Literature of the 1950s: Good, Brave Causes

The Edinburgh History of Twentieth-Century Literature in Britain General Editor: Randall Stevenson How did literature develop in Britain in the twentieth century? How did it interact with the wider culture and history of the times? Each of the ten volumes in this series analyses the literary developments of a single decade in their widest contexts. Literature of the 1950s: Good, Brave Causes Alice Ferrebe 'Shrewd, lucid and perceptive, Alice Ferrebe's splendid book shows how the supposedly greyest of post-war decades was, in fact, an age of tremendous imagination, diversity and confrontation. From Amis and Larkin to Osborne and Fleming, Ferrebe brings new life to the literary world of the 1950s.' Dominic Sandbrook, author of Never Had It So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles Challenges the myths about apathy and smugness surrounding British literature of the period Alice Ferrebe's study rereads the decade and its literature as crucial for their increasingly complicated politics of difference, as ideas about identity, authority and belonging were tested and contested. By placing a diverse selection of texts alongside those of the established canon of Movement and 'Angry' writing, a literary culture of true diversity and depth is brought into view. The volume characterises the 1950s as a time of confrontation with a range of concerns still avidly debated today, including immigration, education, the challenging behaviour of youth, nuclear threat, the post-industrial and post-imperial legacy, a consumerist economy and a feminist movement hampered by the supposedly triumphant nature of its past achievements. Alice Ferrebe is a Senior Lecturer in English at Liverpool John Moores University, and is the author of Masculinity in Male-Authored Fiction 1950-2000 (2005). Jacket image: Baby in Pram in Garden, 1956 (oil on canvas) by John Bratby (1928-92) (c) Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool / John Bratby Estate by courtesy of Julian Hartnol / The Bridgeman Art Library Jacket design: [insert logo file] www.euppublishing.com ISBN 978-0-7486-2771-4 [please add in the white area above the barcode] Barcode

Alice Ferrebe is a Senior Lecturer in English at Liverpool John Moores University, and is the author of Masculinity in Male-Authored Fiction 1950-2000 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).