Ënglish&American Literature

A) English Literature
– English can be divided into three stages as it was developing:
1) Old English (450 ? 1150)
2) Middle English (1150 ? 1500)
3) Modern English (1500 ? up now)
– the English language originated from the old language of the Anglo-Saxons, the tribes who came from what is now called Denmark to the British Isles around the year 449 AD; then shortly after the Norman invasion in 1066 AD, when William the Conqueror took control over Britain, French became an official language and therefore, it was mixed with the Anglo-Saxon language; finally, the language was largely influenced by Latin in the times of Renaissance
( words like: innocent <innocens,-entis, virgin=““ <=““ virgo,-=““ inis,=““ legal=““ <lex,legis,=““ human=““ <humanus,=““ glory=““ <gloria,=““ -ae=““ ,=““ promise=““ <promitto,=““ miserable<miser,-a,-um,=““ desire<desidero,=““ detest<detestari=““ and=““ many=““ others=““ come=““ from=““ latin=““ )=““ <br=““>- even influenced by the Celtic languages (the tongue of one of the very first settlers of the British Isles, came in 700 BC) in English, e.g. words like cradle

I. Old English Literature/Anglo-Saxon Poetry (700-1100)
– the literature of this age was influenced by pagan traditions, magic, the problems of life at the time , as well as Christian thoughts and moral values
– the earliest known piece of writing is a long epic poem of conquest and bravery – Beowulf
– other types of literary documents were: annals, chronicles, and historical records of various battles
– Caedmon, Cynewulf – poets
– King Alfred the Great (849-901) ? an Anglo-Saxon king, translated works for educational purposes
– Venerable Bede (673-735) ? a historian, a philosopher, and a scientist

Beowulf (3,000 lines) ? It tells us how King Hrothgar built a great hall for his warriors. But a monster, Grendel, visited it for a period of 12 years, murdering the men asleep there. Beowulf, nephew of a king in the south of Sweden, heard of this, crossed the sea to the hall, and in a bitter struggle tore off Grendel´s arm. After having killed Grendel Beowulf was attacked by Grendel´s mother and then he killed her too. When he returned home, he became king and reigned for 50 years, but he died after killing a dragon which had attacked his kingdom. The poem ends with Beowulf´s funeral.

II. Middle English Literature (1100-1500)
– this period follows the Norman conquest of Britain after William the Conqueror´s victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066; William established a strict feudal system holding the people in subjection; the church also held a strong influence
– through the Norman invasion and takeover, the English language became transformed and a French element was added
– at first, English was only spoken by the lower class, but later also by the court and nobility; beforehand Latin and French were mainly spoken

1) Religious literature
John Wycliff (?1324-1384)
– an English reformer, a priest, and an Oxford fellow
– criticized the church because of its greed for property, depravity (like simony)
– praised the Bible -> believed that a man should lead an ascetic and simple life according to the Bible; everything which is not written in the B. is wrong; even translated some parts of the B. into English; wrote both in Latin and English; influenced our John Huss
2) Secular literature
Geoffrey Chaucer (?1340-1400)
– the most significant writer of this age -> often called the father of English poetry
– born in London, well-educated but probably did not attend university, knowledge of French and Italian poetry, travelled a lot
Canterbury Tales (1387)
– a series of more than 20 poems containing almost 17,000 lines mostly written in rhyming heroic couplets [couplet = two lines of poetry together, rhyming]
– it tell us about a party of pilgrims who agree to tell each other stories to pass the time on their journey from London to the shrine of St.Thomas Beckett in Canterbury
– we meet a merchant, a lawyer, a cook, a sailor, a ploughman, a miller,?
– The Knight´s Tale, The Miller´s Tale, The Wife of Bath´s Tale, The Nun´s Priest´s Tale, The Pardoner´s Tale …

Extract from the Knight´s Tale:

This sorweful prisoner, this Palamoun,
Goth in the chambre, roming to and fro,
And to him-self compleyning of his wo;
That he was born, ful ofte he seyde, ?alas!?
And so bifel, by aventure or cas,
That thurgh a window, thikke of many a barre
Of yren greet, and square as any sparre,
He caste his eye upon Emalya,
And ther-whit-al he bleynte, and cryde ?a!?
As though he stongen were un-to the herte.

