J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls
NOTES
Priestley’s Life:
John Boynton Priestley was born into a working class family in 1894. He knew early on that he wanted to become a writer, but decided against going to university as he thought he would get a better feel for the world around him by working. Instead, he became a junior clerk with a local wool firm at the age of 16.
When the First World War broke out, Priestley joined the infantry and only just escaped death on a number of occasions. After the war, he gained a degree from Cambridge University, and then moved to London to work as a freelance writer. Much of his writing was ground-breaking and controversial. He included new ideas about possible parallel universes (Ouspensky and Dunne’s Theories of Time) and strong political messages.
During the Second World War he broadcast a massively popular weekly radio programme which was attacked by the Conservatives as being too left-wing. The programme was eventually cancelled by the BBC for being too critical of the Government.
He continued to write into the 1970s, and died in 1984.
Social Historical Context:
The play was written in 1945 at the end of 2 World Wars. It is set in 1912, Edwardian England, just two years before the first war. This was a very difficult time for England. It was a period when there were many strikes, food shortages and great political tension.
By 1945 Europe was in ruins and two cities of Japan were destroyed by atomic bombs. During the war, the blitz and the evacuation of city children into the country meant that a lot of people were thrown or forced together. As a result, they learned about each other and felt responsible for each other as individuals and as a country.
This play has a moral message (like a fable, with a lesson to be learned at the end); that we should think of others and work together to ensure a fairer, more equal society, This idea is known as socialism; even now, the political party Labour to some extent follow this idea. When the play was
Priestley’s Life:
John Boynton Priestley was born into a working class family in 1894. He knew early on that he wanted to become a writer, but decided against going to university as he thought he would get a better feel for the world around him by working. Instead, he became a junior clerk with a local wool firm at the age of 16.
When the First World War broke out, Priestley joined the infantry and only just escaped death on a number of occasions. After the war, he gained a degree from Cambridge University, and then moved to London to work as a freelance writer. Much of his writing was ground-breaking and controversial. He included new ideas about possible parallel universes (Ouspensky and Dunne’s Theories of Time) and strong political messages.
During the Second World War he broadcast a massively popular weekly radio programme which was attacked by the Conservatives as being too left-wing. The programme was eventually cancelled by the BBC for being too critical of the Government.
He continued to write into the 1970s, and died in 1984.
Social Historical Context:
The play was written in 1945 at the end of 2 World Wars. It is set in 1912, Edwardian England, just two years before the first war. This was a very difficult time for England. It was a period when there were many strikes, food shortages and great political tension.
By 1945 Europe was in ruins and two cities of Japan were destroyed by atomic bombs. During the war, the blitz and the evacuation of city children into the country meant that a lot of people were thrown or forced together. As a result, they learned about each other and felt responsible for each other as individuals and as a country.
This play has a moral message (like a fable, with a lesson to be learned at the end); that we should think of others and work together to ensure a fairer, more equal society, This idea is known as socialism; even now, the political party Labour to some extent follow this idea. When the play was