11.11.2014 Views

routledge+history+of+literature+in+english

routledge+history+of+literature+in+english

routledge+history+of+literature+in+english

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

390 The twentieth century: 1900–45<br />

AMANDA As I said before I would rather not discuss him. At least<br />

I have good taste enough to refrain from making cheap gibes<br />

at Sibyl.<br />

ELYOT You said Norfolk was flat.<br />

AMANDA That was no reflection on her, unless she made it flatter.<br />

ELYOT Your voice takes on an acid quality whenever you mention<br />

her name.<br />

AMANDA I’ll never mention it again.<br />

ELYOT Good, and I’ll keep off Victor.<br />

AMANDA [with dignity] Thank you.<br />

(Private Lives)<br />

In the 1930s, J.B. Priestley achieved considerable success with several<br />

plays on the theme of time – Dangerous Corner (1932), Time and the<br />

Conways, and I Have Been Here Before (both 1937) being the best<br />

known. But fashionable ideas can date as well, and, despite the<br />

technical accomplishment of some further fifty plays, Priestley’s most<br />

lasting success is the rather facile psychological drama An Inspector<br />

Calls (1946), about guilt and self-torment within a family.<br />

In the late 1940s, the plays of Christopher Fry were hailed as a<br />

major contribution to the poetic revival. A Phoenix Too Frequent (1946),<br />

The Lady’s Not for Burning (1949), Venus Observed (1950), and A Sleep<br />

of Prisoners (1951) were the highpoint of this vogue; but it faded as<br />

the 1950s progressed, and a greater degree of realism entered British<br />

drama in the work of playwrights like Osborne and Wesker.<br />

LANGUAGE NOTE<br />

Literature about language<br />

POLONIUS What do you read, my Lord?<br />

HAMLET Words, words, words.<br />

(William Shakespeare, Hamlet)<br />

Words are not the sunlight<br />

After the dark night or terrible tempest of grief.<br />

(Elizabeth Jennings, Justice)<br />

Language has always been a constant subject in literary discourses and<br />

many writers have reflected on both the power and limitations of language.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!