The 1950s
A Decade of Modern British Fiction
Will be published approx. on 19. February 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-350-62054-4 (ISBN)
Description
How did social, cultural and political events in Britain during the 1950s shape modern British fiction?
As Britain emerged from the shadow of war into the new decade of the 1950s, the seeds of profound social change were being sown. Exploring the full range of fiction in the 1950s, this volume surveys the ways in which these changes were reflected in British culture. Chapters cover the rise of the 'Angry Young Men', an emerging youth culture and vivid new voices from immigrant and feminist writers.
A major critical re-evaluation of the decade, the book covers such writers as Margery Allingham, Kingsley Amis, E. R. Braithwaite, Rodney Garland, Martyn Goff, Attia Hosain, George Lamming, Marghanita Laski, Doris Lessing, Colin MacInnes, Naomi Mitchison, V. S. Naipaul, Barbara Pym, Mary Renault, Sam Selvon, Alan Sillitoe, John Sommerfield, Muriel Spark, J. R. R. Tolkien, Angus Wilson and John Wyndham.
As Britain emerged from the shadow of war into the new decade of the 1950s, the seeds of profound social change were being sown. Exploring the full range of fiction in the 1950s, this volume surveys the ways in which these changes were reflected in British culture. Chapters cover the rise of the 'Angry Young Men', an emerging youth culture and vivid new voices from immigrant and feminist writers.
A major critical re-evaluation of the decade, the book covers such writers as Margery Allingham, Kingsley Amis, E. R. Braithwaite, Rodney Garland, Martyn Goff, Attia Hosain, George Lamming, Marghanita Laski, Doris Lessing, Colin MacInnes, Naomi Mitchison, V. S. Naipaul, Barbara Pym, Mary Renault, Sam Selvon, Alan Sillitoe, John Sommerfield, Muriel Spark, J. R. R. Tolkien, Angus Wilson and John Wyndham.
Reviews / Votes
The 1950s: A Decade of Modern British Fiction is an important work for scholars of postwar British fiction. There are relatively few collections of critical essays focusing on this specific period ... This collection ably gives readers a far-ranging yet intimate glimpse of this pivotal decade when Britain developed a sense of itself as a nation emerging from the rubble of the Second World War and the fading specter of its former imperial glory. * Journal of Modern Literature * A timely and nicely framed collection of essays on British fiction written in the 1950s. * American Reference Books Annual *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
485 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-62054-4 (9781350620544)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Nick Bentley is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Keele University, UK. He is author of Contemporary British Fiction (2018) and Radical Fictions: The English Novel in the 1950s (2007) and editor of British Fiction of the 1990s (2005).
Alice Ferrebe is Subject Leader for English Literature at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. She is author of Masculinity in Male-Authored Fiction, 1950-2000 (2005) and Literature of the 1950s: Good, Brave Causes (2012).
Nick Hubble is Reader in English at Brunel University London, UK, and author of Mass-Observation and Everyday Life: Culture, Theory, History (2006) and The Proletarian Answer to the Modernist Question (2017).
Alice Ferrebe is Subject Leader for English Literature at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. She is author of Masculinity in Male-Authored Fiction, 1950-2000 (2005) and Literature of the 1950s: Good, Brave Causes (2012).
Nick Hubble is Reader in English at Brunel University London, UK, and author of Mass-Observation and Everyday Life: Culture, Theory, History (2006) and The Proletarian Answer to the Modernist Question (2017).
Content
Contributors
Series Editors' Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The 1950s: A Decade of Modern British Fiction
Nick Bentley, University of Keele, UK; Alice Ferrebe, Liverpool John Moores University, UK; and Nick Hubble, Brunel University London, UK
1. 'The Choices of Master Samwise': Rethinking 1950s Fiction
Nick Hubble, Brunel University London, UK
2. Angry Young Men? A Product of Their Time
Matthew Crowley, University of Brighton, UK
3. 'Mere bird-watching indeed': Feminist Anthropology and Fifties Female Fiction
Alice Ferrebe, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
4. Re-Reading the 1950s Homosexual Novel
Martin Dines, Kingston University, UK
5. A Vision of the Future: Race and Anti-Racism in 1950s British Fiction
Matti Roni, Brunel University of London, UK
6. Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On: The Politics of Youth in 1950s Fiction
Nick Bentley, University of Keele, UK
7. Detective Fiction and the Prose of Everyday Life: Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh and Gladys Mitchell in the 1950s
Nicholas Birns and Margaret Boe Birns
8. Chance in the Canon: Uncertainty and the Literary Establishment of the Fifties
Sebastian Jenner, Brunel University of London, UK
Timeline of Works
Timeline of National Events
Timeline of International Events
Biographies of Major Writers
Index
Series Editors' Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The 1950s: A Decade of Modern British Fiction
Nick Bentley, University of Keele, UK; Alice Ferrebe, Liverpool John Moores University, UK; and Nick Hubble, Brunel University London, UK
1. 'The Choices of Master Samwise': Rethinking 1950s Fiction
Nick Hubble, Brunel University London, UK
2. Angry Young Men? A Product of Their Time
Matthew Crowley, University of Brighton, UK
3. 'Mere bird-watching indeed': Feminist Anthropology and Fifties Female Fiction
Alice Ferrebe, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
4. Re-Reading the 1950s Homosexual Novel
Martin Dines, Kingston University, UK
5. A Vision of the Future: Race and Anti-Racism in 1950s British Fiction
Matti Roni, Brunel University of London, UK
6. Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On: The Politics of Youth in 1950s Fiction
Nick Bentley, University of Keele, UK
7. Detective Fiction and the Prose of Everyday Life: Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh and Gladys Mitchell in the 1950s
Nicholas Birns and Margaret Boe Birns
8. Chance in the Canon: Uncertainty and the Literary Establishment of the Fifties
Sebastian Jenner, Brunel University of London, UK
Timeline of Works
Timeline of National Events
Timeline of International Events
Biographies of Major Writers
Index