20 th century British literature - lecture The earlier period: 2nd half of the 19th century Victorian Period (1857-1901)

The 2nd half in the 19th century, Queen Victoria was a very dominant figure all over the world, the British Empire covered a very large area in the world. It reached its golden age. Literary output of Victorian Age diversity: the classical literary forms gave way to diversity new literary outputs were born (travel literature, childrens literature) in fiction we can see diversification a period of transition

The Victorian age is economically the age of industrialization. Towards the end of the Victorian era is the age of industrialization and urbanization. Very important developments were taking place, the urban and industrial Britain was developing. We can see the developing of new social groups: working class and middle class were becoming more and more important. New reading public appeared, it was not so educated, had different taste, needed different literary works, more popular literature - era of the popular literature . High culture / elite culture for intellectuals, for those who were well educated more refined and low or popular culture was born for those who still needed some literature but less elite. Social reforms: working conditions have to be improved. Legislation needed for womens employment, childrens employment, family issues (women left alone). Victoria tried to solve all these problems with legislations. This is the area of social reforms and education. Education: new law in 1870 - Fosters Education Act = elementary education is compulsory for everyone enormous change, practically everyone could read and write, increased the number of the reading public, gave rise to simple short literary works. In the Realm of Fiction

the 19th century novel was changed as a result of this changes (Thackeray, Dickens) the novel was getting shorter and shorter, the normal length was cut, language was simplified, more colloquial style was introduced, the role of the narrator changed:

o the 19th century narrator knows everything, everybody, has a higher position than the reader,
explanatory style,

o the 20th century modern narrator is uncertain, hesitant, share these hesitancy with the reader. 1

Genre of the novel underwent some change, literary experimentation took place; new experimenter forms were formed, maybe because the authors were uncertain, they dont know how to speak with the reader and they began to experiment. This is the period of the rise/birth of the experimental novel.

20 th century

Victorian era came to an end in 1901 Before her death there were some signs that something new is going to happen, there were some signs of changes in literature In culture it is always very hard to tell when a period starts and when a new one begins, it is different from history. The end of the 19 th century can be seen as pre-modern era, which prepared modernism, while the end of 20 th century post-modern era.

Modern: 1st meaning-is contemporary, something what exists when we are living, 2nd meaning something new, a contrast/opposed to traditional, something called avant-garde, experimental. (We use this meaning of the term) Period of Pre-modern

At the end of the 19th century, prepared the modernism declining role of Britain in the world, Queen Victorias huge empire was beginning to fall apart, weakening of the British empire, social changes, growth of the middle, working classes, education, reading public, general increase in society Academic and scientific background birth of new areas of science and research; birth of modern psychology (1890 American William James, the brother of the writer Henry James, a psychologist, published Principles of Psychology , the first book of modern psychology)

1900 Freud - The Interpretation of Dreams

1901 Freud - Psychopathology of Everyday Life Karl Jung developed a new technique, the technique of free association, and this technique was taken over by writers. 1905 Einstein - Special Theory of Relativity, he questioned everything the science had stated, a new period of doubt; changed physics and had tremendous effort on peoples thinking.

Early 20 th century A period of technological development, technological inventions - 1892 Fords Model T (car, mass production of automobiles born, significant for mobility in the modern world. - 1903 the Wright brothers in America, Orwell and Wilburn Wright from Ohio, had their first successful flight (gliders vitorlzgp), they travelled to Kitty Hawk in North Carolina to perform the 1st flight; mankind learnt to flight - technology can be used for the benefit of mankind at that time, after 10 years in WW I, the airplanes were used for military purpose, people realized that technique can be used for killing people, not only for the best of the mankind (use and misuse) Changes in Art

modern way of thinking appeared in art, e.g.: in painting 1890s Art Nouveau (French-German) was the major and most fashionable trend on the continent and Britain. (Britain from 1893) 1906 the birth of modern Art: Picasso painted his 1st cubic picture, Damoiselles D Avignon, we can see the women from various perspectives, made up from geometrical shapes. He uses perspectives in a very new way - birth of cubism.

Cubic technique = influence on literature; cubists based their work on reality, Picasso broke up the reality into smaller pieces, we had a reality shattered, from those broken fragments Picasso created a new reality, arranged according to a new order. This is the analytical cubism: from old reality arranged a new reality. (Braque)

Writers do the same: break up reality. They broke up time lines, chronology, etc in the novels Fauvism: the Wilds in France (Matise, 1912 exhibition in England) 1909 birth of Futurism in Italy: Marinetti Futurist Manifesto. Artists admired new technology; the speed, dynamism

1923 the concept of Ready Made Art: Marcell Duchamp had a brand new concept of art: the role of the artist. He was French, lived in New York. Reformed the role of the artist. The traditional view: artists task is creation, the artist is the creator (since the Renaissance). According to Duchamp: the artist has a new role, not to create but to find art; the whole world is an art work, anything can be an artwork: a glass. a cup. The artists role is not creation but selection. Ready made art works are around us, ready madepiece of branch, glass, stone, cup. The artist has to rearrange them, select them to create an artwork-role is selection (*snow Shovel, The Fountain (a toilet bowl).

His followers: Dadaist Movement

1930s - Surrealist movement in Art ( Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Magritte) Dream-like quality; Dreams inspired many writers, special creation of dreams was in literature.

Historical Events that shaped the 20th century

WWI - first war fought world-wide, very first which was very devastating, many civilian casualties in the war (the number of civilian casualties outnumbered that of the professional soldiers). It was a shock for many people, it was the first war in which modern technology was used, airplanes used for bombing the civil towns, children, elderly women, chemical gas/warfare was used. It was filmed - era of the film, all the horrors could be watched, if you see something more shocking, war was brought into ordinary peoples life.

