A picaresque MOTIVE IN THE “ANGRY YOuNG MeN’S” LITERATURE

Abstract

The article considers a picaresque motive in the Angry Young Men’s literature on the basis of novels “Lucky Jim” by Kingsley Amis and “A start in life” by Alan Sillitoe. Particular attention is paid to comparing the typical features of the picaresque character with his modern modification, and to the ways of representation of traditional piсaresque plots: ways/roads, wealth/poverty, profitable marriage. Such analysis allows the author to come to the conclusion that picaresque motive in the Angry young men’s literature acquired a new sound mainly due to the synthesis of “road novel” and “career novel”. A lot of Angry young men’s novels had an entertaining base, but it revealed the main problems of the young British generation at 1950-60s.