Barry Hines : Kes, Threads and beyond / David Forrest and Sue Vice.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Forrest, David (Lecturer in film studies), author.

Vice, Sue, 1961- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hines, Barry, 1939---Criticism and interpretation.

Hines, Barry.

Hines, Barry, 1939-.

English fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

English fiction.

English drama--20th century--History and criticism.

English drama.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

ix, 230 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2018.

Summary:

Barry Hines's A Kestrel for a Knave (1968), adapted for the screen as Kes, is one of the best-known British novels of the post-war period, and his screenplay for the television drama Threads is a central and compelling Cold War-era vision of nuclear attack. Yet, Hines published a further eight novels and nine screenplays between the late 1960s and late 1990s, as well as writing eleven other works which remain unpublished and unperformed. This study examines the entirety of Hines's work, showing the great variety of aesthetic forms he used to represent the lives of working-class people in Britain through the permissive 1960s, hopeful 1970s and Thatcherite 1980s, into the post-industrial conclusion of the twentieth century. The authors argue that many of his works deserve equal standing with Kes and Threads. Particular highlights include the novel and screenplay Looks and Smiles (1981), an art-cinematic treatment of youth unemployment in Sheffield; the 1983 novel Unfinished Business, about a married woman's return to university; his final novel Elvis Over England (1998), about a musical pilgrimage taken by a redundant steelworker; and a trilogy of plays about the Miners' Strike that were never published or performed. Besides demonstrating his flair for poetic realism, Hines's authorial contributions to the films of his novels show the profoundly collaborative nature of these works. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in contemporary literature, film and television studies, as well as any reader with an interest in Hines's writing. It includes a foreword by Tony Garnett, the distinguished producer of many films, including Kes itself. Book jacket.

Contents:

Foreword / Tony Garnett

Introduction : Kes, Threads and beyond

Poetry with purpose and the journey to Kes : Billy's last stand, The blinder, A kestrel for a knave and Kes

The politics of hope in 1970s Britain : First signs, Speech day, The gamekeeper, Tom Kite, The price of coal

Thatcherism and south Yorkshire : Looks and smiles, Unfinished business, Fun city, Threads

Imagining post-industrial Britain : The heart of it, the miners' strike plays, Looking at the sun, Shooting stars, Born kicking, Elvis over England

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 220-226) and index.

ISBN:

9781784992620

1784992623

OCLC:

1011181625