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Masaryk University in Brno Faculty of Arts Reflections Of Masaryk University in Brno Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies Reflections of British Society in the Campus Novel (B.A. Thesis) Irena Žampachová Supervisor: doc. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A. Brno, April 2006 I hereby declare that I have worked on this B.A. Thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. 26th April 2006 in Brno: ... … … … … … … … … … … … … I wish to express many thanks to my supervisor, doc. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A., for her kind and valuable advice and help. Contents 1. Introduction 5 1.1. The Thesis 5 1.2. Campus Novel 6 2. Post-war Period; Kingsley Amis 7 2.1. British Society After the Second World War 7 2.2. The Movement; Angry Young Men 8 2.3. Kingsley Amis – Lucky Jim (1954) 9 2.3.1. Biography of Kingsley Amis 9 2.3.2. Lucky Jim – Brief Summary of the Plot 9 2.3.3. Lucky Jim – Reflections of British Society 10 3. The Permissive Sixties; Malcolm Bradbury 16 3.1. The Age of Affluence and Liberal Society in Britain 16 3.2. Malcolm Bradbury – The History Man (1975) 18 3.2.1. Biography of Malcolm Bradbury 18 3.2.2. The History Man – Brief Summary of the Plot 19 3.2.3. The History Man – Reflections of British Society 20 4. The Ungovernable 1970s and Thatcherism; David Lodge 25 4.1. The Turbulent Seventies, the Iron Lady 25 4.2. David Lodge – Nice Work (1988) 28 4.2.1. Biography of David Lodge 28 4.2.2. Nice Work – Brief Summary of the Plot 28 4.2.3. Nice Work – Reflections of British Society 29 5. Conclusion 34 Bibliography 36 1. Introduction 1.1. The Thesis The main intention of this thesis is to show the interrelation between society and literature. In my opinion historical context contributes to the shaping of a literary work, therefore knowledge of social and historical background is vital for the better understanding of a text. That is why I adopt the approach of literary historians and will focus on the social context in particular. Literary history studies elements that contribute to the composition of literary works, such as the author’s life, the culture and ideas of the author’s contemporary world, and the literary tradition (Stevens, p. 46). I will examine the social and autobiographical elements in three novels by Kingsley Amis, Malcolm Bradbury, and David Lodge. However, I do not claim that it is possible to judge a literary work only according to its social and historical background. There are always more influences and thus there will always be manifold interpretations. As the renowned sociologist Giddens put it “no culture could exist without a society, and equally no society could exist without culture” (p. 35). Considering literature as a significant part of culture, I completely agree with the sociologist – there is an interconnection between the two spheres. The authors under examination were undoubtedly influenced by the world around them and in retrospect their writing had effect on the people. Moreover, in this case it is obvious that the authors drew inspiration from the circles they, all being university professors, knew intimately – the academic world. I will illustrate the reflections of society in the campus novels Lucky Jim (1954) by Kingsley Amis, The History Man (1975) by Malcolm Bradbury, and Nice Work (1988) by David Lodge. Along with social factors I will also concentrate on the historical and political aspects of British society and on the situation in 5 education, too. Structure, style or any such elements of fiction will not be in the focus of my attention. The text of the thesis is divided into chapters in chronological order, therefore the post-war time and the period of the 1950s will first be discussed in connection with Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim . Then the next decade and Bradbury’s novel The History Man will be dealt with and finally I will focus on the 1970s and the 1980s together with David Lodge’s Nice Work . 1.2. Campus Novel The campus novel has become a very popular genre in Britain and the USA since Amis’s pioneer Lucky Jim , published in 1954. This kind of novel is characterised by being set at a university and professors, rather than students are in the focus of the author’s attention (Hilský, p. 104). The university staff are ridiculed by writers for various reasons: Amis satirizes the dons in order to criticize the Establishment and the system of education; Bradbury and Lodge are not concerned with the authorities so much as Amis and employ parody in order to mock trendiness or naivety of the professors. The plot is usually set in a provincial university and the hero is a member of the staff. The setting of campus novels is important in one particular aspect: those who know the academic world and its laws can appreciate the parody better than those who are not familiar with the academic context. The readership is thus, in a way, limited (Hilský, p. 104). 