, in light of the opening and promotion of John Osborne’s play, Look Back in Anger. The label caught on with the public and came to characterise young working class and lower-middle class male writers (and their protagonists). The term also finds its relation to the main figure of the play, Jimmy Porter, and was quickly caught up in the media frenzy of literary journalists. Porter was said to exude frustration and annoyance, which were perceived as symptoms of common feelings in the 1950s. He lacked a sense of fighting or political activism towards the problems brought forward and instead, directed his anger inwards. These are shared traits among the central characters of ‘Angry Young Men’ plays and novels.

Along with the fluid notion of the term, unmistakable new voices were brought in as well. Literary critics discerned that the writers were in an attempt to realistically enunciate the relevant concerns of the present society, such as the social frustrations and aspirations of working and lower-middle classes who were left in a no-man’s land between the classes after the war. They loathed the pretentiousness of their social betters and the half-hearted pursuit of eliminating class privileges and establishing egalitarian society on the Welfare State’s part. Their (anti)heroes acted as spokesmen for the implicit criticism of the British structure. The novel, Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis took the spotlight in this movement. It is often linked to the arrival of the ‘Angry’ generation in association with Osborne’s play Look Back in Anger. It embodies the sensibility of the movement with its contempt over the elites and painted a distinct hue of ‘anger’.

The Working-Class Fiction

The 1950s was flooded with the proliferation of working-class fiction. The heroes in these works always rejected their class and resented the stratified society which put him there. They were always in battles with the government (both actively and passively), and desired freedom and independence from the upper -middle or upper classes. These characters generally spoke to and stirred the emotions of citizens who felt divided by the society with the decay of conventionally held cultural values permeating the narration.

John Braine, Alan Sillitoe, Kingsley Amis and John Osborne are often associated with this body of writing. The gritty realism of their works, in its representation of working class and class distinction, reinforced the view of ‘us’ and ‘them’. In their books and characters run a consistent mundanity of life, patterns of mocking the government or institutional truth and the moral judgement that advocated the virtues of hard work, responsibility and value system that defends English traditions, customs and freedoms against the new social development.

In Look Back in Anger, we get acquainted with Jimmy Porter, who is claimed by many scholars to be the archetypal dissatisfied, angry young man. He is university-educated yet constantly enraged by the middle class values he had to immerse himself in order to get a ‘good job’. The displacement of a man from a lower class background to the middle class world is the centre attraction of its discussion.

In Lucky Jim, Dixon’s ordinariness and lack of heroic qualities have earned him a radical place in literature. He aspires to keep his job while doing as little of the job as possible. Here, Amis relates Jim to the roots of ‘The Movement’ by having Jim be suspicious and antagonistic towards anything foreign and new as well as the higher class. Somerset Maugham proposed Jim Dixon to be a character who embodied the lower-middle class people or suburban white-collar proletariat who were directing challenges towards the status quo in the presence of an emerging welfare state and accessible education.

The mood of John Braine’s Room at The Top establishes the discordance between class structure and self-advancement. As one of the most well-known post-war novels that addresses class mobility, it talks about Joe Lampton and his success as a working class member, despite the omnipresence of conventional power structures such as connections and wealth inheritance. This Sporting Life by David Storey shares similar sentiments where the story revolves around Arthur Machin, a successful and professional rugby player, who is caught up in the familiar class trap. The plot crystallises the treatment of working class ambitions and the documentation of provincial documentary realism.

A frank treatment of the working-class community in Nottingham is illuminated by Arthur Seaton in Sillitoe’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. Seaton endures the hardships and mundanity of factory life for the pleasures on Saturday night. He is a figure of instability and anarchism. He distrusts the authority and has no aspirations for class mobility or advancement (arguably because he has lost trust in the system). He is the symbol of betrayal to his class solidarity who resorts to excessive acts of hedonism as a last resort for self-assertion.

The most intriguing discovery is that characters like Jim Dixon, Arthur Seaton, Joe Lampton or even Jake Donaghue and Charles Lumley served as jolly entertainment to the mass readers of the time. These 'Angry Young Men' – as ironically as it may sound – provided comic relief to the reading public. They got to escape the shackles of the tormented, mundane, self-destructive and alienated post-war society through their satire. In a nutshell, the collection of working-class fictions catch the mood of the class war, dissatisfaction of the proletariats and the myth of opportunity.

Revolutionary?

So how revolutionary was the 'Angry Young Men' movement? Myth or no myth, the authors have established their reputations in contemporary English studies, especially through the totality of their respective works. During the era, Look Back in Anger also marked a significant shift in the post-war British culture, and got the cinema and more contemporary novels on the act of adaptations.

Some would argue that it is ambitious to view the group as revolutionary because votes towards Harold Macmillan’s government continued to proliferate for years even with the presence of these provocative arts. The theatre was still competing with cinema and television for recognition in the modern world. Yet, renowned authors – namely Amis – are notable for illuminating an alternative behaviour and outlook to changes in the English society post World War II. Through the power of observation, they set a new tone for the literary scene and canon while at the same time inspiring more writers to be critical in future publications.

Let’s not Forget Them

While the 'Angry Young Men' came about as a rage against the class system and political disillusionment, it cannot be denied that the literary elite in the field as well as the post-war Establishment were shaken up by 'The Movement’. Questions were being asked and people in the field felt fireworks of anxiety and started to have second thoughts about the so-called prosperity; a smokescreen created for the benefits of few social betters. The literary establishment recognized the strong emotions in Look Back in Anger while Lucky Jim was unrivaled and topped the selling. Consequently, more writers started to invest their creative energy into similar narratives. The 'Angry Young Men' were flawed, sceptical, crude and maybe even impudent, but they offered fresh voices and explorations to the literary canvas as much as they helped the theatre to find its roots again in the modern era.

If you find yourself wanting to delve more deeply into literature about ‘Angry Young Men’, the selections below will make great additions to your reading list during this gloomy quarantine period. Check them out! Perhaps reading about them during this chaotic time will evoke fresher understanding, new perspectives and tender sympathy for characters and literary figures who have lived in an age of precarity as well.

Fiction

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (1954)

Room at The Top by John Braine (1957)

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe (1958)

Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse (1959)

This Sporting Life by David Storey (1960)

A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow (1960)

The Day of The Sardine by Sid Chaplin (1961)

Nonfiction

The Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Fiction (Angry Young Man Fiction by Nick Bentley)

A Companion to the British and Irish Novel 1945-2000 (The “Angry” Decade and After by Dale Salwak)

The Cambridge Introduction to Modern British Fiction by Dominic Head

The Modern Novel: A Short Introduction by Jesse Matz

Plays

Look Back in Anger by John Osborne (1956)

Short Story and Journal

‘The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner’ by Alan Sillitoe (1959)

The Politics of Britain’s Angry Young Men by Morton Kroll (1961)