Modern English translation:

This sorrowful prisoner, this Palamon,
Was pacing round his chamber to and fro
Lamenting to himself in all his woe.
?Alas,? he said, ?that ever I was born!?
And so it happened on this May day morn,
Through a deep window set with many bars
Of mighty iron squared with massive spars,
He chanced on Emily to cast his eye
And, as he did, he blenched and gave a cry
As though he had been stung unto the heart.

III. Modern English Literature (1500-1900)

1) The Renaissance (1485-1603)
– this period was marked by a humanistic revival of classical influence (-> the word itself: renaissance = rebirth?-> rebirth of antiquity), expressed in the flowering of arts and literature, and by the beginnings of modern science
– England was recovering after harsh war periods such as The Hundred Years War or The War of Roses; the Tudor dynasty gained the English throne and ensured peace and economical stability for England, the first Tudor ruler King Henry VII established a new economic system and supported a new social class, the so-called ?gentry?
– this period is also signed by the Reformation of the Church and the struggle between the Catholics and the Protestants; it began in 1534 when King Henry VIII established a new Protestant church called The Church of England and made himself its head; all this was because Henry wanted to be no longer dependant on the Catholic Church and the Pope who, besides this, had not wanted to approve Henry´s divorce with his first wife; after Henry´s death followed a short reign of King Edward VI.(Henry?s only son from a marriage with Jane Seymour), who was a Protestant as well; but after Edward´s rule, his step-sister Queen Mary I., a devoted Catholic, gained the throne and started persecuting the Protestants (during her reign almost 300,000 Protestants were burnt at the stake!), which acquired her a nickname ?Bloody Mary?
– nevertheless, in 1558, Queen Elizabeth I. , the so-called ?Virgin Queen?, started to reign and granted England long-lasting peace and prosperity; this age was called in her honour the Elizabethan Age and represented one of the most significant and famous periods in English history and literature as well
– during this period significant literary works were created
– common forms of literature were: poetic drama, songs, lyrics, ballads and essays
– the period was undoubtedly linked with the development of English drama and the
best dramatist was surely William Shakespeare

a) DRAMA

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
– was born in Stratford upon Avon to the family of a merchant
– received an early education at the local Grammar School where he learned
Greek&Latin, he was a skillful and bright student but was not sent to university,
because his father had financial problems
– at the age of 18 married Anne Hathaway who gave birth to 3 children
(Susanna, Hamnet, Judith); six years later left his family and went to London to become an actor and later an outstanding playwright; in London,
Shakespeare joined a local all-male theatre group called Lord Chamberlain´s Men, later became an owner of the theatre called the Globe
– very successful and popular in London, even admired by the royalty (Elizabeth I.,James I.)
– at the end of his life he returned to Stratford as a rich man, died in 1616 on the same day as he was
born and was buried in Stratford church (Trinity Church) which has been his grave ever since

Conclusion:
– Shakespeare was a great master of laughter as well of tears, loved owing to his realism, his love of people, his understanding of human weaknesses, and especially owing to the beauty of his verses
– he was a dramatic genius and a perfect master of his mother tongue, therefore regarded as the best English author of all, appreciated for his regard for the truth and justice which are both the basis of his ethics
– nowadays, there´s a skepticism as to whether Shakespeare actually wrote all the plays and sonnets attributed to his name; some people even insist that S. did not even exist as a writer and all his plays were written by several amateur playwrights who used this name to conceal their identity, but this is rather hypothetical and very unlikely
– Shakespeare has been translated into numerous languages in the world and influenced many other writers; the best Shakespeare´s translations into Czech are by these authors: E.A.Saudek, J.V.Sládek, Martin Hilský

