The Angry Young Men Movement 

The Angry Young Men Movement

In May 1956, audiences at London’s Royal Court Theatre watched John Osborne’s  Look Back in Anger. They weren’t only watching a new play—they were witnessing the entrance of a new and unique voice in British culture. Within weeks, journalists had coined the phrase  Angry Young Men.

The phrase Angry Young Men refers to a group of British writers and playwrights who emerged during the 1950s and early 1960s. It was a label that would follow a generation of writers for decades. These writers were known for their anti-establishment and recalcitrant attitudes. Their rebellious attitudes were conveyed in their works. These works analysed and challenged the cultural, political and social norms that arose after World War II in Britain. The writers questioned the existing conditions and structures of society, reflecting a widespread sense of post-war disillusionment.

Furthermore, what shocked audiences was not simply that these writers challenged class inequality. But also that they did so in the language of everyday life, set in the familiar backdrops of regional settings and by introducing characters who had seldom been seen at the centre of serious British literature.

Origins of the Term: The Angry Young Men Movement

Emerging in Britain in 1956, the term  The Angry Young Men was coined by journalists. This was in response to John Osborne’s play  Look Back in Anger, first staged at the Royal Court Theatre in London in May 1956.

The term was used for two main reasons. One was to describe the play’s protagonist, Jimmy Porter, who was “angry”. The second was the emergence of a new generation of writers who were expressing their dissatisfaction with the privileged upper class, post-war conformity, and social stagnation (Carpenter 2004; Wilson 2007).

The term ” Angry Young Men “ was derived from “The Movement” described as early as 1954. The article “Poets of the Fifties” was written by Anthony Hartley for The Spectator in August 1954. The article included Kingsley Amis, Philip Larkin and John Wain. This resulted in an article that was written by John Scott, “The New Movement,” being published in The Spectator in October 1954. Essentially, it was Anthony Hartley and John Scott who defined the term “The Movement” (Carpenter 2004).

This then evolved into the term the Angry Young Men movement. This arose from a conversation that took place between playwright John Osborne and press officer George Fearon on the release of  Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court Theatre in May 1956. George Fearon referred to John Osborne as “an angry young man”. This phrase had been used previously by Leslie Paul, naming his autobiography “Angry Young Man,” published in 1951 (Carpenter 2004).

Public Use of the Term

Thomas Wiseman was the first to use the term  Angry Young Men publicly. It featured in his “Show Talk” column in The Evening Standard on 7th July 1956. The term was written by journalist Daniel Farson in an article that he wrote for the Daily Mail less than a week later (Carpenter 2004).

Many of the writers themselves disliked the term  Angry Young Man , especially Kingsley Amis, who rebuffed the idea that they collectively were a “movement”. The broader cultural label was partly used by the press as journalistic shorthand. Equally, it was also used as a marketing technique for mid-1950s dramatists and novelists associated with social protest (Carpenter 2004).

Characteristics of The Angry Young Men Movement 

Their Working-Class Viewpoints :

Many of the writers who come under the umbrella term of the  Angry Young Men movement originated from working-class backgrounds and areas. Equally, the characters they discuss within their literature are from very similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Their writing represented the hardships, frustrations, and aspirations of working-class life. For example, the main character, Jimmy Porter,  from John Osborne‘s play Look Back in Anger (1956), who displays a deep discontent with his life.

Anti-Establishment

The Angry Young Men were critical of the establishment and the traditional British class system. The writers of the Angry Young Men movement challenged what society stereotypes as social norms. They questioned established authority and institutions, challenging not only the establishment but also the traditional hierarchy of the British class system. Thus being critiques of not only the establishment but also the hierarchy of the British class system.  This is evident from the behaviour of the rebellious Arthur Seaton. Arthur is the central focus and main character from Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1958) by Alan Sillitoe.

Social Realism

The Angry Young Men writers adopted social realism by aiming to illustrate the rough and gritty portrait of everyday life. Resulting in their portrayal of credible stories. This includes issues such as class inequality, economic and financial struggles, and the impact of societal expectations.  Shelagh Delaney, whose play  A Taste of Honey  (1958) is a perfect example of the Social Realism it depicts. Set in the working-class industrial city of Salford, the play portrays the difficult circumstances of Jo, her mother Helen, and Jo’s friend Geoffrey.

Rejection of Traditional Conventions

The movement shunned the traditional and sometimes idealistic literature of the time.  Alternatively, these writers sought to outline the current issues at that time. This led to a more honest representation of the areas that they originated from and they lived in.  A key example is the character of Vic Brown from A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow (1960). It examines and equally illustrates societal expectations of unplanned pregnancy.

The Debate of the Term “Angry Young Men” Movement

There is no single interpretation of what the Angry Young Men movement actually was. Humphrey Carpenter questioned the existence of the group and if it was ever a coherent group at all, implying that journalists had largely created the identity (Carpenter, 2002). Colin Wilson, meanwhile, acknowledged that he had contributed to developing the  Angry Young Man image, although he dismissed the idea that he was notably angry himself (Wilson, 2004). Later critics have taken a wider view, arguing that these writers reflected many of the frustrations and social changes of 1950s Britain, regardless of them lacking a unified identity or shared manifesto (Taylor, 1994).

The Angry Young Men: Myth versus Reality

As the term grew, it resulted in increased fame and heavier stereotyping. The press increasingly presented them as a united group with shared backgrounds, attitudes, and ambitions. Shifting focus away from newspaper headlines, their work reveals a much more diverse landscape.

The term  Angry Young Men therefore reveals that these writers were never a tidily defined literary collective. Their work came to represent a major societal change regarding class, education, employment and social expectations.