After WWI period of emptiness. Writers responded to the shock of the WWI. Shocked how cheap human life was; they felt general aimlessness, depression. Example: T. S. Eliot: The waste Land (A puszta orszg); a literary expression of the WWI emptiness). The whole period is called the Waste Land period. Writers escaped from reality into a dream world. They wanted to enjoy life (it is so short The other group of writers mainly in America then in Britain, wanted to enjoy life as much as possible because they have learned that life is short - WWI experience, called the Jazz Age (1920s) in American literature - endless parties, drinking, alcoholism.

Summary: 1920s writers wanted to escape reality IN A DREAM WORLD THEY CREATED FOR THEMSELVES, OR ALCOHOLISM. BUT COMMON IS THAT THEY DONT FACE REALITY.

1929 - Stock exchange crash in New York City and a new era began in history in the early 1930s. 1930s - period of Great Depression - led to WWII. There are tremendous problems all over the world, mass unemployment, poverty, rationing of food. In this period writers are forced to face reality, because there are so many social and economical problems. Writers developed a kind of sensibility toward social problems, they write about poverty, strikes; political and social consciousness in literature

WWII - another shock for writers; nuclear bomb developed and used, the possibility that the world, the whole mankind could easily be destroyed

After WWII 1960s-1970s: period of small local wars; Korea, Vietnam, possibilities that little wars could escalate into a nuclear or new world war. Cold war, constant nuclear stress - all theses shaped writers thinking. They did not think too much about social everyday problems like poverty, strikes, but they think about universal issues of mankind, possibility for survival.

The survival of mankind become major problems for writers; led to the birth of the existential novel and dystopic novel (opposite of utopia) which questions the possibility of a good world and a good society. After that the writers realized that they cannot solve the problems of the mankind, they could not save the world. They began to write about smaller issues, like family problems, children, broken family. This is fiction literature of the late 60s and 70s.

Monarchs 1901 Queen Victoria - emphasized foreign politics. 1901 - 1910 - Edward VII - Edwardian England (1901-1914). He followed the politics of Victoria, no major problems abroad, he concentrated more on home problems, home politics was more important at that time, there was a shift toward the left. The Labour Party was becoming stronger, the rigidity, strictness of Victorian morality was breaking up, not very much, but we can see that it became easier. New problems in literature: divorce. 1910 1936 - George V, Georgian Era, long period on the throne Major problems: WWI, Depression. WWI caused disillusionment. 1936 - Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson, abdicated from the throne (very short period) 1936-52 - George VI (1940 German aeroplanes bombed London, 1941 James Joyce + V. Woolf + (suicide) 1952 - Queen Elisabeth II

The birth of the modern NOVEL Joseph Conrad:

first modern novelist in the 20th century English literature. Not an England-born, his native language is Polish, he learnt English as a second language as an adult.

His language and style praised by the critics perhaps the best language and the best literary styles say the critics. His words are very carefully chosen, sentences put carefully together. His birth name was Korzeniowski, a Polish man, born in the Ukraine, spoke French in his childhood, became a sailor, travelled a lot all over the world, went to India, Latin America, Africa, West Indies.

Settled down in England and begun to write. The sea experiences were the major experiences for him. He was already 32 years old when he wrote his first novel.

1889 Almayers Folly 1897 The Nigger of the Narcissus 1900 Lord Jim used his own sea experiences, sea novel this is the English literary tradition the writers chose to write about sea experiences, discoveries, and adventures: Defoe, Stevenson.

But Conrad wrote about sea experience from a different point of view, the focus is very new. He tells us a story of a shipwreck, tells about Captain Lord Jim. The focus of the writer is different. Lord Jim is a weak man, who has problem, he does not face the problem, he escapes, he doesnt stay on the ship to supervise everything while the ship is going down, but he escapes, he does not face the trouble. He does not deal with the traditional strong man.

The writer has a new psychological focus: the consequences of his weakness, his escape. He will see what happens to Lord Jim afterwards, how he is going to suffer from what he has done, how this past will ruin him and destroy him, drive him into madness. The consequences of his escape, of his weakness are the focus of the novel.

psychology has become the major issue, the use of psychological characters, devices will be the major change in modern literature.

1902 - Heart of Darkness

The novel is short now and very focused. Conrads novels are very long but this one is short -this is a new form this is his masterpiece, tells a story of a voyage into the heart of Africa, Congo River, adventure novel; African tribes, exotic wild life, cannibals. There are all the ingredients of an adventure novel but he is not interested in adventure novel, but characters psychology, ultimate evil, and cruelty. He focuses on the characters psychology. He wants to describe the ultimate evil, cruelty. The journey into the heart of Africa will be an allegorical journey into the human soul; wildest parts of the human mind and soul, the darkest side of the humans. This is an allegorical journey we take in this novel.

a new type of narrator: immature, young black boy. He does not understand, he has language problems, no word exists to elicit the complexity of the world. An uncertain narrator who does not have the understanding, the knowledge and the language to describe what is happening.

This novel can be interpreted on various levels: - adventure novel, - philosophical novel, - psychological level

- an example of modern multiplicity in literature. 1904 Nostromo 1906 The Secret Agent 1910 Under Western Eyes Lord Jim and Heart of Darkness changed literature Early 20 th century literature Bloomsbury group a group of intellectuals lived and worked together in London. Bloomsbury is a district around the British Museum; it is the elegant part of London. They established and used a very elite, clever, intellectual way of writing. Old values are not valuable. The world is so terrible (wars, terrors) that there is nothing valuable except friendship and culture in this world. They wrote about elite culture, maybe for themselves.

Because of this isolations/carelessness, they got criticism and suffered from accusation and negative criticism. They did not care about the outside word; they were accused of being insensitive, homosexuality, suffered from negative criticism. In this group were writers, poets, critics, historians, and painters.