Primary Works :
– include 37 plays, 2 poems, and a great number of sonnets
– the plays were written mostly in free verse, or to be more exact the so-called blank verse [ free verse = poetry in a form that does not follow any regular pattern] , the sonnets in the special 14-line form [ AB AB AB AB AB AB CC ]
– the plays can be divided into 4 types :
1) Tragedies: Romeo&Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, …
2) Comedies: As You Like It, Twelfth Night, The Taming of the Shrew,
A Midsummer Night´s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Love´s
Labour´s Lost, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of
Windsor,…
3) Historical Plays: Richard III., Henry IV(V,VI,VIII), Julius Caesar,
Antony&Cleopatra, Coriolanus
4) Romances: The Tempest, Cymbeline, Pericles, The Winter´s Tale

Extract from Romeo & Juliet:

Scene 5, Capulet´s orchard

Juliet :
Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day.
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fear-full hollow of thine ear.
Nightly she sings on yond pom´granate tree.
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.

Romeo:
It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east.
Night´s candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

– other well-known playwrights of the Elizabethan Age were: Christopher Marlowe (The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus), Ben Jonson, Thomas Kyd, John Webster

b) POETRY
– Edmund Spenser (The Faerie Queene), John Donne – a poet of the so-called ?metaphysical poetry? (Woman´s Constancy, Holy Sonnets), Thomas Wyatt – a nobleman at King Henry VIII´s court

c) HUMANISTIC LITERATURE
– represented mainly by Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) ? an outstanding scientist, statesman, and philosopher, a learned and ascetic man, educated in law; worked on the court of King Henry VIII as the Lord Chancellor of England, and was a close friend of the king; but unfortunately did not agree with Henry´s split with the Church and therefore, imprisoned and later executed; Utopia (1516)- in this book he shows us his vision of an ideal state where the people live in peace without any individual property

2) 17th Century Literature ? Revolution and Restoration (1600-1700)
– the 17th century was a time of social change and revolution, two opposing groups played key roles- 1. the feudal classes with the royal court headed by King James I., and the Anglican church X 2. a progressive capitalist movement, represented by the Puritans, who had an increasing influence in Parliament; in the 1640s, tensions culminated in a civil war between the king´s army and Parliament´s army leaded by Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan; the king (King Charles I, a son of King James I.) was eventually deposed and beheaded in 1649 and the Puritan Parliament ruled in the person of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector and his son ruled until 1660, enforcing a strict moral code
– the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II brought a strong reaction against this code
– the court, nobility, and upper class became known for care-free, morally loose living, which was also reflected in the literature

John Milton (1608-1674)
– was born in London to the family of a rich lawyer and a music composer
– was attending St.Paul´s school and then Christ´s College in Cambridge
– after graduating traveled round Europe- Paris, Florence where he met G.Galilei, after the return
to London he taught some of his family and started preparing for writing itself
– supported the Puritan Movement and the thoughts of Protestant reformer Jean Calvin
– after the overthrow of the Stuarts Milton was rewarded with the position of secretary in a high office of the state
– was very hardworking, even so much that at the end of his life he went blind

Paradise Lost (1667)& Paradise Regained (1671)
– both are long epic poems written after the restoration of the monarchy
– Paradise Lost addresses basic questions of life on earth and in the whole universe, the beginning of the book, describing the angelic rebellion and man´s fall, can apply to modern mankind ? humanity´s road from innocence and ideas of a problem-free existence to realistic maturity; the book may also be allegorical for events at the time of its writing
– Paradise Regained balances Paradise Lost by highlighting Christ´s victory and the redemption of man
– they reflect Milton´s own determination and struggle to continue after the loss of the world he had helped to create, they also reflect his courage in challenging the established religious beliefs of the time, against which his concepts seemed like blasphemy

In Paradise Lost, the main hero is Adam, who represents mankind in a general sense. One of the most fascinating passages from Paradise Lost is the revolt of the Serpent, or Satan, against Heaven and against God the Almighty. Satan´s words depict God as despotic and unjust in his treatment of Satan. God and his angels, however, reflect the attitudes of an absolute monarch and his court. Satan and his legions of fallen angels support the idea of independence and freedom of will and evokes sympathy in the reader. An impressive passage is in which Eve takes the burden of sin upon herself and asks Adam to forgive her in order not to lose his love.

