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The Image Men #1-2
The Image Men
The Image Men
- GenresFiction20th Century
677 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
1 person is currently reading
123 people want to read
About the author
J.B. Priestley
469 books291 followersJohn Boynton Priestley was an English writer. He was the son of a schoolmaster, and after schooling he worked for a time in the local wool trade. Following the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Priestley joined the British Army, and was sent to France - in 1915 taking part in the Battle of Loos. After being wounded in 1917 Priestley returned to England for six months; then, after going back to the Western Front he suffered the consequences of a German gas attack, and, treated at Rouen, he was declared unfit for active service and was transferred to the Entertainers Section of the British Army.
When Priestley left the army he studied at Cambridge University, where he completed a degree in Modern History and Political Science. Subsequently he found work as theatre reviewer with the Daily News, and also contributed to the Spectator, the Challenge and Nineteenth Century. His earliest books included The English Comic Characters (1925), The English Novel (1927), and English Humour (1928). His breakthrough came with the immensely popular novel The Good Companions, published in 1929, and Angel Pavement followed in 1930. He emerged, too, as a successful dramatist with such plays as Dangerous Corner (1932), Time and the Conways (1937), When We Are Married (1938) and An Inspector Calls (1947).
The publication of English Journey in 1934 emphasised Priestley's concern for social problems and the welfare of ordinary people.
During the Second World War Priestley became a popular and influential broadcaster with his famous Postscripts that followed the nine o'clock news BBC Radio on Sunday evenings. Starting on 5th June 1940, Priestley built up such a following that after a few months it was estimated that around 40 per cent of the adult population in Britain was listening to the programme.
Some members of the Conservative Party, including Winston Churchill, expressed concern that Priestley might be expressing left-wing views on the programme, and, to his dismay, Priestley was dropped after his talk on 20th October 1940.
After the war Priestley continued his writing, and his work invariably provoked thought, and his views were always expressed in his blunt Yorkshire style.
His prolific output continued right up to his final years, and to the end he remained the great literary all-rounder. His favourite among his books was for many years the novel Bright Day, though he later said he had come to prefer The Image Men.
It should not be overlooked that Priestley was an outstanding essayist, and many of his short pieces best capture his passions and his great talent and his mastery of the English language. He set a fine example for any would-be author.
When Priestley left the army he studied at Cambridge University, where he completed a degree in Modern History and Political Science. Subsequently he found work as theatre reviewer with the Daily News, and also contributed to the Spectator, the Challenge and Nineteenth Century. His earliest books included The English Comic Characters (1925), The English Novel (1927), and English Humour (1928). His breakthrough came with the immensely popular novel The Good Companions, published in 1929, and Angel Pavement followed in 1930. He emerged, too, as a successful dramatist with such plays as Dangerous Corner (1932), Time and the Conways (1937), When We Are Married (1938) and An Inspector Calls (1947).
The publication of English Journey in 1934 emphasised Priestley's concern for social problems and the welfare of ordinary people.
During the Second World War Priestley became a popular and influential broadcaster with his famous Postscripts that followed the nine o'clock news BBC Radio on Sunday evenings. Starting on 5th June 1940, Priestley built up such a following that after a few months it was estimated that around 40 per cent of the adult population in Britain was listening to the programme.
Some members of the Conservative Party, including Winston Churchill, expressed concern that Priestley might be expressing left-wing views on the programme, and, to his dismay, Priestley was dropped after his talk on 20th October 1940.
After the war Priestley continued his writing, and his work invariably provoked thought, and his views were always expressed in his blunt Yorkshire style.
His prolific output continued right up to his final years, and to the end he remained the great literary all-rounder. His favourite among his books was for many years the novel Bright Day, though he later said he had come to prefer The Image Men.
It should not be overlooked that Priestley was an outstanding essayist, and many of his short pieces best capture his passions and his great talent and his mastery of the English language. He set a fine example for any would-be author.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 27, 2022
Priestley's last novel and a fine one, if not his most famous.
Two down-at-heel academics, each of whom has spent many years away from Britain, find themselves back in London in the image-obsessed Swinging Sixties. They form the Institute of Social Imagistics to explore and capitalise on the trend and carry it through to fame, fortune and a happy ending. They're clear-eyed to the point of cynicism about the worth of what they're doing, but nonetheless do it faithfully and well, all the while helping themselves liberally to whisky and women.
Some of the satire now feels dated: the neurotic comedian, the aggressively Northern industrialist and the sex kitten who dislikes sex all feel of their time. But Priestley hit the bullseye: within a very few years Mrs Thatcher was having her image made over in exactly the way it happens in the book, and New Labour's makeover wasn't long after that.
But it still succeeds because of the compelling central characters: Cosmo Saltana, dark and saturnine and stern, Owen Tuby, voluble Welsh and persuasive, and Elfreda Drake the widow whose bequest gives them the seed capital to begin the venture and accompanies them all the way through, taking care of the sensible parts of the business, recovering her confidence as she does so, and sometimes acting as a kind of motherly Greek chorus, explaining the action and having it explained to her in deft candlelit conversations.
Priestley's not so well remembered as he should be just now. Not a great novelist; he was with some justification called a poor man's Dickens. But he has enormous talent and humanity, and was a superb craftsman.
Two down-at-heel academics, each of whom has spent many years away from Britain, find themselves back in London in the image-obsessed Swinging Sixties. They form the Institute of Social Imagistics to explore and capitalise on the trend and carry it through to fame, fortune and a happy ending. They're clear-eyed to the point of cynicism about the worth of what they're doing, but nonetheless do it faithfully and well, all the while helping themselves liberally to whisky and women.
Some of the satire now feels dated: the neurotic comedian, the aggressively Northern industrialist and the sex kitten who dislikes sex all feel of their time. But Priestley hit the bullseye: within a very few years Mrs Thatcher was having her image made over in exactly the way it happens in the book, and New Labour's makeover wasn't long after that.
But it still succeeds because of the compelling central characters: Cosmo Saltana, dark and saturnine and stern, Owen Tuby, voluble Welsh and persuasive, and Elfreda Drake the widow whose bequest gives them the seed capital to begin the venture and accompanies them all the way through, taking care of the sensible parts of the business, recovering her confidence as she does so, and sometimes acting as a kind of motherly Greek chorus, explaining the action and having it explained to her in deft candlelit conversations.
Priestley's not so well remembered as he should be just now. Not a great novelist; he was with some justification called a poor man's Dickens. But he has enormous talent and humanity, and was a superb craftsman.
January 10, 2010
The characters were endearing and the concepts way before their time (OOP; published 1968), but this story could have been told just as well in half as many pages
December 28, 2020
Priestly novels are so wonderful to read. Intelligent, witty and extremely well written. All this and easily read as J.B.'s prose is rich with dialogue. Loved this book (a collection of two books actually).
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February 17, 2017An old favourite, dated but still enjoyable
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews