Existential Philosophy
Key Concepts in Existentialism
Post-war literature grappled with the aftermath of World War II, exploring themes of disillusionment and existentialism. Writers questioned the meaning of life and traditional values, reflecting society's shattered beliefs and anxieties in the wake of global conflict. Several philosophical concepts shaped this literature directly.
- Existentialism emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and responsibility. Humans define their own meaning in life through free will and personal choice. The universe itself offers no blueprint for how to live.
- Absurdism holds that the human desire for meaning clashes with a universe that provides none. Rather than collapsing into despair, absurdists suggest embracing this contradiction and creating personal meaning anyway. Camus captured this with the image of Sisyphus rolling his boulder uphill forever, yet finding purpose in the effort itself.
- Alienation is the feeling of disconnection from oneself, others, or society. Existentialists traced it to the inherent meaninglessness of life, while Marxist thinkers linked it to the dehumanizing conditions of modern industrial society. Both strands show up in post-war writing.
- Nihilism is the belief that life has no inherent meaning and that traditional values and beliefs are human constructs with no objective truth. It can lead to despair or apathy, but some writers treated it as a starting point for radical freedom from societal expectations.
These four ideas overlap and feed into each other. You'll see them tangled together in most post-war texts rather than appearing in neat isolation.
Influential Existential Philosophers
While existentialism originated on the European continent (particularly France), its ideas deeply influenced British writers of this period. Three thinkers are especially relevant:
- Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) argued that "existence precedes essence," meaning you aren't born with a fixed nature or purpose. Instead, you create your identity through your choices and actions. His concept of bad faith describes the self-deception people engage in when they pretend they have no choice, as though their circumstances or roles completely determine who they are. Key works: Being and Nothingness (1943) and the play No Exit (1944).
- Albert Camus (1913–1960) focused on the absurdity of the human condition. He insisted that recognizing life's meaninglessness doesn't require giving up; instead, one should rebel against absurdity by living fully. Worth noting: Camus himself rejected the "existentialist" label and preferred to be called an absurdist, though his work is routinely discussed alongside Sartre's. Key works: The Stranger (1942) and The Myth of Sisyphus (1942).
- Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) applied existentialist ideas to gender, arguing that women are often denied the freedom to define their own lives because society treats femininity as a fixed essence rather than a choice. Her famous claim that "one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman" is existentialism applied to the politics of gender. Key works: The Second Sex (1949) and The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947).
Post-War Literature
Existential Themes in Post-War Literature
These philosophical currents didn't stay in philosophy departments. They reshaped fiction and drama across Europe and Britain.
Camus' The Outsider (1942) follows Meursault, a man so emotionally detached that he barely reacts to his own mother's death. He drifts through life indifferent to societal norms and eventually kills an Arab man on a beach, prompted by the glare of the sun rather than any clear motive. At his trial, the court is more disturbed by his failure to cry at his mother's funeral than by the murder itself. The novel exposes how society punishes people not just for what they do, but for failing to perform expected emotions and values. (You may also see this novel titled The Stranger, depending on the translation.)
Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (1953) is a landmark of the Theatre of the Absurd. Two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait by a roadside for someone called Godot, who never arrives. Almost nothing happens across two acts, and the dialogue loops and contradicts itself. That's the point: the play dramatizes the experience of waiting for meaning or purpose that may never come. Beckett, though Irish-born and writing in French, had a profound impact on British theatre and is central to this unit's concerns about post-war meaning-making.
The Theatre of the Absurd emerged in the 1950s as a broader movement responding to the post-war existential crisis. Playwrights like Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, and Harold Pinter used illogical plots, repetitive dialogue, and trapped characters to mirror the absurdity they saw in human existence. Where traditional drama builds toward resolution, absurdist drama often circles back to where it started. Pinter's work is particularly relevant for British literature: plays like The Birthday Party (1957) and The Homecoming (1965) feature characters who speak in evasions and silences, creating a menacing atmosphere where ordinary conversation becomes a power struggle.
Post-War Anxiety and Disillusionment
The horrors of WWII shattered confidence in human progress. The Holocaust, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the sheer scale of destruction made it impossible to maintain pre-war optimism about civilization. Writers grappled with trauma, collective guilt, and the question of how to rebuild meaning after such catastrophe.
This is where the unit's focus on Orwell and Golding connects directly. Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) channels post-war anxiety into a totalitarian nightmare where language, history, and individual thought are controlled by the state. Golding's Lord of the Flies (1954) strips away civilization entirely, placing boys on a deserted island to show how quickly social order collapses into violence. Both novels reflect deep skepticism about human nature and the fragility of the institutions we rely on.
One major literary shift of this period was the rise of the anti-hero. Traditional heroic narratives felt hollow after the war, so protagonists became flawed, passive, or openly hostile to the societies around them. Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (1951) is a well-known American example, while Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four fits the mold on the British side: a man who attempts rebellion but is ultimately crushed by the system. These characters don't triumph over adversity in conventional ways. They struggle, drift, and often end up right where they started, or worse.
British Social Realism
The Angry Young Men Movement
The Angry Young Men were a loose group of British writers who emerged in the 1950s, united less by a shared manifesto than by a common tone: frustration with the class system, the establishment, and the lingering stuffiness of British culture. Writers like John Osborne, Kingsley Amis, and Alan Sillitoe depicted rebellious, often working-class protagonists who refused to accept the social and political status quo.
Their style was raw and direct, a deliberate rejection of the polished, upper-class literary voice that had dominated British writing. They tackled class inequality, the limitations of the welfare state, and the psychological fallout of Britain's declining empire. The movement also had a clear generational dimension: these writers came of age during or just after the war and felt that the older generation's values had led to catastrophe, yet the post-war settlement offered them little real opportunity or purpose.
John Osborne's Look Back in Anger (1956) is the movement's defining text. Its protagonist, Jimmy Porter, is an educated working-class man trapped in a dead-end life, and he takes out his rage on everyone around him, especially his wife Alison. The play's emotionally charged language and frank depiction of domestic conflict shocked audiences. It signaled that British theatre could be angry, messy, and rooted in ordinary life rather than drawing-room elegance.
Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim (1954) is another key text. Jim Dixon, a junior university lecturer, fumbles through academic life he finds absurd and pretentious. The novel uses sharp comic satire rather than Osborne's raw fury, but the target is the same: a British establishment that rewards conformity and punishes authenticity.
Kitchen Sink Realism
Kitchen sink realism grew out of the same cultural moment as the Angry Young Men, extending into visual art, literature, and especially film in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The name comes from the movement's focus on domestic, working-class settings: the kind of stories set in cramped flats and factory towns rather than country estates.
These works were characterized by bleak, unflinching portrayals of poverty, strained relationships, and limited social mobility. Films like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) and A Taste of Honey (1961) used location shooting, regional accents, and naturalistic performances to create an authentic feel that was radically different from the polished studio productions of earlier British cinema. Shelagh Delaney, who wrote A Taste of Honey when she was just eighteen, brought a young working-class woman's perspective to the stage, addressing race, class, and sexuality with a directness that was rare for the time.
Kitchen sink realism had a lasting influence on British culture. Directors like Ken Loach and Mike Leigh carried its spirit forward, using improvisational techniques and sometimes non-professional actors to capture working-class experience. Works like Loach's Kes (1969) and Leigh's Secrets & Lies (1996) show that the movement's commitment to honest, socially engaged storytelling continued well beyond its original moment.