Extract from Paradise Lost:

Of Man´s First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Sing Heav´nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen Seed,
In the Beginning how the Heav´ns and Earth
Rose out of Chaos: or if Sion Hill
Delight thee more, and Siloa´s Brook that flow´d
Fast by the Oracle of God; I thence
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous Song,

That with no middle flight intends to soar
Above th´Aonian Mount, while it pursues
Things unattempted yet in Prose or Rhime.
And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all Temples th´ upright heart amd pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know´st; Thou from the first
Was present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss
And mad´st it pregnant: What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the highth of this great Argument
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justifie the wayes of God to men.

3) 18th Century Literature ? The Augustan/Classicism Age (1700-1780)
– the ruling class of the 18th century became increasingly corrupt, especially under the reigns of George I and George II (both from the Hanover dynasty => they were Germans), hence literature of this period features much more social criticism and political satire
– the most used form of literature was prose; it was particularly at this age when the novel, as we know it now, originated, especially owing to a famous writer and a journalist Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)
– a novelist, a pamphleteer, and a founder of the modern novel
– was born in London, grew up in a Puritan family
– educated at the Puritan academy, should have become a Calvinistic priest
– in 1684 joined the army which organized a rebellion against the Catholic sovereign King James II , the rebellion was crushed and many of his companions were hanged; Defoe himself had to be in hiding until 1688 when The Glorious Revolution occurred and the king was deposed
– then Defoe made his living as a merchant, but was not very successful and soon got into serious debt and was sent into jail; later worked as a spy in the service of lord Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, an MP of the House of Commons; after lord Robert´s imprisonment in the Tower Defoe was contributing to some newspapers (The Weekly Journal, Mercurius Britannicus, The Review?) where some of his works were released as stories in installments and suddenly he became a quite successful writer and could afford to buy a nice house
– the conditions of his death are quite mysterious: one day he left his home, perhaps he wanted to get out of reach from his creditors, and died probably on 24th April, 1731; however Defoe was buried under a wrong name Mr.Dubow

Robinson Crusoe (1719) The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner
– based on a true story of a Scottish mariner Alexander Selkirk who spent 4,5 years on a deserted island in Caribbean
– Robinson is a young man who was supposed to be a lawyer or a merchant, but most of all he desired for adventures and was eager to learn about different, exotic countries; therefore decided to become a mariner, traveled to Africa and South America where, unfortunately, his ship wrecked in a storm and Robinson was the only survivor, left completely alone on a deserted island; fortunately owing to his will to live, he manages to get some food and water, make a shelter in order to survive; even he finds a companion, an Indian whom Robinson gives a name ?Friday? according to the day when he was rescued; eventually Robinson returns home to England where to his amazement he meets his mother still alive, Robinson gets married, becomes a merchant and spends the rest of his life in peace and happiness
– the story about a mariner Robinson became an immediate success after its publication, so far has been translated into many world languages (into Czech by e.g. J.V.Pleva) and ranks among significant works of English and world literature

Other works: Moll Flanders, Roxanne, Captain Singleton, Memoirs of a Cavalier, A Journal of the Plague Year?

Other writers:
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): Gulliver´s Travels
Henry Fielding (1707-1754): The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling; Joseph Andrews
Samuel Richardson (1689-1761): Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded
Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Rape of the Lock (a satirical poem)

