N.F. Simpson's Play "A Resounding Tinkle" as a Satire on Suburbia - an Interpretation of Themes, Motifs, Figures, Attitudes, Language etc. (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1 (A), University of Frankfurt (Main) (Institute for Anglistics/American Studies), course: British Varieties of the Drama of the Absurd: Pinter, Simpson, Saunders, Campton, language: English, abstract: Literary critics have discussed N.F. Simpson's one-act play A Resounding Tinkle
in a controversial manner. A number of them saw it as a representative of the
British variety of the "Theatre of the Absurd" (Esslin 1964: passim); others
express doubts that there really is a serious philosophical intent and state that
Simpson tries to amuse his audience for more superficial reasons (Fothergill 1973:
passim).
Leaving these questions aside I will focus on the question whether the one-act
version of A Resounding Tinkle can or has to be interpreted as socio-cultural
criticism. By analysis of the motifs, characters, structure and language I will try to
show in how far Simpson makes allusions to suburbia and satirises the middleclass
society. The term suburbia is frequently used by various authors. Most educated readers
will have a more or less clear idea of the phenomenon it stands for. It is however
difficult to find a full, comprehensive and precise definition of the term in
literature. For my analysis it is nevertheless indispensable to define the term
suburbia before analysing and interpreting the play. Due to the lack of literature
about this topic I have to rely on my own experience with and knowledge about
suburbia. Additionally I base my definition on the thorough research work of
David Thorns from whose book Suburbia (1972) I give a number of quotations. It is difficult to give a date for the beginning of suburbanisation, but the
phenomenon is known since after the Second World War. Urbanisation, having
reached a practical point of saturation, lead to suburbanisation, the desire to live in
neighbourhoods with green spaces. (During the Industrial Revolution of the late
18th and 19th centuries people had started to move from the country into the
cities, which therefore grew at an enormous speed. The quality of life began to
decrease in the overcrowded cities. Poverty and lack of space for the individual made living in the cities more strenuous.) [...]