The leaders of the group: Virgina and Leonard Woolf (Virginia: critic, writer, novelist, short story writer, his husband: critic)

Members of the group: - Vanessa Bell, - Douglas Grant (painter) - Lytton Strachey was a critic, criticized the Victorian Age and its authors in his work: Eminent Victorians - Edward Morgan Forster

Edward Morgan Forster - professor at Cambridge University, extremely well educated, Earlier works:

Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905) The Longest Journey (1907) A Room with a View (1908)

A critical approach to the Victorian Age; in his early novels he criticized the Victorian age. Howards End (1910)

a symbolical novel, symbolic use of the house to criticise the Victorian Age; there is a house and a lady who lives there, symbolizes Victorianism, slow agony, and weakness of Victorian values. Isolated life, criticism of the Victorian age.

The Passage to India (1924)

his major work is Walt Whitman, a 19th century American writer, has a long poem with the same title. His attitude was different from Forsters attitude. Whitman showed up very positive values, Whitmans attitude to other countries was very different from Fosters attitude. Whitman wrote about the wonderfulness of multicultural existence, appreciations of other cultures, egoistic nations.

Foster had negative thoughts of other cultures, he was very sceptical about the coexistence of different cultures, he was a European, had darker, very negative thoughts about living peacefully together. He took the title from Whitman but the view is very different.

Foster has personal experiences in India, went there 2 times, he was a professor at Cambridge University where he had a young Indian student, they were friends and he invited him to India. First visit took place in 1912 and 10 years later in 1922. His personal experiences inspired him.

But it is not about adventures, not his personal experiences, here the writer concentrates on the issue of culture, India as a colony, a place where different people have to live together - Christians, Hindis, Muslims. He was interested in how different cultures could coexist. He looks at the possibility of intercultural friendship, relationship, multicultural issues that are a major issue today.

Foster says no to an intercultural relationship between a man and a woman at the beginning - what remains is the possibility for friendship between two men in the novel, who belong to different religions and different cultures, the possibility for a friendship is left open but at the end of the novel that possibility disappears, goes away. So Fosters answer to this possibility is negative at the end.

major symbols and allegories: The novel structurally consists of three parts:

Mosque Muslim population Temple - Hindu Cave British Each concentrated on one man from different culture, representing one ethnic group and religion. Also the time is treating interestingly by Foster because each section, each part is equivalent with one season. There are 3 seasons in India, the cold, hot, rainy weather. Man woman relationship: NO Man man friendship: failure

The novel has very deep philosophical, spiritual content. Deals with religion, philosophical, general cultural issues. After this novel for a long time he did not publish any novel.

Maurice explicit homosexual content, it was impossible to publish in Britain, strict censorship, published in the 1980s.

D .H. Lawrence influence of Freudian thoughts, In his works there are biographical elements. He was from a mining village, from the so called BLACK COUNTRY, MIDDLE ENGLAND. His father was a miner, his mother was more educated, she was a teacher. He could see, in his own home experience the fight between the parents. This element will always be with him, he wants to find out who is more powerful in a relationship, the physically strong man or the intellectually strong woman. This kind of fighting, of conflict will appear in almost all his writings. He was also under the impressions of Freuds teaching. He could read Freud before he was well known and translated in England. The wife of his university professor Frieda von Richthofen translated Freud for him. They eloped, after they got married.

Freuds teaching, the power of instinct, including the sexual instinct had a very important influence on his work. The power of the instinct is a very important motto of his literary work. He was a very diverse author; he wrote a lot. He wrote short fiction, stories and novels, wrote literary criticism, his well known work is The history of American Literature , he also wrote poetry, his love poetry written to his wife is very important. He is said to be a talented painter. Not long ago they collected his paintings and there was an exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London.

Novels 1913 - Sons and Lovers

one of the famous, partly autobiographical novel, had a heavy autobiographical influence. The novel takes place in the region where he lived as a boy and man, in the black country, in a small mining village, the family resembles his own family, mining father, more intellectual mother, with the death of his brother.

The novel consists of two parts. First part: follows the childhood and the adolescence of Paul Morel. The first part continues the English literary tradition; it follows the process of growing up of a young boy from childhood to adolescence. The traditional English Bildungsroman follows the physical, intellectual, spiritual, emotional growth. But he also writes about the life of the minors, what kind of houses they lived in, what kind of food they ate, what problems they had, life in a mining village also a topic in the first part, here he followed the tradition of the English realistic novel (Dickens), concentrating on miners life. He also concentrates on the region, life in the Black Country, he had grown up. The tradition of English regional novel pops up.

Second part: young man, his love relationship is focused on, growing up as a man from adolescence into a man is the topic of the second part, it is under the Freudian influence.

There are two love relationships, neither of the two is satisfactory for the young man. One of them is a girl from a neighbouring farm, they go together to school, library, she is an intellectual girl, loves nature. Miriam is similar to Pauls mother. Paul is very close to his own mother because of the constant fight between mother and father; he always took the mothers side. The girl is a reminder of the mother and because of this it is not a satisfactory relationship, because it lacks the sexual aspect, it is fail as a sexual relationship.
The other relationship - a married women - no intellectual depth, it is about pure sexualism. According to Lawrence he fails in his relationship because the mothers influence was too strong. Mother is sick, has cancer, suffers a lot, son helps her die, overdose of painkiller. After the mothers death he has new challenges to face in life. The end of the novel is about this liberation in which he leaves the village and goes towards the town. Lawrence leaves the end of the novel open, we can see him on the road, and the lights of the town invite him. The possibility of a new life is there for him.

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This is a new type of the novel. Very clearly the Freudian influence is here, the prototype of the Freudian Oedipus complex, the power of instinct is present on every page of the book. The novel has some symbolical power, symbolical meaning.

1915 The Rainbow 1921 Women in Love 1927 Lady Chatterleys Lovers - not published because its very explicit sexual scenes. It was published posthumously in the 1960s. Lawrence travelled a lot in his life in the Mediterranean, south-Africa, Australia. He had personal reasons (moral, WWI broke out and his tuberculosis). Lawrence has tuberculosis, they travelled to hot places, Mediterranean Italy, Greece, Mexico, South America, Australia, search for warm places. Died in France, South France - in a sanatorium. Travelling influenced his life. He was influenced by mysticism in the second period of his life, at the end of his life.