4) British Romanticism (1783-1820)
– British literature at the end of 18th century and at the beginning 19th century started to change: the social turmoil in England led to a shift away from social, philosophical, religious and artistic ideals to senses and sentiments, which led to a preoccupation with ancient history, mythology, folk traditions and natural mysticism
– this was an enormous change in the literary world ? Romanticism was a reaction to the Classical Age (/The Age of Reason/The Era of Enlightenment)
– the main form was therefore poetry ? the main subject is the individual, it is often a man out of society, he does not respect it, or society does not respect him
– a great emphasis was placed on the creative potential of the human mind and weakened earlier rational tendencies
– the imagination was very important; English romantic poets believed that the imagination was an ability of the mind which was capable of penetrating the surface reality of human life and reaching the truth which lay beyond the powers of and rational thinking
– this new subjective vision of reality was accompanied by a strong emphasis on individual thoughts and feelings; poets became more introspective and meditative, often introducing more autobiographical elements to their works
– return to the past ? the times of Middle Ages were quite popular (->an ideal of a medieval knight )
– liking of exotic and mysterious places and countries
– the emphasis placed on fantasy, enigmatic things, sensibility => irrationality (suppression of reason, emphasis of emotions)
– characteristics of an archetypal romantic hero/heroine:

1) honest, brave, extraordinary, often comes from nobility, leads an exciting and
adventurous life, often an outsider, does not like the common society and its values
2) a highwayman, a bandit, an executioner, a beggar, a hermit, a pilgrim etc.
3) is not able to lead a common life
4) opposing to the society
5) honors his own freedom and independence
6) sees a way out in love and passionate relationship, which often ends tragically or is very complicated

– when it comes to means of literary expression the method of contrasts was used: i.e. putting things, characters, situations in contrast -> beautiful, pleasant girl x harsh, dangerous man
(Catherine+Heathcliff?Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte)
pleasant, handsome man x self-serving, selfish personality
good x evil; individual goals x destiny etc.

– popular genres : generally, lyrics is over epics, the plot and action are not so important
the genres and forms are sometimes mixed => a tale or a novel written in
rhymes
ballad, romance, gothic novel, historical tale/novel

1) POETRY
– first romantic inclinations appeared in poems by authors like William Wordsworth, S.T.Coleridge, Robert Southey known as the Lake Poets, who took their inspiration from the Lake District in England; we should also mention another writer, a Scotsman Robert Burns, a collector of Scottish folk tales and songs, and an author of the famous Auld Lang Syne

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (W.Wordsworth)

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: –
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -and gazed -but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.

– the second romantic period is represented by authors like:

lord G.G. Byron (1788-1824)
– founder of the British Romanticism, had an aristocratic origin, at the very early age became a
lord
– born in London to Captain Byron and his wife Catherine Gordon who was emotionally
unstable; small Byron had a physical handicap ? had a lame leg
– attended Aberdeen Grammar School, in 1805 entered Trinity College, Cambridge, some collections of his poems were published in Cambridge
– in 1809 took the seat in the House of Lords, continued in writing, shortly thereafter he traveled to many countries including Portugal, Spain, Malta and Greece which he liked most of all; in 1824 he helped the Greek in their fight for independence against the Turkish
– unfortunately, Byron fell ill while in Greece and died there on 19 April, 1824 at the age of 36; still revered as a national hero in Greece

Primary works :
Childe Harold´s Pilgrimage (1812-1818), Hebrew Melodies (1815), Hodiny zahálky (18??)
Lyrical-epic tales: The Giaour (1813), The Corsair (1814), Lara (1814), The Siege of Corinth (1816)
Single poems: The Dream (1816), The Prophecy of Dante (1821)

Conclusion:
– Byron is a representative of so-called revolutionary romanticism, which tries to solve all the problems by fighting, actions and revolt
– his poems are so distinctive in the style that gained a special term in literature -> byron tale
– he created the concept of the ?Byronic hero? = a defiant, melancholy young man brooding on some mysterious event in his past
– he influenced many other writers including Goethe, André Maurois (Životopis lorda Byrona), Charles Baudelaire, Adam Mickiewicz, A.S.Puškin, M.J.Lermontov, Jaroslav Vrchlický, and K.H.Mácha