6 2. Post-war Period; Kingsley Amis 2.1. British Society After the Second World War The period from 1945 up to the end of the 1950s was the prelude to the radical change in social attitudes in Britain in the 1960s. There were many factors contributing to the reshaping of society: both World Wars were a severe blow to the British Empire in the economic sense and the Second World War in particular highlighted huge social problems. Britain was gradually losing its position as a global power. The Empire started breaking up and by 1964 most of the colonies became independent. Britain had to focus on its own affairs and the post-war Labour government realized the urgency of social reforms, being inspired by the Beveridge Report. This report, published in 1942, described the social problems as five “giants”: want, sickness, squalor, ignorance, and idleness (Marwick, p. 46). The government passed a number social-reform laws, such as The Education Act in 1944, The National Insurance and The National Health Service Acts (both in 1946), and the Housing Acts and Rent Control Acts of 1946 and 1949 respectively. Britain became a welfare state and served as the best example of social democratic planning (Jones, p. 1). People of lower and working-class origin benefited most from these innovations. The new health service was free to all citizens and housing was gradually improved. The 1944 Education Act was of importance in particular as it established a statutory school-leaving age of 16 and abolished fees in secondary schools. Moreover, it provided the possibility of university scholarships for those who could not otherwise afford going to university. Education has always been a vital factor in determining social mobility. Soon there appeared young scholarship graduates of lower-class origin on the scene, Kingsley Amis being among them. The upper-class intellectuals reacted to this new generation with contempt. The sense of being under threat from these new intellectuals was present in many comments such as the 7 one made by W. Somerset Maugham: “They do not go to university to acquire culture, but to get a job, and when they have got one, scamp it. They have no manners, and are woefully unable to deal with any social predicament. Their idea of a celebration is to go to a public house and drink six beers. […] They are scum.” (qtd. in Morrison, p. 59). Paradoxically, Amis was awarded the prestigious Somerset Maugham Award for Lucky Jim in 1955 (Bradford, p.108). The upper class did not favour the social change, but as the government became involved in the social and economic field more than ever before, the process of levelling society was natural and inevitable. 2.2. The Movement; Angry Young Men Kingsley Amis was associated with two groupings in the post-war time: “The Movement” and the “Angry Young Men”, both being inventions of journalists, because the artists themselves did not form any kind of association. Since 1956 nine British poets, including Amis, D. J. Enright, Thom Gunn, Donald Davie, Philip Larkin, and John Wain have been linked with the former group (Morrison, p. 3). They were labelled The Movement according to the article title “In the Movement”, published on 1st October 1954 in the Spectator (Morrison, p. 1). The article commented on the emergence of poets (of whom many wrote prose, too) who were against the traditional system and values. They also reacted against Modernist trends and foreignness. The title “Angry Young Men” is derived from the title of John Osborne’s play Look Back in Anger (1957). Authors associated with this group wrote about the oppressed and disillusioned young male hero of working or lower-class origin in the changing post-war time. Other authors described as “angry” were Allan Sillitoe, Colin Wilson, and John Braine. Despite Amis’s disagreement with being classified as a member of these two movements, the label has stuck. 8 2.3. Kingsley Amis – Lucky Jim (1954) 2.3.1. Biography of Kingsley Amis Kingsley William Amis was born in London in 1922. His parents were of lower middle-class origin, Amis’s father worked as a senior clerk in the export department of Colman’s Mustard. Amis was admitted to St. John’s College at Oxford due to a scholarship provided by the welfare state. The Education Act of 1944 enabled people of lower-class origin to receive better education and get opportunities to move up the social ladder, which was exactly Amis’s experience. Jim Dixon, the hero of Lucky Jim , is also the “scholarship man” of lower-class origin.
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