The English Short Story, 1945-1980: A Critical History

229 Pages·65.235 MB·English

by  Dennis P. Vannatta

A CRITICAL HISTORY
TWAYNE'S CRITICAL HISTORY
OF THE SHORT STORY
William Peden, General Editor
University of Missouri-Columbia
The American Shore Storx "';fore 18 50
Eugene Current-Garcia, Auburn University
The American Short Story, 1850-1900
Donald Crowley, University of Missouri-Columbia
The American Short Story, 1900-1945
Philip Stevick, Temple University
The American Short Story, 194 5-1980
Gordon Weaver, Oklahoma State University
The En9lish Short Story, 1880-1945
Joseph M. Flora, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
The Irish Shore Story
James f. Kilroy, Vanderbilt University
The Latin American Shore Story
Margaret Sayers Peden, University of Missouri-Columbia
The Russian Shore Story
Charles Moser, George Washington University
..
A CRITICAL HISTORY
Dennis Vannatta
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Twayne Publishers
...
The English Short Story
1945-1980
A Critical History
Copyri?,ht © 1985 by G. K. Hall & Company
All Rights Reserved
P11bli1hed in 1985 by Twayne P11bli1hers
A Division of G. K. Hall & Company
70 Lincoln Street, Boston, Massach11setts 02111
Printed on permanent/durable
acid-free paper and bound in
the United States of America
First Printing
Book production by Marne Sultz
Book design by Barbara Anderson
Typeset in 11 pt. Garamond
U'ith Perpet11a display type
by Compset. Inc. of Beverly. MA
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
The English short story, 1945-1980
(Twayne's critical history of the short story)
Biblio?,raphy: p. 17 5
lnd11des index_.
Con/mis: Chronolo!!,y - Introduction - The En?,lish short story. 1945-1950 I john).
Stinson - [etc.}
1. Short stories. En11.lis~H istory and criticism. 2. English fiction-20th cen/11ry
H islory and criticism. I. Vannatta, Dennis P. JI. Series.
PR829.E533 1985 823' .Ol 109 85-8574
ISBN 0-8057-9358-5
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ES-33
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Contents
CHRONOLOGY
VII
INTRODUCTION ix
THE ENGLISH SHORT STORY, 1945-1950 1
John ]. Stinson
THE ENGLISH SHORT STORY IN THE FIFTIES 34
Dean &ldwin
THE ENGLISH SHORT STORY IN THE SIXTIES 75
Jean Pickerin9
THE ENGLISH SHORT STORY IN THE SEVENTIES 120
Walter Evans
NOTES AND REFERENCES 173
BIBLIOGRAPHY 175
ef
Selected Biblioaraphy En9lish Shore Story Collections, 1945-1980 175
ef
Selected and Annotated Biblioaraphy Secondary Sources 190
INDEX 197
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Chronology
1945 Clement Attlee elected prime minister. Death of Caradoc
Evans. Anna Kavan, I Am Lazarus.
1946 National Health Service Act passed. Death of H. G. Wells.
1947 Dominions of India and Pakistan established. Graham
Greene, Nineteen Stories. No Scottish Twilight: New Scottish
Short Stories, edited by Maurice Lindsay and Fred Urquhart.
1948 William Sansom, Something Terrible, Something Lovely.
1949 West Country Short Stories, edited by Lewis Wilshire.
1950 Angus Wilson, Such Darling Dodos and Other Stories.
1951 Sir Winston Churchill reelected prime minister.
1952 Death of George VI. Elizabeth II accedes to the throne.
1953 Death of Dylan Thomas.
195 5 Sir Anthony Eden elected prime minister.
1956 Death of Walter de la Mare. V. S. Pritchett, Collected Stories.
1957 Harold Macmillan elected prime minister. Death of A. E.
Coppard.
1958 Muriel Spark, The Go-Away Bird and Other Stories.
1959 Alan Sillitoe, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner.
1960 Introduction: Stories by New Writers first published.
1961 Arena begins publication. London Magazine begins
publication.
1962 Death of Karen Blixen (Isak Dineson).
1963 Sir Alec Douglas-Home elected prime minister. Death of
Aldous Huxley.
r\.,.:,..; ..... -.1 f,,.,... ........
vm THE ENGLISH SHORT STORY 1945-1980
1964 Harold Wilson elected prime minister. Robert Graves, Col
lected Stories.
1965 Death of W. Somerset Maugham. Doris Lessing, African
Stories.
1966 Death of Evelyn Waugh. Alta begins publication.
1968 Death of Anna Kavan. Muriel Spark, Collected Stories. James
Stern, The Stories ofJ ames Stern.
1969 British troops rushed to Ulster. Death of Osbert Sitwell.
Edward Upward, The Railway Accident and Other Stories.
1970 Edward Heath elected prime minister. Death of E. M. For
ster. Roald Dahl, Selected Stories.
1971 Gabriel Fielding, Collected Short Stories. Glyn Jones, Selected
Short Stories.
1973 Graham Greene, The Collected Stories ofG raham Greene. Dor
is Lessing, Collected African Stories.
1974 Harold Wilson reelected prime minister. Death of H. E.
Bates. Gwyn Jones, Selected Short Stories.
1975 Beyond the Wordr: Eleven Writers in Search of a New Fiction,
edited by Giles Gordon.
1976 James Callaghan elected prime minister.
1978 Roald Dahl, The Best of Roald Dahl. Doris Lessing, Collected
Stories (vol. I, To Room Nineteen; vol. 2, The Temptation of
jack Orkney). Modern Scollish Short Stories, edited by Fred
Urquhart and Giles Gordon. V. S. Pritchett, Selected Stories.
1979 Margaret Thatcher elected prime minister.
1980 Kingsley Amis, Collected Short Stories .
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Introduction
The Short Story in Postwar British Culture
To understand fully any specific body of literature or any specific genre,
we must, of course, understand something about the society from
which it springs. It is no revelation to observe that the years immedi
ately following World War II were for all nations involved at the best
a period of transition and at the worst a time of near chaos. The con
temporary British short story is the product of a society in often painful
flux.
If the problems facing postwar British society were less dramatic
than those facing Germany, Poland, Italy, Japan, or China, they were
nevertheless severe, rooted both in the immediate effects of the war
and, more fundamental, in old sores that had been festering since the
turn of the century and before. That Britain's problems were long
standing is best dramatized by Lord Churchill's defeat in the 1945 and
1950 elections-a stunning and perplexing circumstance to casual ob