My Soul is Dark

My soul is dark – Oh! quickly string
The harp I yet can brook to hear;
And let thy gentle fingers fling
Its melting murmurs o’er mine ear.
If in this heart a hope be dear,
That sound shall charm it forth again:
If in these eyes there lurk a tear,
‚Twill flow, and cease to burn my brain.
But bid the strain be wild and deep,
Nor let thy notes of joy be first:
I tell thee, minstrel, I must weep,
Or else this heavy heart will burst;
For it hath been by sorrow nursed,
And ached in sleepless silence, long;
And now ‚tis doomed to know the worst,
And break at once – or yield to song.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
– like his close friend lord Byron, Shelley was born into a wealthy, aristocratic family
– studied at Eton (6 years), Oxford, but he was expelled from there after only 6 months owing to his writing a radical pamphlet (The Necessity of Atheism) -> left England, traveled round Europe (Ireland, Italy, France, Switzerland…); in 1811 ran away with a 16-year-old girl with whom he had 2 children; but the marriage broke up and the girl committed suicide; in 1817 married his second wife Mary Shelley, who was also a writer (Frankenstein)
– all his life continued to revolt against existing religions, laws, and customs; became a vegetarian, atheist, and an advocate of free love, lead a wild, adventurous life corresponding to his restless personality and died like a typical romantic hero
– in 1822 his life was cut short by a sailing accident in a storm near Livorno, Italy; Shelley drowned in the sea and the body was then burnt on the beach and laid to rest in the English Protestant cemetery in Rome

Primary works:
Prometheus Unbound (1819), The Masque of Anarchy (1819), Ode to the West Wind (1821)

The Masque of Anarchy

As I lay asleep in Italy,
There came a voice from over the Sea,
And with great power it forth led me
To walk in the visions of Poesy.
I met murder on the way ?
He had a mask like Castlereagh ?
Very smooth he looked, yet grim;
Seven blood-hounds followed him;

All were fat and well they might
Be in admirable plight,
For one by one, and two by two,
He tossed them human hearts to chew
Which from his wide cloak he drew.

Next came Fraud, and he had on,
Like Eldon, an ermined gown;
His big tears, for he wept well,
Turned to milestones as they fell.

And the little children, who
Round his feet played to and fro,
Thinking every tear a gem,
Had their brains knocked out by them?

Clothed with the Bible, as with light,
And the shadows of the night,
Like Sidmouth, next, Hypocrisy
On a crocodile rode by.

And many more Destructions played
In this ghastly masquerade,
All disguised, even to the eyes,
Like Bishops, lawyers, peers, and spies.

Last came Anarchy; he rode
On a white horse, splashed with blood;
He was pale even to the lips,
Like Death in the Apocalypse.

And he wore a kingly crown:
And in his grasp a sceptre shone;
On his brow this mark I saw ?
?I AM GOD. AND KING, AND LAW!?

William Blake (1757-1827)
– a famous poet, mystic, painter, and engraver; born in London
– studied at Royal Academy School and then he started his professional career as a painter, producing watercolour figure subjects and engraving illustrations for magazines
– his poems express hid ardent belief in the freedom of the imagination and his hate of rationalism and materialism
– Blake was deeply religious Catholic and his paintings show amazing interpretation of God and mystical and mythical themes
Primary works:
Poetical Sketches (1783), Songs of Innocence (1789), The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1791)

The Sick Rose

O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy;
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

2) PROSE

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
– a novelist, a poet, a founder of the historical tale and novel
– was born in Scotland and thus being an ardent Scottish patriot, interested in Scottish folk treasures, collecting old folk tales (ballads)
– started his career as a lawyer and then began to write epic poems and later then in 1814 his historical novels started being published
– his influence can be seen in the works of such writers as Victor Hugo, James Fennimore Cooper etc.

Primary works:
Waverly (1814), Rob Roy (1818), Ivanhoe (1820), Kenilworth (1821)

THE BRONTE SISTERS :

