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Englishness in the Novels of Angus Wilson Bachelor’S Diploma Thesis

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Englishness in the Novels of Angus Wilson Bachelor’S Diploma Thesis Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Mgr. Tereza Výtisková Englishness in the Novels of Angus Wilson Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D. 2016 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. ……………………………. Tereza Výtisková ii Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor, Stephen Paul Hardy, Ph.D., for his advice and encouragement. iii Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... iv 1. Introduction.............................................................................................................. 1 2. Angus Wilson and ‘Condition of England Novel’ ................................................. 5 2.1. Angus Wilson .................................................................................................... 5 2.2. The Victorian ‘Condition of England Novel’ ................................................ 10 2.3. The Post-War ‘Condition of England Novel’ ............................................... 13 3. Anglo-Saxon Attitudes .......................................................................................... 22 4. The Old Men at the Zoo ....................................................................................... 37 5. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 52 Works Cited ................................................................................................................... 56 Abstract .......................................................................................................................... 59 Resumé .......................................................................................................................... 60 iv 1. Introduction In the contemporary world the issues of national identities and distinct national cultures belong to highly topical and widely discussed subjects. The impact of globalism, European integration or, most recently, new waves of immigration more than ever raises questions, such as what makes a nation unique or the importance of preserving those features that differentiate it from the other ones, as well as its sovereignty. Anti-globalization and nation-focused tendencies spread throughout Europe, which is most evident from the recent referendum on United Kingdom membership of the European Union resulting in vote to leave (Brexit). The question of Britain’s position within Europe and the rest of the world, including her national identity, is not unfamiliar, though, as it held significance already in the period after the Second World War. What it meant to be British and what relationship Britain had towards other nationalities and countries in post-war era is discussed in the following thesis, which aims to analyse the novels of Angus Wilson and their depiction of English society in the post-war period and its characteristic traits and issues, in terms of English national identity and English character. The thesis does not seek to define Englishness, but, in agreement with David Gervais who in the preface to his book Literary Englands: Versions of ‘Englishness’ in Modern Writing observed that “a full treatment of ‘Englishness’ would involve many different Englands” (Preface xiii), indicating the subjective and elusive nature of Englishness, rather aims to present Wilson’s perception of the post-war state of England as portrayed in his work. The thesis is divided into two main parts, the first of 1 which seeks to provide a theoretical and historical background of the topic. The second part then deals with the analysis of Englishness on the example of two of Wilson’s pieces of work, namely Anglo-Saxon Attitudes and The Old Men at the Zoo. The second chapter of the thesis introduces the author and the concept of ‘Condition of England novel’, which was employed by Wilson as a tool of commenting on the contemporary state of the nation. The chapter is comprised of three subchapters, the first of which is dedicated to the author himself and seeks to introduce Angus Wilson as a man and an author. Some biographical data and a brief description of his work will help to identify some of the topics he was concerned with, as well as reasons for his viewpoints. In the second subchapter, the Victorian ‘Condition of England novel’ is briefly characterized to introduce the concept itself as it emerged in 1840s England. The third subchapter then follows with the post-war version of ‘Condition of England novel’, which also contains some theoretical and historical background to the novels analysed in the second part of the thesis. Some of the most significant political, social and cultural changes that affected Britain after the World War II and that raised questions about the country’s nationality and its newly acquired position on the international scene are introduced. In the third chapter the novel Anglo-Saxon Attitudes is analysed, which deals with Englishness through depiction of a wide range of characters from different backgrounds offering a picture of English society of 1950s and its characteristic traits and issues, as well as revision of traditional view of an 2 Englishman. Reflections of shifting notion of national identity of post-war England in the novel are also the subject of analysis. The analysis of post-war Englishness as depicted in The Old Men at the Zoo is the topic of the fourth chapter. Englishness is studied through comparison and contrast with the European counterpart, which is defined by characteristics unfamiliar to English. Through the symbolic meaning of the zoo possible forms of government of English society are discussed as options offered to Britain in post-war world order, as well as the reflections of anxiety about the diminished power of the country on the international scene and the loss of English identity within the integrated Europe. In the fifth chapter a conclusion to the topic is presented which aims to summarize how Englishness is dealt with by each of the two novels separately and to define some issues and perspectives they both share. Throughout my work on this thesis I drew on several secondary sources, among which I consulted the most these works: Steven Connor’s The English Novel in History, 1950-1995 provides a thorough analysis of English novel in post-war period and the interaction between fiction and wider political, socio-economic and cultural context. The book, especially the second chapter “Conditions of England”, gave me an insight into the situation and development of English novel in 1950s and 1960s, as well as the issues it addressed, and also provided me with some observations that were useful for my analysis of Anglo-Saxon Attitudes. The book Society and Literature 1945-1970, edited by Alan Sinfield, particularly its second chapter “Literature, Politics and Society” written by 3 Alistair Davies and Peter Saunders, from which I derived a lot of useful information about the major changes that affected the English society in 1950s and 1960s, as well as the major themes appearing in fiction of the time. From the book Four Contemporary Novelists by Kerry McSweeney, which contains study of all Wilson’s novels, I derived information about Wilson’s development as a writer, as well as some of the topics he was concerned with. Some of the points he makes about Wilson’s works I found useful for my analysis of Anglo-Saxon Attitudes and The Old Men at the Zoo. 4 2. Angus Wilson and ‘Condition of England Novel’ Angus Wilson started writing after World War II and soon became famous as a realist author presenting a satirical picture of post-war English society that was struck by changes induced by the war. In this regard he is often described as a writer of a ‘Condition of England Novel’, a form of social novel typical for the industrialist age appearing around the middle of the nineteenth century, which reappeared on the English literary scene in a different form after World War II. Even though separated by approximately a hundred years, the nineteenth-century ‘Condition of England Novel’ and its twentieth-century counterpart both emerged to cope with period of rapid social and political changes affecting the nation, in the first case caused by the Industrial Revolution, in the latter by the Second World War. Therefore, after introducing some basic information about Angus Wilson and his work in general the following chapter will move to presentation of the concept of the ‘Condition of England Novel’, starting with the original version, followed by the post-war conception which will also provide the thesis with general social, political and cultural context of the post-war era. 2.1. Angus Wilson Angus Wilson (full name Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson) was born on 11 August 1913 in Bexhill, Sussex, as the youngest of six brothers, to his upper- middle-class parents, a Scottish father and a South African mother. As Peter 5 Conradi writes in his biography of Angus Wilson, “Wilson inhabited many worlds” (1). Due to financial problems of the family the young Wilson felt the difficulties of impoverished life and spent part of his childhood living in “shabby genteel hotels of Kensington and the South Coast” (Conradi 1). Because of the frequent moving and the age difference that separated him from his older brothers young Wilson spent a lot of time
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