The Kangaroo The Plumed Serpent - (tollas kgy) South America.

He wrote very spontaneously, belonged to early modernism, ideas of Freud.

Stream of consciousness novel

grew out of modern psychology its subject matter is the uninterrupted, uneven, and endless flow of the stream of consciousness of its one or several characters not a literary term, it was used in psychology first. William James, an American psychologist used it for the first time, for the inner experience, he meant the flow of inner experiences. James Joyce used it first in literature.

Earlier literary trends already had some elements of this techniques. E.g.: sentimentalism: used the emotions of characters, they concentrated on the inner personality, thoughts, emotions of the characters. E.g.: Richardson - epistolary novel, inner thoughts, Sentimentalism, emotions, inner thoughts are concentrated on. Stern Tristan Shandy (an early example). The idea of John Locke was used, the theory of association was applied to the human mind. Locke freed the human mind from strict logic.
In 19th century English literature are some novels by Charles Dickens that concentrate on the inner conception of the human being (David Copperfield, Great Expectations) as a conscious literary technique, it was born in the early 20th century by Joyce, but there were some beginnings in the literature of sentimentalism, Stern, Dickens, Richardson.

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Dorothy Richardson - Pointed Roof (1915)

novel, in which she used the stream of consciousness for the first time,
she has a female character in this novel, and there is no plot.

The whole world is seen through the eyes of the woman, she is in the centre of the novel, all the
characters, events of the outside world are seen through the consciousness of a woman.

This novel remain unnoticed, received only some attention in 1935 when it was made to a part of a
Pilgrimage , another literary work. James Joyce made the technique famous and available. .

James Joyce Irish, from Dublin, Irishness had major influence on him because he has looked at his own country as a major obstacle for him, it is a very religious country, intellectual milieu was not possible to achieve there, not suitable for artists, creativity, the freedom of the mind, the freedom of the intellectuals is not possible to achieve in such a rigid country as Ireland. Negative experience of religion.

He attended a Jesuit boarding school - very rigid, very strict orders, a lot of restrictions. He attended the university in Dublin, the famous Trinity College, after that he left Ireland, settled in Europe, wanted to be a free writer, above nation, above national culture. He wanted to write universal books for the whole world. That is a paradox of James Joyces life that although he wanted to be free of his Irishness and to be a universal writer, he remains Irish whatever you read from him. He is Irish, from the first to the last word. All his characters are Irish, all his work take place in Ireland.

He lived in three different places in Europe afterwards. He wanted to forget about Ireland. He went back to Ireland only once in his life for three days when his mother was dying. He lived in Trieste - Mediterranean, major seaport, with a lot of international characteristic features, lots of people, busy life, various nation, various culture, intercultural, international were of great influence on him. Also lived in Zurich, Switzerland. It was another important place for him, a place where modern psychology and psychiatry was practiced. Freud lived there, Jung practiced there, and he had daily contact with them, thus became very directly influenced by modern psychology.

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Paris - cosmopolitan features of life was also significant, centre of the avant-garde literature and it was an ideal place for him to work.

Joyces Works Chamber Music (1907) - His first book is a book of Poetry - After that he turned to short stories. Dubliners (1914)

collection of short stories 15 short stories represent different types of failure, mostly failures of self-realization. The centre character is Dublin, the milieu, and the impossibility for self-realization. The stories can be enjoyed individually At the beginning first person narrative but it will shift to third person narration. Joyce was descending himself from Dublin. He is distant from Dublin at the end.

Style is changing, varied from the lyrical through the dramatic to the epic style.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)

autobiographical novel,

starts out subjectively; personal to objective, Bildungsroman, also: (Goethe uses for the first time) - David Copperfield, Jane Eyre, Great expectations Covers the period of 1885-1902; Young hero in the Jesuit boarding school, subjectively written childhood
memory pop up, childlike language, limited vocabulary. Language becomes more and more mature, at the end objectivity; he sees the world more objectively.

Main character: Stephen Daedalus. Why is he called so: relating to religion, Stephen was the first saint of Christianity =1st Irish tradition, relates to Joyce himself, Stephens Green - a park in Dublin Joyce loved very much.

Daedalus: refers to mythology, a prisoner, built a labyrinth, was a creator, an artist but was kept as a prisoner. He does escape. Idea of imprisonment - Ireland, motive of the escape. Daedalus wants to escape. Ambitions, aspiration, flying high, he wants too much, building the wigs - tragedy. Can be related to Ireland and his personality. Stephen Daedalus appears in Ullysses, too.

Ulysses (1922) his major, greatest novel,

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major achievement in epic tradition continuation of the story of Stephen Daedalus; he went to Europe to study there. S. Daedalus is a student there who goes back to Ireland to visit Plot and characters are built on ancient epic novel Ulysses written by Homer. Rewrites Homers great epic. Story related to the modern world. Modern version of Homers epic. Modern example of great deeds and heroism.

Main character: Leopold Bloom, a weak man. He is a middle aged, little, fat, bold, lives in Dublin, with his wife. He is not even an Irishman but a Jew (Hungarian) whose ancestors lived in Szombathely. He is a stranger, he is not at home even in his country. There is no place in the world were he could feel home. He is looked upon by his country man

One day to be followed: June 16th 1904 - the whole universe we get acquainted with is squeezed into one town, one day, the universe is shrink into 1 town. This day is called Blooms day We can find the modern equivalent of the classical heroes in the book Homer = adventures, here Leopold Blooms adventure during one day. He works, meets Stephen Daedalus, finds his wife inelegantly. This day is called in literature Blooms day. Modern equivalent of the classical heroes.

