Two world wars, an intervening economic depression of great severity, and the austerity of life in Britain following the second of these wars help to explain the quality and direction of English literature in the 20th century.
In general, twentieth-century European writers of fiction, like their English and American counterparts, have eliminated long paragraphs of description and exposition for their works. They have permitted the characters in a story to act, speak, and think without aid of direct comments from author. The emotion in a story arises solely from the dramatic presentation of an internal or external conflict which the main character is experiencing and attempting to solve.