During World War II, then popularly known as The Good War, the British were celebrated by the Allies for their stiff-upper-lip response to the siege. But almost before
the next decade was out, the English themselves--as represented by their artists--began to allow that there is a dark and destructive side to stoicism. It was as if they were electing to tell the world that "stiff upper lip" was another way of saying "rigid upper lip," and rigidity is far from a good thing.

Repressed feelings, once so admired, were suddenly excoriated for the toll they take on the psyche. That was why Look Back in Anger revolutionized the
English stage with its suggestion that the rage repressed for s[...]