The Prominent Playwrights and Novelists of The Angry Young Men Movement

Whilst not exhaustive, the following writers and playwrights are among those commonly associated with the  Angry Young Men and the wider cultural movement surrounding them. Some, including Alan Sillitoe, Stan Barstow and Keith Waterhouse, are not strictly classified as “Angry Young Men”, but their work overlaps significantly with its themes.

• Kingsley Amis: Sir Kingsley Amis, renowned for his works, includes his satirical novel   Lucky Jim  (1954).   The leading character is a university lecturer, Jim Dixon, who despises the pretentiousness of academic life.
• Shelagh Delaney: Shelagh Delaney, one of the few women associated with this emerging wave of social realism, wrote  A Taste of Honey (1958) , a groundbreaking play which explored class, sexuality, race and teenage pregnancy.
• John Osborne:  Look Back in Anger  (1956); the play is considered a seminal work and the beginning of the  Angry Young Men movement. 
• Colin Wilson: Colin’s sensational philosophical work  The Outsider  (1956) influenced the Angry Young Men writers
• John Braine:  Room at the Top  (1957), the novel written by John whilst he was a librarian,  delves into class dynamics and upward social mobility.
• Alan Sillitoe: Known for his influential novels  Saturday Night and Sunday Morning  (1958) and  The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner  (1959).
• David Storey:  This Sporting Life  (1960), David’s first novel, and further works like “Flight Into Camden” (1961)  are participants in the movement.
• Stan Barstow:  A Kind of Loving  (1960) by Stan Barstow focuses on the character Vic Brown and his working-class background. Set in the fictional industrial Yorkshire town of Cressley, it examines societal expectations.
• John Wain:  Hurry On Down  (1960) follows the protagonist Charles Lumley, a university graduate, who feels trapped by his life and his middle-class upbringing.
• Keith Waterhouse:  Billy Liar  (1963), is a satirical novel based on the central character Billy Fisher and his mundane existence in the fictional town of Stradhoughton in post-war Britain.

The Decline of the  Angry Young Men Movement

The  Angry Young Men phenomenon was at its height between 1956 and 1959. By the early 1960s (circa 1962-1964), it had largely lost momentum. The critics were referring in the past tense to the “Angry” period. However, there was never a formal or coherent “movement” as it had been a press label.

Several reasons are attributed to this. Firstly, there was a diminishing shock value to the work. Secondly, attention shifted to the culture of the “Swinging Sixties”. Thirdly, the writers themselves began to diversify in their writing style and creative directions.

Kitchen Sink Realism and Social Realism

By contrast, Kitchen Sink Realism refers to and leans more toward the gritty and domestic condition of working-class life during the late 1950s to the early 1960s, as opposed to the protests of rebellious writers of the late 1950s. Kitchen Sink Realism is accentuated by regional dialect, working-class domestic settings and the saturation of emotional claustrophobia.

Kitchen Sink Realism is linked with the Royal Court Theatre and British New Wave cinema. John Osborne’s  Look Back in Anger, Alan Sillitoe’s  Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, as well as Stan Barstow‘s  A Kind of Loving are examples of this. They typify the representation of Kitchen Sink’s message of the interior domestic organisation within once working-class homes.

Social Realism, however, covers a much broader scope and has a longer literary heritage. An example is the novel  Love on the Dole  (1933) by Walter Greenwood. However, Social Realism can consist of Kitchen Sink Realism and Angry Young Men themes. Social Realism highlights and analyses class inequality, working conditions, and the role that economics has in these factors.

The Role of the Angry Young Men  Within Kitchen Sink Realism and Social Realism

The  Angry Young Men writers can therefore be thought of as mid-century writers who modified Social Realism after World War II. This was due to welfare reform, educational and social mobility, and class arrangement.

Therefore, considering the overlap between these terms, this reflects that they do not have strict category boundaries. They can overlap at times. To conclude, the term  Angry Young Men describes the mood of a generation,  Kitchen Sink has a rhetorical and dramatic theme, and  Social Realism is a continuing ideological tradition that continues to survive to the present day. Examples of these works are by later writers such as Barry Hines and Paul Laverty and renowned directors such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh.

Conclusion

Perhaps the most useful way of understanding the  Angry Young Men movement is not as a literary club. However, it can be thought of as an expression of the emotional climate felt in post-war Britain at the time. The label may have been coined originally by journalists, but the frustrations it described were very real.

References

Allsop, K. (1958) The Angry Decade: A Survey of the Cultural Revolt of the Nineteen-Fifties. London: Peter Owen.

Amis, K. (1961) Lucky Jim. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

Barstow, S. (1960) A Kind of Loving. London: Michael Joseph.

Braine, J. (1957) Room at the Top. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode.

Carpenter, H. (2004) The Angry Young Men: A Literary Comedy of the 1950s. London: Penguin Books.

Hewison, R. (1981) In Anger: Culture in the Cold War 1945–60. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.

Hill, J. (1986) Sex, Class and Realism: British Cinema 1956–1963. London: BFI Publishing.

Osborne, J. (1956) Look Back in Anger. London: Faber and Faber.

Sillitoe, A. (1958) Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. London: W.H. Allen.

Sinfield, A. (1989) Literature, Politics and Culture in Postwar Britain. Oxford: Blackwell.

Taylor, D. J. (1994). After the War: The Novel and England Since 1945. London: Chatto & Windus.

Wain, J. (1960). Hurry on Down. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books (Penguin Books, 1442).

Wilson, C. (2004). Dreaming to Some Purpose. London: Arrow Books

Wilson, C. (2007) The Angry Years: The Rise and Fall of the Angry Young Men. Robson Books.

Wilson, C. (1963) The Outsider. Pan Piper.

Wilson, C. (1969) Voyage to a Beginning: An Autobiography. London: Cecil and Amelia Woolf.

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