Osborne, John (Vol. 5) - Osborne, John 1929–
Osborne, John 1929–
Osborne is a major British dramatist and writer for television. With his first play, "Look Back in Anger," Osborne gave both name and impetus to the writers known as Angry Young Men, the young "lower class" intellectuals who, like the Beats in America, were writing in protest of Establishment rules and values. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 33-36.)
Jimmy Porter … is the angry one [of Look Back in Anger]. What is he angry about? It is a little difficult at first for an American to understand. The English understand, not because it is ever explicitly stated, but because the jitters which rack Jimmy, though out of proportion to the facts within the play, are in the very air the Englishman breathes. Jimmy, "risen" from the working class, is now provided with an intellect which only shows him that everything that might have justified pride in the old England—its opportunity, adventure, material...
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