The Vision of J.B. Priestley

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Drawing on private and published sources, Roger Fagge takes an in-depth look at J.B. Priestley's work, seeking to reclaim him as an important English thinker. Priestley grew up in Bradford, and served on the front line in the First World War, before attending Cambridge and embarking on a career as a writer. A committed radical, he wrote widely for the press, as well as producing autobiographies, social criticism and plays. This work revealed a growing interest in the meaning of Englishness and the start of a long-running relationship with America. Priestley achieved even greater influence during the early years of World War II via his popular BBC radio 'postscripts'. His later career, however, saw his faith in the people give way to a disillusionment with the spread of the Americanised mass society, although his critical response to the latter maintained a perceptive engagement with world. The Vision of J.B. Priestley charts the continuities, strengths and weaknesses in the author's long career, and his vision of an outward looking radical Englishness.

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Spanning over the whole of Priestley's long career as a playwright, novelist, journalist, broadcaster and critic (from the 1930s to the 1970s), Fagge successfully highlights and discusses the themes that were closest to Priestley's heart. Scrutinising a wide range of sources, the author provides us with a very thorough and challenging analysis of the tremendous contribution made by J.B. Priestley to twentieth-century literature and thought. The reading of The Vision of J.B Priestley gives us an in-depth understanding of Priestley's philosophy and of his vision of the world he lived in but also sheds light on the central political, cultural and social issues of the twentieth century. -- Ccile Valle, Universit de Rouen * Cercles *

Author Bio

Roger Fagge is Associate Professor of History at the University of Warwick, UK.