• ISSN: 2382-6282 (Print); 2972-3108 (Online)
    • Abbreviated Title: Int. J. Lang. Lit. Linguist.
    • Frequency: Bimonthly
    • DOI: 10.18178/IJLLL
    • Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Jason Miin-Hwa Lim
    • Managing Editor:  Jennifer X. Zeng
    • Indexed by:   CNKI, Google Scholar, Crossref,
    • E-mail: ijlll_Editor@126.com
IJLLL 2018 Vol.4(4): 298-302 ISSN: 2382-6282
DOI: 10.18178/IJLLL.2018.4.4.190

The Knot Garden: A Mirror of “Love” And “Relationships” in the Swinging 60's Britain

Chih-Yuan Mai

Abstract—The article intends to elaborate the idea that Michael Tippett‟s The Knot Garden (1970) encapsulates the spirit of the “swinging „60‟s”. War, violence, sex, homoeroticism and social and interpersonal alienation are tightly packed within this two-hour opera. By unpacking each character‟s psychological interactions and its association with the social trend of the period, the article will highlight several key historical movements throughout the „60‟s Britain, such as feminism, gay liberation, the rising importance of youth subculture and sexual liberation. The article will argue that by depicting the characters‟ personal anxieties, sexual frustrations and longing, Tippett hints the side effects of the optimistic social revolutions, which swiped across the western society during the 1960‟s.

Index Terms—British history, Carl Jung, English libretto, Michael Tippett.

Chih-Yuan Mai is with the San-Ming University, School of Foreign Languages, Fujian, China (email: 2533538112@qq.com).

[PDF]

Cite:Chih-Yuan Mai, "The Knot Garden: A Mirror of “Love” And “Relationships” in the Swinging 60's Britain," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 298-302, 2018.

Copyright©2008-2024. International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics. All rights reserved.
E-mail: ijlll_Editor@126.com