The Edinburgh festivals : culture and society in postwar Britain / Angela Bartie.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-253) and index.

Print version record.

Acknowledgements; Figures; Abbreviations; 1 -- Introduction; ARTS FESTIVALS: HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE; CULTURE IN POST-WAR SOCIETY; LOCATING THE FESTIVALS IN POST-WAR SOCIETY; NOTES; 2 -- The Cultural Resort of Europe: The Creation of the Festival, c. 1944-1947; THE INITIAL PROPOSAL; SHAPING THE FESTIVAL; HOSTESS OF THE ARTS; WEAPON OF ENLIGHTENMENT; NOTES; 3 -- Cultural Challenge: The Creation of a 'Fringe' 1947-1955; POST-WAR BRITISH SOCIETY; DEFINING 'CULTURE'; THE BIRTH OF THE FRINGE; 1953: CULTURAL CLASH IN EDINBURGH; NOTES.

4 -- Convergence of Cultures: New Developments in the Arts, 1956-1962THE FRINGE AND BEYOND THE FRINGE; SOCIETY IN TRANSITION; THE PAPERBACK BOOKSHOP; THE INTERNATIONAL WRITERS' CONFERENCE 1962; NOTES; 5 -- Culture and (Im)morality: The Year of the Happening, 1963; 'ANNUS MIRABILIS'; THE TRAVERSE THEATRE CLUB; THE INTERNATIONAL DRAMA CONFERENCE; 'ACT OF SAN FRANCISCO AT EDINBURGH'; 'GODLESSNESS AND DIRT': MORAL OUTRAGE AND CULTURAL CONFLICT; THE 'LADY MACCHATTERLEY' TRIAL; NOTES; 6 -- Cultural Explosion: The Arts and Moral Conflict in Edinburgh in the High Sixties, 1964-1967.

CULTURE, THEATRE AND MORALITY IN THE HIGH SIXTIESTHE CHANGING NATURE OF THE FESTIVAL AND THE FRINGE; FUNDING CULTURE IN THE HIGH SIXTIES; 'THE JOY OF EXPERIMENT': THE RISING PROFILE OF EXPERIMENTAL ART; 'IF ART IS OFFENSIVE, IS IT NOT STILL ART?'; THE 'FUTZ FURORE'; NOTES; 7 -- Cultural Crisis? Protest and Reaction, 1968-1970; ARTS LABS AND FRINGE THEATRE; THE FESTIVAL CITY AND ARTS GOVERNANCE IN A NEW CLIMATE; THE BACKLASH AGAINST PERMISSIVENESS; THE FESTIVAL OF THE DEAD?; NOTES; 8 -- Conclusion; NOTES.

Appendix 1 -- List of Lord Provosts/Chairs of the Edinburgh Festival Society and Artistic Directors of the Edinburgh International Festival, 1947-1970Appendix 2 -- Short Biographies of Oral History Interviewees; Sources and Select Bibliography; ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS; ARCHIVE SOURCES; NEWSPAPERS, JOURNALS AND MAGAZINES; BOOK CHAPTERS AND JOURNAL AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES; BOOKS; REPORTS AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS; UNPUBLISHED THESES, ARTICLES AND OTHER ACCOUNTS; WEB-BASED SOURCES; Index.

Post-war culture and society and the Edinburgh Festivals The Edinburgh Festival is the world's largest arts festival. It has also been the site of numerous 'culture wars' since it began in 1947. Key debates that took place across the western world about the place of culture in society, the practice and significance of the arts, censorship, the role of organised religion, and meanings of morality were all reflected in contest over culture in the Festival City. The Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Drama sought to use culture to bolster European civilisation, for which it was considered for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. The Church saw culture as a 'weapon of enlightenment', the labour movement as a 'weapon in the struggle', and the new generation of artistic entrepreneurs who came to the fore in the 1960s as a means of challenge and provocation, resulting in high profile controversies like the nudity trial of 1963 and the furore over a play about bestiality in 1967. These ideas - conservative and liberal, elite and diverse, traditional and avant-garde - all clashed every August in Edinburgh, making the Festival City an effective lens for exploring major changes in culture and society in post-war Britain. This book explores the 'culture wars' of 1945-1970 and is the first major study of the origins and development of this leading annual arts extravaganza. Key Features:. First critical history of the first twenty five years of the world's biggest arts festival Uses festivals (and key theatre ventures) in Edinburgh as a lens for understanding wider social and cultural change in post-war Britain Acts as a practical exercise in the application of cultural criticism by combining social and cultural history with insights from cultural studies and contemporary festivals and events literature Draws upon a range of archival sources, including original oral history interviews with key players in the arts scene of Edinburgh and beyond Provides a valuable addition to the history of the arts in British society in the period c. 1945-1971, and to our understanding of cultural and social change in post-war Britain

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