Penelope: faithful to her husband for many years; Molly a parody of Penelope, they have no baby (it died) but they dont talk about this painful topic. It is too painful, they suffer from it. Molly want a singer career easily, she is ready to sleep with her impresario

Deedalus: Leopold Bloom sees his son in him; he invited him into his house. Daedalus is in search of a father figure, but son-father relationship fails, not exists. Ulysses Penelope Faithful, loyal, for many years Son: loyal Leopold Bloom Molly A parody of Wants a singer carrier easily, ready to sleep with her impresario not existent in this novel, they used to have a baby who died, they never talk about it, it is too painful, they suffer from it. L.Bloom goes to a pub. Daedalus is in search of a father figure and Bloom of a son, but it fails.

Wife:

The work can be compared to Everyman, he is abandoned from everyone, and he is lonely. Leopold Blooms journey from life to death, abandoned by everyone, wife, son. Modern allegory of human life.

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Style: stream of consciousness.

Virginia Woolf

representative of the Bloomsbury group decent of a literary family; father: Leslie Steven (Victorian critic, editor of the Literary Biography series) Another representative of stream of Consciousness technique, Virginia started her career as a literary critic, she worked for the Times Sunday edition, the Times literary supplement.

Jacobs Room ( 1920)

first novel deals with WWI, soldiers and the death of a soldier The young character: lyrical, mosaic like, impressionistic. Not yet stream of consciousness but the fragmentation

Mrs Dalloway ( 1925)

stream of consciousness

two main characters : a man and a woman Mrs Dalloway is an English lady, lives in London, she is rich, she is occupied with organizing a birthday party, and this is her main problem: list of guests. Does the shopping, we are placed in her mind, and everybody is seen through her mind.

Septimus Smith is a I WW veteran. Poor, lonely, a very ordinary man, a failure, commits suicide at the end.
They dont know each other; they never met only linked by a 3rd person, a doctor, who is invited for the birthday party but he is late because of the suicide The 2 characters shares a lot of things: - they are very unhappy events, they had unhappy affairs, - homosexual affairs - Mrs Dalloway also committed suicide - although married, she is lonely - their life is the same, belongs to each other with many links, one character but the 2 sides of it. Very different and very same. 2 sides of 1 person.

she is a prolific writer; She wrote many novels: To The waves, Orlando, To the light house

Political novels:

Lawrence died 1930,1941 died Joyce and V. Woolf (committed suicide) Major period of English literature was over, after that: vacuum, end of the great period of the English novel.

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The writers of the new generation turned to new topic, only diagnosed the problem but did not see the way out

Angry young men period

the Angry Young Man movement comes from a play by John Osborne: Look Back in Anger this play features young working class hero, uneducated, rebellious, discontent but tries to suppress the problems as he did not see the way out from his problems; he is unable to offer solution to his problems. Working class background. This was the prototype for writers. They wrote about similar characters, where there is no solution from the situation.

1950s the angry decade in England Kingsley Amiss: Lucky Jim = cultural disillusionment. John Wayne: Hurry on Down- uneducated, working class hero, drinks, angry, violent. John Brain: Room at the Top. Allan Sillitoe - Anger is not Enough Young Man! emerged in the 1950s He could develop further found the solution anger is not enough young man, started out as a regional writer, comes from Nottingham region, a working class background, self-educated man Experience in the WW2, he fought in it in Royal Air Force After was he spent some time in a sanatorium, it was important for him, he could read literature 1950s he started to write.

Saturday Night, Sunday Morning

- its a typical example for angry young man novel, - features a working class hero, Arthur Seaton, unhappy, disillusioned, lonely, angry with his life, not knowing what to do with his own life. - On Saturday, Sunday he goes out, gets drunken, sleeps with different women. On Sunday morning sobering, not a nice experience, he realizes that it is not a happy life. - Consists of 2 parts: growing wild and sobering. 1959 - short novel: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

features a young working class boy sentenced to a juvenile prison. The whole novel takes place in it. Inner life: young criminals, outside: normal/honest world is represented by the management of the prison. The normal world is abnormal. The young criminals are normal.

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Running is freedom for him. Life outside the prison is even worse than the young people inside. Smith has the dilemma if he wins the race he will confirm to the world outside, what he doesnt like. If he loses, he will confirm to the normal world. Finally decides on losing. When he runs his mind is free.

Prototype of everyday young man Flashback: looking back on his life Places much emphasis on everyday objects (tv), will gain symbolical significance (running) He uses photographic techniques. he found a solution anger is not enough

1961 - Key to the Door - kind of autobiography Seaton family invents a younger brother. Brighton Seaton like himself, several autobiographical similarities provide the key to the door, Brighton learns education is the key being educated one can help oneself

Later writings: short stories about family issues, problems of the broken family, divorce, single mother, abandoned children Men, Women, Children: collection of stories, enjoyable.

Feminist Writers Women as novelists, writers it is not a new issue

19th century women authors female writers, female characters They considered female problems, marriage, love, family issue they tried to find solution for female problems, it was always marriage, marriage comes as a solution offered by 19th century authors. They can achieve social advancement

marriage and love are solution, its a path for women through which they can achieve social position,to find self-realisation, happiness

20th century women writers are different

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th

they take up the issue of women and women writers where the 19th century women writers dropped it, starting point is womens social roles the role of women in marriage, in relationship it is not the end in their writing but the beginning, and they carry it further this is were they continue

19 century story ends with a marriage as the happy solution, 20th century author takes up the issue as a beginning point They can be classified into two major groups, according to how radical issues they deal with and how radical answers they come up with Moderate group: - Kathryn Mansfield Ivy Compton -Burnett Radical group: - Doris Lessing Margaret Drabble

We think about the feminist literature from the 1920s Kathryn Mansfield originally a New Zealander her literary career is a very typical, she comes from the Australian elite , she came to England to study comes to London to study - from the colonies talented, young people went over to England to study 1903 Prince College, after that she returned to New Zealand only briefly, and returned to England again and came over to stay, after having completed her studies 1905 continuously lived in England, and also travelled on the continent died young, in 1923 from tuberculosis get married and travelled through Europe remarkable her trips to Germany, during her stay she began to write her specialty is short fiction story, famous for it her short stories are perhaps the closest to the Russian author Chekhov she is the author of small details seemingly uneventful, no plot but some minor elements, motives, details are repeated so often than they gave importance lack of the conversional plot there are minor objects, seemingly insignificant characters special style: uses everyday language, also experimented with time; she travelled back and forth in time, does not keep to chronology, the use of multiple point of view; the same story is told from different point of view

