3 Review(s)

Often misjudged as a mere entertainer, Priestley has not received a just and due recognition as a serious Time-writer endowed with a poetic vision, from literary critics, and consequently, hardly any comprehensive critical work, putting all his Time plays and Time novels into focus, has appeared so far. The present book fills this gap and makes a thorough critical study of all his Time works with a view to bringing out his solid and enduring contribution to British drama and fiction. This book highlights, in a felicitous manner, the unique place of J.B. Priestley as a Time-writer: he stands distinguished as the only major writer who treats the Time theme in a non-Bergsonian (psychological) way and in two major forms of literature, viz. fiction and drama. It focuses vividly and effectively on how Priestley’s Time works give a peep into the Great Unknown. Priestley considers Time philosophically, whereas most other writers treat Time psychologically. The book encapsulates the Priestleyan Time philosophy which is life’s philosophy itself as it is expressed imaginatively and creatively.