Young Writers Society

I'm going to need you Brits out there to help me...

A novel I am working on is set in the '20s. I had to move it to England because at that time in America, the prohibition was going on, so it doesn't...work as well. Not to mention, I was inspired by a book written in the same setting/era, so I might as well, right?

The problem is, that book that inspired me (Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh) is the only source I have on the time period. I did some research yesterday, so I know some historical background, but that wasn't entirely what I was looking for, though it helps. I know that it was post-war, there was a depression, all of that. What I'm looking for is information on social classes, culture, maybe even slang terms that were popular. Specifically with young, upper-class. If you've read or heard of Vile Bodies you'll know what I'm talking about--the Bright Young Things. It would be so much easier for me if I could set this in America, but I can't.

Also, I need information on England's agrarian culture around the time. Geography, even? Hah. This isn't a historical fiction so much as it is set in the past, but I want to be as accurate as I can be with this. If you could tell me what regions of England are more prominent with agriculture, and what kind I would love you.

I'm not sure if this is what you were after but...

In terms of agriculture, it would be further south, Anglia has quite a lot I think? The land there is pretty flat so it's better to grow crops (apparently). That's what I remember from doing Geography at school, and that was a very long time ago =_= I have relatives down there, and when I visited their farm I don't remember seeing any cattle or anything in any of the fields about.

I know further up North around where I live, dairy farming is a lot more prominent. Sheep too, because they can climb the hills and stuff. You get a lot of sheep on the North-Yorkshire moors. We do grow some things like cereals, and I think there are sugar beet farms near York. Or at least the way my Dad drives home from York. I'm not too certain about that one, but I recall him talking about the bad smell that come from when they process they harvest each year.

I wouldn't have expected much to change from the 20s; but I could be wrong with all of this >.>

If you want I try and get hold of my aunt and see if knows anything next time I see her. She's a dairy farmer, but I'd assume she knows about these things. I think one of my cousins went to farmer's club too, but he's in Australia at the moment.

I don't really know much about the social side of things, sorry ><"

Hi

I don't know if this will help but it might:

http://www.englandattraction.com/1920s.html

Re: agriculture. It really depends on what sort of agriculture, whether cattle or livestock farming, or crops.

Where we used to live in Gloucestershire, lots of sheep and cows. Where my sister goes to school in Lincolnshire, lots of crop fields, e.g. tonnes of rape seed crops grown up there.

The areas I'd most associate with being general rural agricultural areas would be places like Lincolnshire and Yorkshire which are up north (although Yorkshire almost exclusively very hardy sheep), and the West country down south (Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Devon, Somerset-that's where all the jokes about driving tractors comes from too ) They're also the area where people like Thomas Hardy and authors of that ilk etc set their novels. Very much rural though.

I'm sure I remember doing a bit on social classes after the first world war in school, but I seem to remember we mostly concentrated on changes to the working classes (i.e. better housing etc) so I'm afraid I can't help much with that.

Thank you everyone! Like I said, everything helps.

I seem to remember we mostly concentrated on changes to the working classes (i.e. better housing etc)

For kicks, could you explain that to me? Anything might end up being helpful information, haha.

Well, from what I remember (bearing in mind this was several years ago) there was a lot of effort after world war one put into social projects clearing away slums to make room for more modern and spacious housing. Previously there were still a lot of victorian type slums (poor hygene and sanitation etc).

A lot of back to back houses were knocked down (the two up two down type which often didn't have a bathroom) and more modern council built houses were built to encorporate modern plumbing etc. Although this was obviously in the cities (rural towns and villages clearly don't really have slums in the strictest sense obviously).

I also know it was shortly after that that publicly available vacinations became available (small pox in particular) so more emphasis on public health.

I did find a little bit on social changes, particularly in the middle classes and for women. Previously skirts were ankle length, but they became shorter during the war, clothing for everyone became more standard and usual, i.e. less fancy, and women were involved more in work (clerical, secretarial, teaching etc) and more widely employed in industrial jobs. It became acceptable for young, employed, single middle-class women to have their own apartments, to go out without chaperones, and to smoke in
public, which I suppose illustrates the freedom that came in the aftermath of the first world war.

Hope that helps.

I'm not sure (you can yell at me if I'm wrong or if this is completely irrelevant..) but Cockney Rhyming Slang would have been prominent around then with the lower classes. And other phrases...

Examples:
'Have a butchers'
'Gordon Bennet!'
'The old bill.'
'Dressed up to the nines.'

Useful perhaps if you have a scene with some sort of servants?

Alainna
xx

I recently read Vile Bodies and picked it apart for my English Lit coursework on the theme of deviant behaviour in the younger generation and so I had to research the time period a bit. If you search for Bright Young Things, 1920s Mayfair or something similar on a search engine you're bound to come up with plenty on flapper girls etc. A wrote a bit in my coursework about their generation rebelling against society after WWI and there's a great quote from the book (by the Prime Minister I think...one of the older men) about them having the chance to rebuild a society and throwing it away. They did a lot of naughty things like playing pranks, having parties, taking drugs. I'd love to watch the screne adaptation of the novel, directed by Stephen Fry, but it's very hard to get hold of Anyway, if it's high society you want to find out about there's so much on the internet that should be very useful.

Heehee, I love Vile Bodies so much. Stephen Fry's film is amazing, as well.

I've tried searching "Bright Young Things" in google but all I get back is about the movie by Stephen Fry. Inconvenient, isn't it?

[s]I haven't heard of "1920s Mayfair" though--what is that?[/s] I did some quick looking, so now I know what Mayfair is. If only I could find things on it from the 20s, I suppose?

I'm envious; I would have loved to pick Waugh apart in a lit class...

Why is it you can't set it in America if that would be easier? People partied just as much during Prohibition as they did before and after, right?

Because of my plot and the needs of it, my character's can't have parties in speak easies. They could, of course, but it would change the mood/idea of the novel a lot more. They're doing enough illegal activities as it is--drinking doesn't need to be one of them.