The Library
From public library prankster to playwright : Joe Orton and postwar Britain’s nanny state
Tools
Franks, Matthew (2017) From public library prankster to playwright : Joe Orton and postwar Britain’s nanny state. Book History, 20 . pp. 394-423. doi:10.1353/bh.2017.0014 ISSN 1098-7371.
|
PDF
WRAP-public-library-prankster-playwright-Franks-2017.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (22Mb) | Preview |
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1353/bh.2017.0014
Abstract
Posters with graffiti are among the most visible examples of vandalism against Postwar Britain’s nanny state; this essay focuses on more off-the-wall exploits by 1960s public-library prankster and playwright Joe Orton. After spending six months in prison for defacing library books, Orton emerged to become one of Postwar Britain’s most important dramatists. Linking histories of libraries, propaganda, and graffiti, this essay asks why media regulators are so often analogized to old maids, and their vandals, to young men. What role do books and other print media play as mouthpieces for state authority, and as canvases for talking back to it?
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare | ||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > English and Comparative Literary Studies | ||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Orton, Joe, 1933-1967 -- Criticism and interpretation, Vandalism -- Great Britain -- History -- 1945- | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Book History | ||||||
Publisher: | Johns Hopkins University Press | ||||||
ISSN: | 1098-7371 | ||||||
Official Date: | 25 October 2017 | ||||||
Dates: |
|
||||||
Volume: | 20 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 394-423 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1353/bh.2017.0014 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 2 April 2018 | ||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 4 April 2018 |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year