York Notes Companions: Postwar Literature

Dr William May is a lecturer in Humanities at the University of Southampton. He completed a doctorate on the work of Stevie Smith at Balliol College, Oxford, and lectured at Bath Spa, Roehampton and St. Anne's College, Oxford, before joining Southampton in 2008. He has published widely on postwar British literature, co-edited the interdisciplinary essay collection From Self to Shelf: The Artist Under Construction (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), and recently published the monograph Stevie Smith and Authorship (OUP, 2010). His current research project, 'Setting Agendas', examines the relationship between contemporary British music and literature.

• Part One: Introduction.  Part Two: A Cultural Overview  Part Three: Texts, Writers and Contexts  The moral novel: William Golding, Iris Murdoch, Muriel SparkExtended commentary: Iris Murdoch, The Black Prince (1978)  The postmodern novel: Julian Barnes, Angela Carter, Graham SwiftExtended commentary: Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus (1984)  The modern lyric: Philip Larkin, Sylvia Plath, Stevie SmithExtended commentary: Stevie Smith, ‘Thoughts about the Person from Porlock’ (1962)  The bardic line: Tony Harrison, Seamus Heaney, Ted HughesExtended commentary: Tony Harrison, V. (1985)  Social dramas: Edward Bond, Caryl Churchill, John OsborneExtended commentary: Caryl Churchill, Cloud Nine (1979)  New stages: Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Tom StoppardExtended commentary: Harold Pinter, The Room(1960)  Part Four: Critical Theories and Debates  Nostalgia and nationality  Immigrants and exiles                  Class and education  Sex and identity    Part Five: References and resources Timeline  Further reading  Index