In 1984, Anthony Burgess published Ninety-Nine Novels, a selection of his favourite novels in English since 1939. The list is typically idiosyncratic, and shows the breadth of Burgess’s interest in fiction. This podcast, by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, explores the novels on Burgess’s list with the help of writers, critics and other special guests.

In this episode, Will Carr is joined by writer and researcher Matthew Crowley to discuss John Braine’s 1957 novel Room at the Top.

Room at the Top follows Joe Lampton, recently demobilised from the army following the end of the Second World War and eager to transcend his working-class origins and make a name for himself. His ruthless ambition leads him to a world of wealth and glamour, but his struggles to escape his past lead to tragedy.

John Braine was born in Bradford in 1922. After his debut novel Room at the Top, he was labelled as one of the Angry Young Men novelists. After his first novel was adapted into a film in 1959, he went on to write twelve more novels, including the sequel Life at the Top in 1962. He also wrote three books of non-fiction, including a biography of fellow-Bradfordian J.B.Priestly. He died in 1986.

Matthew Crowley is a London based writer, researcher, artist and educator. He is currently Senior Lecturer and Critical Practice Coordinator and Chelsea College of Arts, UAL. Matthew writes theory, criticism, and fiction and is the author of the book Representations of Working-Class Masculinities in Post-War British Culture: The Left Behind (Routledge, 2021) the chapters ‘The Survival of Modernism’ in Companion to British and Irish Literature and Culture (Wiley, 2027) and ‘Angry Young Men? A Product of Their Time’ in The 1950s: A Decade of Modern British Fiction (Bloomsbury, 2018). He has also published the fictional work ‘The Causeway’ in the anthology Beyond, published by Hyperidean (2020).

Books mentioned in this episode

By John Braine:

• Life at the Top (1962)

By others:

• Cré na Cille by Máirtín Ó Cadhain (1949)
• Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett (1951)
• Declaration, edited by Tom Maschler (1957)
• Report on the Construction of Situations by Guy Debord (1957)
• Culture and Society by Raymond Williams (1958)
• Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe (1958)
• This Sporting Life by David Storey (1960)
• The Lowlife by Alexander Baron (1963)
• Representations of Working-Class Life 1957-1964 by Stuart Laing (1986)
• Tomorrow They Won’t Dare to Murder Us by Joseph Andras (2021)

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In previous series of Ninety-Nine Novels, we learnt about authors including James Joyce, Thomas Pynchon, Nadine Gordimer, Vladimir Nabokov and Christopher Isherwood, among others. These episodes are available at your favourite place to get podcasts.

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The theme music for the Ninety-Nine Novels podcast is Anthony Burgess’s Concerto for Flute, Strings and Piano in D Minor, performed by No Dice Collective.

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