servers, considering Churchill's almost mythic status as World War II
savior. Yet the people were not rejecting Churchill so much as the
Conservative party, whose policies had, in the eyes of many, both led
to and failed to lead Britain out of the economic slump of the 1930s.
Britain did not face the depression alone, of course; it plagued most of
the industrial world and was actually less severe in Britain than in, for
instance, the United States. Many of Britain's problems in the post
World War II period had their roots, in fact, in issues dating from
before World War I. Only the most jingoistic Britisher could deny that
the empire was slowly fading in scope and vitality throughout the
twentieth century. The beginning of the end had been signaled sym-
x THE ENGLISH SHORT STORY 1945-1980
bolically by the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. Of much more prac
tical note, however, had been the devastating effects of the Boer War
in the 1890s-a grueling, seemingly endless struggle that had caused
Britishers co question not only their empire's military strength bur,
more important, its moral and ethical strength. Clement Attlee and
his Labour party's victory over Churchill, then, indicated that the Brit
ish were looking for new leaders with innovative ideas for dealing with
problems old and new.
Britain emerged from World War II-perhaps its proudest moment
as a military power since the defeat of the Spanish Armada-with the
look of a conquered nation. Many of its cities were in ruins; its factories
and railroads were worn out in the effort to supply the war machine;
worse, a huge war debt compounded the problems, requiring a nation
whose balance of payment deficits were centuries old co attempt to
export products in greater quantities. Producing for export requires
money; there was little. It requires efficient factories; the factories were
worn our. Britain found itself in the economically untenable position
of needing to borrow huge sums of money in order co reach the poten
tial of paying off old debts. One of the results was that with exports
going to pay off debts rather than to bring in capital or material goods,
consumer goods were scarce, and the government enacted strong ra
tioning measures-frequently more stringent than rationing imposed
during World War II.
Large loans from the United States and, especially, the Marshall Plan
helped Britain regain a measure of economic vitality. Economic prob
lems, however, have continued to plague Britain since the war. More
over, many of the measures taken by the Labour party and subsequent
governments to combat the economic woes have had as great an impact
on the British character and way of life as inflation, unemployment,
and declining production. One of the more radical measures was the
nationalization of certain industries and utilities such as coal, gas, elec
tricity, and various transport industries. Nationalization mer with ap
proval in some sectors, bitter invective in others; it was nor a
resounding success, and some nationalization acts were rescinded. Of
even more pervasive impact on British society has been the growth of
the welfare state, especially in health and housing. The welfare state
has also had mixed results but seems, nevertheless, a permanent feature
of British life. The emergent European Economic Community seemed
one possible broad solution to the economic problems, but Britain was
reluctant to join for practical and for symbolic reasons: her ancient
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Introduction
XI
island status might be compromised, spiritually if noc geographically,
by such a union wich che Continent. Join she did eventually, but the
Common Markee has not been che godsend some envisioned.
Ocher problems or issues important in postwar Britain are less spe
cifically economic in nature but frequencly result in pare from econom
ic issues or in curn cause economic problems. If che decline of che
empire could be said co begin with the death of Victoria in 190 l, the
end itself could clearly be seen by 1947 with the loss of the "Crown
Jewel," India. Over the next few years, ocher countries in Asia and
Africa gained their independence, and Britain's stature as leader of che
Commonwealch began co erode co something closer co member of che
Commonwealth. A related problem, growing more severe over che
years, is chat of race. The influx of large numbers of Asians and Afri
cans has exacerbated housing and unemployment problems, led co ide
ological and even physical confroncacions, and fed the fires of a sad,
desperate bigotry. Even worse is the "Irish question," the bloody legacy
of centuries of British exploitation, racism, and brutality-a question
with only one answer, obvious co all but more difficult co embrace with
each new ace of terrorism and retaliation.
The list of Britain's problems in the pose-World War II years is
lengthy: youth disaffection and violence, government corruption and
scandal, increasing agitation for Welsh independence, the "brain
drain," and so on. And though Britain managed to avoid the bloody
conflict in Vietnam, victory in World War II did not usher in an age
of blissful peace. The Jewish-Palescinean question lay largely in Brit
ain's unwilling hands until 1948; the Persian nationalization of British
oil interests in 1951 brought the nation co che brink of war once more;
the festering Israeli-Egyptian problem culminated in che Suez crisis of
1956, almost plunging Britain inco war again and straining, briefly,
relations with the United Scates. Lurking behind and in the midst of
all this was che cold war and the numbing possibility of nuclear
warfare.
It is, perhaps, not simply engaging in facile stereotype to observe
chat che stiff upper lip in face of trouble is pare of the British character.
There seems to remain something endearingly "British" about che Brit
ish even in the worst of times, times of radical and fundamental
change. Still, the Britain of post-World War II is not che Britain of
1939 and certainly not of 1899. What chis means for che British shore
story since the war remains co be seen.
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