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Her first successful short story volume published posthumously is: In a German Pension Bliss and other stories perhaps the most famous one, published in: 1922 The Garden Party and Other Stories 1923 The Doves Nest 1924 Something Childish and other stories (posthumous too)

Ivy Compton-Burnett

she was a remarkable novelist she had a very narrow focus in her novels steps back a little in time; the reign of king Edward (Edwardian England, women, she focuses on women representing upper-middle class)

1st - time

The period she focuses on is the period of Edwardian England, writes about the period of post Victorian time, steps back, looks back in time

2nd - characters

focuses on women of the upper-middle class she did not consider the description of setting, the characterization, description of places, she did not provide longer prose text, but her novels are entirely built on dialogues, considers the dialogue the most important part of the novel, all other information is revealed through dialogues anything else which is important like characterization or description of places, all these features are developed through the dialogues in the novel, given in the dialogue

the dialogue gives a special dramatic feature to her novels, they are moving these dialogues are not very naturalistic dialogues, not the everyday language of the period but she adopted a stylised language, she creates a fictional world which is far from the world of naturalism but it is very consistent and very powerful a natural fictional world is created, but consistent novel usually take place in the countryside, in country homes she looks in this country home as a kind of laboratory, what things might happen in the county house characters are members of family, focus on the family life very special view of the family; the family has a protective function but in her novels it is disruptive, not a protective environment, the world inside the family home is something violent, the family itself is violent

many of her novels are about tyrannical people within a family, men more but sometimes women too

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family is described as very cruel, there is often a crime within the family, various kind of rape, murder, incest her novels are dark, cruelty will always win, and the innocents will lose, there is no force inside or outside which can help. Family in negative term In the Victorian era family appeared as something positive, but the Victorian family is falling apart, Victorian morality is the morality of the past, and the post Victorian world is dark and very cruel

She is also a member of the moderate group

Published: A House and its Head Parents and Children Daughters and Sons Elders and Betters

Doris Lessing

belongs to the more radical group of the feminist authors born in Persia (Iran), as Doris Taylor they were typical colonial people, moved, travelled a lot in her childhood, parents served the British crown, also lived in South Africa for a wile

all these experiences were important for her; she experienced a lot, encountered with different kinds of oppression, which made her very active in political movements, revolted against oppression was a kind of revolutionary character, revolted against oppressions, was an activist, was interested in politic issues, married several times, divorced several times, she was a restless character as a woman and as a writer, too Lessing the name of her second husband, but that was the time when her works became widely known, she published by her married name, she became known as an author by his name, and although her marriage failed and she got divorced she kept her name published under this name

She wrote novels, short stories, non-fiction (criticism and essays)

1st novel : The Grass is Singing o o o autobiographical novel set in South Africa concentrates on a marriage

o to explore the mind of a poor woman

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o the novel follows those events that cause her distraction (in a marriage which are called the
distraction of a women) o story similar to Room 19

o concentrates on the role of women in modern society

Children of Violence here she explored the role of women in the modern society

Her most unique and experimental work was the: Golden Notebook the most rebellious novel, she explores the life of single women in England experiments with the technique: several different notebooks appear, different version of the same story several different notebooks appear, and several version of the same story will pop up in the novel 4 characters argue, each has her point of view

She is known as a very good short story writer. Short stories: Room 19

Margaret Drabble Narrowed down her focus Deals with the problem of intelligent women, who have degrees, good jobs Often characters are university professors who have a dilemma of starting a family or carrier

Most famous novel: The Millstone explores a single mother and her problems inability to cope with life and love, the baby will teach her how to love and adopt

The Waterfall

There are many more feminist writers, they are very popular, they sell well, there are publishers who specified in publishing feminist literature - Pandora, Womens Press, Virago Feminist criticism

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Today we can speak about feminist criticism, Not only the criticism of literary work written by women Offers new view as far as traditional literary works are, new analyses, new approach to Shakespeares plays, can be analyses from the feminist point of view Famous essays in feminist criticism Juliet Mitchell: Psychoanalysis and Feminism Patricia Spacks: The Female Imagination Mary Jacobs: Women Writing and Writing about Women Linda Kaufmann: Gender and Theory offers very important pieces of feminist literary critics

Place of literary criticism within the literary world

Literary criticism is part of non-fiction prose (reviews, essays) writing can be divided into fiction and non fiction Non-fiction prose is as important as the fiction part, non-fiction prose is as much part of literature as novels, stories, etc

The kinds of non-fiction prose

1. essay: one of the most important forms, literary reviews belong here
- divided into subgroups:

formal essay informal (familiar) essay

Formal essay: the most traditional one, 19 century essayists: e.g.: , R.W. Emerson: The American Scholar, The Nature + classics Informal is new and more modern in action born in the Victorian period

e.g. Charles Lamb, William Hazzlitt Thomas de Quincy: On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth

It offers new analysis of Shakespeares work, in restorations time Shakespeares works were not really appreciated, he was considered too messy, too - the 19th century essay rediscovered Shakespeare as a major author

2. Biography or Autobiography: new literary forms were born in the Victorian period,

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biography autobiography is also important Samuel Johnson 18th century major figure in the English literature and editor of the 1st English dictionary-said: who is tired of London is tired of life

