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John Osborne

Born

in Fulham, London, The United Kingdom

December 12, 1929

Died

December 24, 1994

Genre

Theatre & Drama

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People best know British playwright John James Osborne, member of the Angry Young Men, for his play Look Back in Anger (1956); vigorous social protest characterizes works of this group of English writers of the 1950s.

This screenwriter acted and criticized the Establishment. The stunning success of Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre. In a productive life of more than four decades, Osborne explored many themes and genres, writing for stage, film and television. His extravagant and iconoclastic personal life flourished. He notoriously used language of the ornate violence on behalf of the political causes that he supported and against his own family, including his wives and children, who nevertheless often gave as good as they g ...more

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John Osborne’s books

Average rating: 3.55 · 15,035 ratings · 910 reviews · 257 distinct works • Similar authors

	Look Back in Anger 3.53 avg rating — 13,346 ratings — published 1956 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Entertainer 3.31 avg rating — 322 ratings — published 1957 — 40 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Luther 3.61 avg rating — 211 ratings — published 1961 — 79 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Newsagent's Window 3.48 avg rating — 94 ratings — published 2010 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Don't Need the Sunshine 3.56 avg rating — 68 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Inadmissible Evidence 3.13 avg rating — 54 ratings — published 1965 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Better Class of Person: An Autobiography 3.82 avg rating — 39 ratings — published 1981 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The picture of Dorian Gray;: A moral entertainment by John Osborne, Oscar Wilde 3.95 avg rating — 37 ratings — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Patriot for Me 3.44 avg rating — 36 ratings — published 1971 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Plays 1: Look Back in Anger / Epitaph for George Dillion / The World of Paul Slickey / Dejavu 3.14 avg rating — 22 ratings — published 1996 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by John Osborne (?)

“Why don't we have a little game? Let's pretend that we're human beings, and that we're actually alive.”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

415 likes

“Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post what it feels about dogs."

[Time Magazine, October 31, 1977]”
― John Osborne

tags: critics, humor, literary-criticism, writing

68 likes

“You're hurt because everything is changed. Jimmy is hurt because everything is the same. And neither of you can face it. Something's gone wrong somewhere, hasn't it?”
― John Osborne, Look Back in Anger

29 likes

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Polls

What should we be reading first? (set to start on February 1st, 2016)

George Orwell - Nineteen Eighty-Four

6 votes, 26.1%

Hanif Kureishi - The Buddha of Suburbia

4 votes, 17.4%

Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange

3 votes, 13.0%

Truman Capote - In Cold Blood

3 votes, 13.0%

Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita

2 votes, 8.7%

Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita

2 votes, 8.7%

Angela Carter - Nights at the Circus

2 votes, 8.7%

Don DeLillo - White Noise

1 vote, 4.3%

John Osborne - Look Back in Anger

0 votes, 0.0%

Junot Díaz - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

0 votes, 0.0%

23 total votes

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John Osborne

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