History: JB Priestley's English journey through 1930's Britain

By the 1930s, J.B. Priestley had emerged as a popular novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator and perhaps the most widely-read writer of his day. He was a prolific best-selling author at a time when novels attracted a mass market. Priestley’s Yorkshire background was reflected in much of his fiction, notably in The Good Companions (1929), and Bright Day (1949). His output as an author and a playwright produced a continual flow of essays, reviews, biographies, film-scripts that attracted a broadly-based audience and Priestley’s series of radio talks on the BBC during the summer of 1940 were credited with strengthening civilian morale at a time of great crisis. Priestley’s brief career as a travel-writer and commentator was highlighted in his book English Journey (1934) which explored the diversity of regions and people across England, documenting economic and social diversity across the country at a time of great and fundamental shifts in English society, culture and attitudes. Priestley’s ‘English Journey’, is a personal account of his travels across the country in the 1930s and, as such, the aim of this course is to address the condition of England and English society and culture using Priestley’s book as our guide.