The "angry young men" were a group of mostly working and middle class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. The group's leading members included John Osborne and Kingsley Amis. The phrase was originally coined by the Royal Court Theatre's press officer to promote John Osborne's 1956 play Look Back in Anger. It is thought to be derived from the autobiography of Leslie Paul, founder of the Woodcraft Folk, whose Angry Young Man was published in 1951. Following the success of the Osborne play, the label was later applied by British media to describe young British writers who were characterised by a disillusionment with traditional English society. The term, always imprecise, began to have less meaning over the years as the writers to whom it was originally applied became more divergent, and many of them dismissed the label as useless.
Read more about Angry Young Men: John Osborne, Definition and Divisions, Crosscurrents in The Late 1950s, Associated Writers, Other Media
Famous quotes containing the words young men, angry, young and/or men:
“The advice of their elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best books.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935)
“This is one of the stout-hearted old warriors: he is angry with civilization because he supposes that its aim is to make all good things—honors, treasures, beautiful women—accessible even to cowards.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“... everyone young going down the long slide
To happiness, endlessly.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“The satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards,
that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber
and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit,
together with most weak hams.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)