Macauley: (Victorian biographer) The Life of Samuel Johnson

3. Speeches / orations: Milton: Aeropagitica 4. Reports: shorter thesis of non-fiction prose Churchill: Dunkirk 5. Declarations / Manifesto Jefferson: Declaration of Independence 6. Pamphlet: short essays concentrates on one topic, purpose very powerful piece of writing often political Thomas Paine: Common Sense Swift: A Modern Proposal War of Pamphlets, Milton was involved about the execution of the king If the people have the right to execute the king and whether or not the kings power is a divine power or not 7. Preface it is a prose text which introduces other literary works Wordsworth + Coleridge = Preface to Lyrical Ballads-it is the program for the English Romanticism Johnsons Preface to the English Dictionary

8. Review Essay / critical essay in literature Mark Twain: James F. Coopers Literary Offences because he was very unhappy about his Indian stories

Literary Criticism = the evaluation of the literary works

Is devoted to the comparison, analysis, the interpretation and the evaluation of literary works

Development of literary criticism:

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begins with ancient Greeks, very little survived Aristotles Poetics: dealing with literary theory, defined tragedy, comedy Plato: does not form coherent work, only fragments Ancient Rome - Horace: Ars Poetica (deals with poetry) Cicero

In English literature

it was born in the Renaissance period, they followed classical rules 16th century the first work Sir Philip Sidney: Apology for Poetry (1595) a detailed analysis of the art of poetry, very important work, discussion of 16th century literary works

In the 17th century: Restoration Period - Dryden: Of Dramatic Poesie 1668 (playwright) which model the new English theatre would follow/ should use --- major dilemma after Cromwells empty time for dramatic arts Drydens essay deals with this, which direction to follow Written in a form of dialogue 4 people are engaged in the discussion each person represents one specific point of view Dryden wrote several other works French or ancient English? = dialogue from this essay

Classical period - witnessed a new approach (18th century), going closer to Nature - 18th century = interested in new approach, use of nature in literature (1819)

Alexander Pope: Essay on Criticism (1711) Major change, turning point in literary criticism occurred in Italy, Giambattista Vico, philosopher, essayist, critic; He changed completely literary criticism, critical methods, Developed the historical approach

Historicism in criticism revealed to people that there is no internal rules in literary works, 1.the classical periods rules used by classical writers are not god for the new age 2. each historical period has its own rules 3. no absolute rules in literature 4. he revolted against neo-classicism 1798: Preface to Lyrical Ballades = Vicos effect on English literary criticism

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Romantic Period: early 19th century 1817 - Coleridge: Biographia Literaria 1820 - Shelley: Defence of Poetry 1820 the essay changed the informal essay was born in the period toward the end of Victorian Period: major critic general in art Victorian age: rediscovery of Shakespeare Walter Pater, critic in art: The Renaissance, Appreciations He had a profound interest in literary thinking His idea influenced the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, English symbolist poets and Oscar Wilde Contributed to the Philosophy of Aestheticism (Lart pour Lart, Decadeism )

20th century literary criticism

became more diverse, chaotic, new concepts rise in literature confusion of standards: new concepts e.g. Bestsellers enormous influence of mass media on peoples taste great amount of reviewing but very few good critics

D. H. Lawrence was a critic and literary historian Criticism is not a science, emotions The most important writers are the most important critics Wrote the first concise history of literature history

Virginia Wolf as a critic Most important character in 20th century literary criticism Hereditary in her family; Her father Leslie Steven was one of the most important critic in Victorian era, Her husband was a critic too Started her criticism as a reviewer for the Times and the Sunday Times, Literary Supplement - works as a critic there Later her works were published - collected in a volume: The Common Reader = several critical essays In it two important essays 1. How to read a book - point of view of the readers (not deals with writers) 2. Modern Fiction (more traditional) she criticizes Victorian novelists,

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What are the values in literature? She says: No set values in literature, encourages writers to experiment, try out new things There is only one value to be true, to be honest

Kinds of non-fiction prose:

Irish Theatre

Cannot be separated from the Irish Renaissance which occurred at the very end of the 19th century Irish people wanted to save Irish language + Irish culture Poetry + Drama can save the language Drama is a kind of community art = art of the spoken world To save the Irish culture and the Irish language the drama played a very significant role Within the movement of the Irish Renaissances The Irish Theatrical Revival played a central role The language played a role; The Gaelic League was founded in 1901; an organization which wanted to revive the languages, to promote the use of Gaelic language

Irish National Theatre Society 1901 was found-aim to establish a community, to have Irish plays written, played to Irish audience, folklore built into the play and perform them to Irish audiences Yeats was the president

1904 Theatrical Company: The Abbey Theatre Company

opened in Dublin in Abbey street, small theatre building very important, they were against the well-made drama, the community theatre was the major concept of the company; opposed the start-system, each member is a contributor to the success. they introduced a new theatrical system a theatrical product as a product of a community , each member of the company had a role wanted to perform unique plays wanted to perform plays by Irish authors; community of writers, audience, performers, designers believed in theatrical realism wanted to get rid of fashionable 19 th century over-emotional (melo)drama, the performances were simple, realistic in scenery, design, acting style, believed in the purity, simplicity of the theatre (theatrical purity and simplicity) Irish playwrights wrote for the Abbey Theatre Two generations of Abbey playwrights: 1 st generation: Yeats: Lady Gregory Synge

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2 nd generation: O Casey G.B. Shaw - although he is Irish, he rather belongs to the English Theatrical Tradition William Butler Yeats: 1 st period: Poetry period

Lived in London, modern literary trend influenced him symbolism Other influence: childhood, met simple Irish people, spent a lot of time in rural Ireland, in small villages, quiet simple Irish people, represented Irish culture and folklore for him (modernism rural Irish folklore) his Irishness, the historical events were important for him, time when Ireland wanted to fight his independence (Easter Uprising, Irish Civil War) he worked for the free Irish State as an MP, after few years in politics, he was disappointed, left the political scene, lived an isolated life as an older man on the estate of his friend Lady Gregory, who was a rich woman and during this period he wrote his lyrical poetry

