An Inspector Calls, first produced in 1946 when society was undergoing sweeping transformations, has recently enjoyed an enormously successful revival. While holding its audience with the gripping tension of a detective thriller, it is also a philosophical play about social conscience and the crumbling of middle class values. Time and the Conways and I Have Been Here Before belong to Priestley's 'time'plays, in which he explores the idea of precognition and pits fate against free will. The Linden Tree also challenges preconceived ideas of history when Professor Linden comes into conflict with his family about how life should be lived after the war.
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About the Author
J.B. Priestley, the son of a schoolmaster, was born in Bradford in 1894. After leaving Belle Vue High School, he spent some time as a junior clerk in a wool office. (A lively account of his life at this period may be found in his volume of reminiscences, Margin Released.) He joined the army in 1914, and in 1919, on receiving an ox-officers' grant, went to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. In 1922, after refusing several academic posts, and having already published one book and contributed critical articles and essays to various reviews, he went to London. There he soon made a reputation as an essayist and critic. he began writing novels, and with his third and fourth novels, The Good Companions and Angel Pavement, he scored a great success and established an international reputation. This was enlarged by the plays he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s, some of these, notably Dangerous Corner, Time and the Conways and An Inspector Calls, having been translated and produced all over the world. During the Second World War he was exceedingly popular as a broadcaster. Since the war his most important novels have been Bright Day, Festival at Farbridge, Lost Empires and The Image Men, and his more ambitious literary and social criticism can be found in Literature and Western Man, Man and Time and Journey Down a Rainbow, which he wrote with his wife, Jacquetta Hawkes, a distinguished archaeologist and a well-established writer herself. It was in this last book that Priestley coined the term 'Admass', now in common use. Among his latest books are Victoria's Heydey (1972), Over the Long High Wall (1972), The English (1973), Outcries and Asides, a collection of essays (1974), A Visit to New Zealand (1974), The Carfitt Crisis (1975), Particular Pleasures (1975), Found, Lost, Found, or the English Way of Life (1976), The Happy Dream (1976), English Humour (1976) and an autobiography, Instead of the Trees (1977). In 1977 J. B. Priestley received the Order of merit. He died in 1984.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Priceless Allegory,
By
This review is from: An Inspector Calls. (Paperback)
J.B. Priestley's classic drama "An Inspector Calls" has a sturdy allegorical ring that reminds me of another great British author's work, "A Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan. The Birling family, prominent society figures of Brunley, a North Midlands town, are celebrating the engagement of their daughter Sheila to the son of a prominent local family when a man calling himself Inspector Goole arrives unannounced.Whatever triumphal joy they earlier felt is soon washed away as the Inspector informs them that a young woman by the name of Eva Smith has just died in the local infirmary, a painful suicide victim prompted by taking disinfectant. Gradually he draws everyone in the household into the picture. All are implicated in the tragic downfall leading to Eva's suicide. Mr. Birling fired her after she was a leader in a strike at his factory, resulting from her asking for a fair weekly wage. His daugher Sheila caused a dismissal from Eva's next job at a department store in a jealous rage over the young woman's good looks. Sheila's husband to be Gerald found a room for her temporarily, had an affair with her, then let her go. Eric Birling, Sheila's brother, impregnated her, after which she sought help from the charity committee headed by Mrs. Birling, who coldly spurned her. The only two members of the Birling household who feel appropriately contrite are Eric and Sheila. When it appears that the incident might be a hoax the others are relieved, ignoring their abominable behavior toward the girl. Just when it appears that they might all be in the clear, and it is learned that the mysterious Inspector Goole was no more than an apparition or hoax of some kind, a call is received that a girl has indeed died in the infirmary from ingesting disinfectant and that an Inspector is on his way to question the Birling family! And at a time when Mr. Birling expects to be offered a knighthood, no less! The dialogue is crisp and the mysterious Inspector Goole forces the family to look for once beyond their own selfish interests and contemplate the tragic consequences of conduct stemming from their ruthless mindset. "An Inspector Calls" reads brilliantly and plays mesmerizingly until the final curtain. It has been playing for better than a decade at London's West End, where I have seen it 3 times and intend to see it more times in the future. Its timeless message remains as vital now as when it premiered starring Alec Guinness and Ralph Richardson in 1946.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A profound book with an important social message,
By A Customer
This review is from: An Inspector Calls. (Paperback)
This book was a dramatic masterpiece. Its profound message forces all of us to re-examine how we act towards people and the consequences of our actions. I read an Inspector Calls for school and have also seen the play. In class we read the book aloud and the content of the story certainly led to some interesting debates about society. The message behind the book is very powerful, and yet concealed behind a tense mystery with no real conclusion. We do not know the identity of the Inspector, just as we do not know if all the events happened to one girl, or to various girls. The reactions of the characters are very interesting, and serve to make this book a dramatic masterpiece containing a profound analysis of human nature and a strong moral message.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you didn't study this play for G.C.S.E'S you missed out,
By A Customer
This review is from: An Inspector Calls. (Paperback)
An Inspector Calls is a play for the thinkers in our world.Who love to ponder on the actions and consquences of every person. This book is clever, mysterious and thought provoking. Anyone who reads it will be captured by the Inspector and his inquiry into the death of the character Eva Smith! This makes you think (if only for the few hours after reading it) of your own actions and there possible consquences in life and perhaps of the better world we could live in IF we only went through life constantly thinking of others!
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