John Boynton Priestley

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John Boynton Priestley (born September 13, 1894 in Bradford , † August 14, 1984 in Stratford-upon-Avon ) was an English writer , journalist and literary critic .

John Boynton Priestley in 1940

Life

John Boynton Priestley was born in Bradford, the son of a teacher. After his mother's death, he was raised by his stepmother. After completing school, he began an apprenticeship in the commercial field and wrote articles for newspapers on the side.

During the First World War he volunteered in the British Army . After completing his military service, he began studying literature and history at Cambridge University . From 1922 he worked as a freelance writer and literary critic in London .

In the following years he published essays , novels , short stories and plays . He was to devote himself to the theater until the 1940s. He founded his own theater, for which he primarily designed his plays, worked as a director himself and even appeared once as an actor .

During the Second World War , Priestley was a commentator for the BBC . In this capacity he became one of the most popular broadcasters in Great Britain of his time.

In the late 1940s he headed the British section of UNESCO for film, radio and press. From 1949 he was president of the first international theater institute based in Paris .

His son Tom Priestley , born in 1932, worked as a film editor until the 1980s and founded the JB Priestley Society in 1997. One of his two daughters was the English music therapist Mary Priestley .

Artistic creation

Priestley's works are characterized by wit and humor that hit the British zeitgeist.

Awards and honors

Works (in selection)

Plays

  • 1932 Dangerous curve ( Dangerous Corner )
  • 1937: Time and the Conways ( Time and the Conways )
  • 1937: I have been here once ( I Have Been Here Before )
  • 1944: The new city ( They Came to the City )
  • 1946: An inspector arrives ( An Inspector Calls )
  • 1947: Family Professor Linden ( The Linden Tree )

Novels

  • 1927: Surprised by the Night ( Benighted )
  • 1929: The Good Companions ( The Good Companions )
  • 1930: Engelgasse / The year Mr. Golspie came ( Angel Pavement )
  • 1932: Faraway
  • 1933: The Reluctant Hero ( Wonder Hero )
  • 1936: Adventure in London ( They Walk in the City )
  • 1938: The Last Judgment ( The Doomsday Men )
  • 1944: Blackout in Gretley ( Black-Out in Gretley )
  • 1945: Three men ( Three Men in New Suits )
  • 1946: Heller Tag (also published under the title Magic of the early years ) ( Bright Day )
  • 1947: Jenny Villiers
  • 1951: The Great Festival ( Festival at Farbridge )
  • 1954: The Magicians
  • 1961: Saturn over the water ( Saturn Over the Water )
  • 1962: The Shapes of Sleep

Travel reports

  • 1934: English Travel ( English Journey )

Film adaptations

Literary template

  • 1932 - The Old Dark House - directed by James Whale - based on the novel Benighted
  • 1954 - An Inspector Comes ( An Inspector Calls ) - directed by Guy Hamilton - based on the play of the same name
  • 1959 - And that on Monday morning - Director: Luigi Comencini - based on the play The Scandalous Affairs of Mr. Kettle and Mrs. Moon
  • 1963 - The Old Dark House (The Old Dark House) - Director: William Castle - based on the novel Benighted
  • 1971 A Severed Head , Director: Dick Clement
  • 1972 - Dangerous Truth ("Dangerous Corner") - Director: Wladimir Bassow - based on the play of the same name
  • 1982 - To Inspector Calls - directed by Michael Simpson - based on the play of the same name
  • 2006 - Last holiday - Director: Wayne Wang - Template: Screenplay for "Holidays like never before"
  • 2015 - An Inspector Calls - Director: Aisling Walsh - TV film by the BBC based on the play of the same name

script

literature

  • John Braine: JB Priestley. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1978, ISBN 0-297-77505-7
  • Diana Collins: Time and the Priestleys. The story of a friendship. Alan Sutton, Stroud 1994, ISBN 0-7509-0828-9
  • Judith Cook: Priestley. Bloomsbury, London 1998, ISBN 0-7475-3508-6
  • Alan Edwin Day: JB Priestley. An annotated bibliography. Garland, New York et al. a. 1980 (= Garland reference library of the humanities; 145), ISBN 0-8240-9798-X
  • Holger Klein: JB Priestley's fiction. Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 2002, ISBN 3-631-38869-1
  • Ladislaus Löb , “People and Society at JB Priestley.” Francke Verlag, Bern 1962
  • Reiner Poppe: Explanations to John Boynton Priestley, an inspector is coming. 3rd edition, C. Bange Verlag, Hollfeld 1998, ISBN 3-8044-1658-6 (= King's explanations and materials; 336)

Web links

Commons : John Boynton Priestley  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Editing and translation by Drei Masken Verlag under the title "If ...? (Dangerous Curve)"
  2. ^ To Inspector Calls - BBC One. Retrieved May 28, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Priestley, John Boynton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Priestley, JB
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Bradford , England
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 1984
Place of death Stratford upon Avon , England