1899-1909 this period is called his theatrical period

first period: wrote plays based on Irish folklore at this time his theatrical activity was more dominant than his poetry worked for the National Theatre Society and as a playwright at Abbey theatre wrote plays based on Irish folklore , passionate Irish plays, very patriotic , Cathleen in Houlihan Countess Cathleen

This beautiful young woman appears in his plays , stands for, symbolizes Ireland Land of Hearts Desire: another early play On Baileys Strand - the Abby theatre in 1904 was opened with this play Early plays, Irish topic, uses Irish folklore, very patriotic, very enthusiastic

2 nd period from 1910- abstract From 1910 his theatrical view, concept changed, it become more abstract Influenced by the Japanese oriental theatre, by the Japanese Noh play Japanese Noh Play influenced him, no traditional plot, no words, no text, combination of songs music and dance, performers wear big masques and costumes, Abandoned Irish topic Language + masque + song + dance are combined in this period

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Wrote 4 plays in the 2d period, they are collected into a group with the title Four Plays for Dancers played not for the general Irish audience, played for a very narrow group of audience lost popularity

J.W.Synge Contemporary of Yeats Very scholarly, intellectual author Wide range of interests Adopted a special style; very elevated Elizabethan English language combined with Irish dialect simple people used = mixture Dramatic style Combined tragedy + comedy Motif: an old man takes a young wife, very often the topic of comedy; the old man is jealous, wants to test fidelity, they live in a very distant isolated place, travellers come, he tests his wifes fidelity, to test wifes fidelity he fakes death-comic situation Makes an ironic tragic-comedy from it to depict the tragedy of these peoples lives Ironic tragic comedy backwardness of thinking- isolation, loneliness this people suffer from Comic situation in order to explore the tragedy Combination of the language couple speak Irish dialect, traveller speaks elegant language known for theatrical scandal Play In The Shadow of the Glen 1903 -

The Playboy of the Western World

ironical play, ridicules the Irish characteristic features (Irish nationalism was at its peak, there was a riot in the theatre) when the audience saw these negative characteristic qualities of Irish people, their inability to act, dreaming characteristics they recognized themselves, they were upset so here was a riot in the theatre the audience revolted against they saw in the play, broke the furniture, the police had to make peace

Riders to the Sea

a short tragic story, a tragedy a remote island at the Irish coast tragedy, takes place in a very remote fishing village

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the fishermens wives lives are depicted wives are waiting for their husbands to come home and the play ends with a tragedy because there is a storm, Fishermen die tragic, loneliness, isolation, backwardness

Sean OCasey

2 nd generation Abbey Theatre playwright, a Dubliner, was born into a protestant family, the worst scenario, his father was English suffered a lot from double identity he chose to be Irish as an adult, he changed his name , his name was John Casey, Gaelised his name he was born in a very poor family, hunger, lack of education, many children in the family, brought up in the slum of Dublin he educated himself he had to work as a boy to support his family, but he read books from the public library at night, later he almost went blind probably because of it, self educated man

his background is important especially in his early/1st period wrote plays for the Abbey theatre

2 groups:

1 st group = Irish period; Irish plays 2 nd group = English period; English plays his Irish plays are much better, are more appreciated by critics. He went to London at his second period of life ,wanted much bigger audience but failed

Abbey period: Irish topic Eastern uprising + issue of independence The Shadow of a Gunman Juno and the Peacock The Plough and the Stars (1916)

Written on the issue of Irish independence, set in slum of Dublin, period of Uprising and Civil War motifs (on the flag)-best play, symbols Year 1916, Eastern Uprising- topic, fighting the British He concentrates on women and children instead of men; they are all the inhabitants of the slum, the time is wartime, there is war going on in Europe (WWI), in Ireland (Eastern Uprising) + internal war in people

War is a universal experience

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Features many characters, hard to see who is the main character, definitely not he men, they are usually coward, weak, absent

women are more important, There are 2 women (Nora and Bessie) concentrated on. Nora is a young, intelligent woman, the rest of the women hardly like her, she is an outcast, an outsider from the community, because she is more educated, more intelligent, she is very poor, doesnt give up fight, doesnt have a job, she is suspicious, she cleans, she doesnt want to live in a dirty place, she wants to have a nice life, fight against poverty. The others does not like her

Bessie, her counterpart is an old woman, speaks a dirty language she is a protestant, others look at her suspiciously, too, lives in a mess, her husband was English but has died, others look suspiciously at her, they dont like her too 2 women in the community fall and rise in the play; Nora falls, she is pregnant, her baby will die, her husband leaves her, ruins her, she becomes mad --- tragic heroine falls,

Bessie: dirty old women at the beginning = will rise, peak of the play is a dark scene: when the Easter Uprising put down by British, people hide in their homes, Nora in her madness will go near the window because she will hear the song from the street, she doesnt understand that the British shoot people- snipers who are hiding behind the windows in their houses and they want to shoot Nora and Betsy the old women who is with her, the only one who will take care for her and is with her , will jump in front of her and is accidentally shoot by the British

Betsy will become a real hero, she saves Noras life and sacrifices herself 1 falls, 1 rises

Experimental characteristic of the play: - Expressionism in the novel - Large cast - many characters in the play - characters are not very individualized

- Inclusion of songs- British soldiers marching singing songs, very organic part of the play - Includes documentary materials in the play, radio speeches, tape recorded announcements about war
events, exact words of Irish patriots, revolutionists of the time

- Language is not easy, Whole play is written in slang, spoken by the Irish in the slums of Dublin
- the author was familiar with , from his childhood - these are the early plays

- The Abby theatre rejected one of his plays, and he was hurt, and decided to leave Dublin, leave everything
behind and he moved to London 2 nd period- after 1927 - worked for London theatre

- Within the Gates

- The Drums of Father Ned

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- more universal, issues like war, poverty, religion are addressed (pacifism); a period of depression
- Red Roses for Me

- Cock-a-Doodle-Dandy comedy
- He rejected his earlier naturalism, used most complicated allegories

- Autobiography: I Knock at the Door

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