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855)
– born in Yorkshire into a family of a clergyman Patrick Bronte and his wife Maria; had 3 siblings (Emily, Anne, and Branwell) who became also well-known authors
– after her mother´s death all the children were left to the care of their father and an aunt, Elisabeth Branwell
– to escape their unhappy surroundings, the children created imaginary kingdoms which were built around Branwell´s toy soldiers and which inspired them to create continuing stories of fantasylands
– all three Bronte sisters had one thing in common and that was to protest against everything that was inhuman and cruel; they stood up for the right of everyone to love and to have a respectable position in society
– Charlotte attended Clergy Daughter´s School in Lancashire in 1824, but she returned home the following year because of the harsh conditions; in 1831 she went to school at Roe Head, where she later worked as a teacher
– however, she fell ill, suffered from melancholia and depression and gave up the post
– it was at this time when she started to show literary promise and her chief influences were Walter Scott, Lord Byron or the Arabian Nights
– in 1842 she traveled to Brussels with Emily to learn French, German, and management; her attempt to open a school failed and the collection of poems ? Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), which she wrote with her sisters, sold only two copies
– Charlotte´s first published and most popular novel, Jane Eyre, appeared in 1847 and became an immediate success; despite some flaws in the plot and the occasional intrusion of Gothic touches and absurd coincidences, it is one of the most gripping novels ever written because of its psychological insight into the mind of the long-suffering, plain, but determined lead character governess Jane Eyre and her beloved Mr.Rochester
– Jane Eyre was followed by Shirley (1848), a response to the Luddite movement during the Industrial Revolution, later then ensued Villette (1853) depicting a woman´s long for her love to be fulfilled
– in 1854 Charlotte married her father´s curate, Arthur Bell Nicholls, who had been courting her for a long time; she died during pregnancy on March 31, 1855 in Haworth, Yorkshire

Primary works:
Jane Eyre (1847), Shirley (1848), Villette (1853)

Jane Eyre is based on Charlotte´s personal experience as a governess. She defends the right of an intelligent woman to a respectable occupation. Her idea of the equality in love and work of men and women was revolutionary for that time. Jane Eyre comes to Thornfield to educate the daughter of Mr.Rochester, a mysterious character who is fascinated by the courageous spirit of Jane and they fall in love with each other. After Jane has learnt that Rochester´s lunatic wife is still alive, she leaves the place. Finally she returns to find the house burned down, Rochester´s wife dead, and Rochester himself blind and lame. Yet she marries him and their happiness is consummated.

Emily Bronte (1818-1848)
– like her older sister she became a governess in Halifax in 1837, and spent the following 6 months as a teacher at Law Hill; to facilitate their plan to keep school for girls Emily traveled to Brussels with Charlotte in 1842 to learn foreign languages and school management, but returned on the same year to Haworth; she died of tuberculosis in 1848
– considered perhaps the greatest writer of the three B. sisters, yet she published only one novel: Wuthering Heights (1847)
– describes the turbulent love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw; the whole story takes place at a dwelling called ?Wuthering Heights?

Jane Austen (1775-1817)
– though she ranks among the romantic writers, her works show features entirely similar to writing methods and styles of the forthcoming period ? Critical Realism
– a representative of the so-called domestic novel [= dealing with the family life]
– in her works she depicts the English country in the south and the lives of upper middle class and rural nobility with wit, satire, and irony
– heroines of her books are usually girls or women who are pretty, intelligent, but not so wealthy which lower their chances to get married; eventually after some troubles they succeed in the search for the right bridegrooms and find their happiness

Primary works:
Sense and Sensibility (1818), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1816)

5) Victorian Literature/ Critical Realism (1832-1901)
– in 1837 Queen Victoria took the throne and for the next 64 years of her successful reign Great Britain became a world power again; the Industrial Revolution strengthened the position of capitalism and the colonies in Africa and India the importance of the UK in world politics; the era of Victoria´s rule was named after its sovereign ?> the Victorian Age
– however, as the struggle between capitalists and the working class became more and more pronounced, critical realism, and especially the social novel, emerged; it pictures the problems of society in all their contexts and with their causes; the heroes of the stories became the characteristic types of the society

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
– one of the finest novelist of English Realism
– born in Portsmouth, Hampshire; the second of eight children of John Dickens, a clerk at the Navy Pay Office and his wife Elizabeth Barrow (her maiden name)
– the Dickens family, although not poor by the standards of the time, lived through a series of financial crises and accompanying social insecurity; in 1823 facing financial ruin the family moved to London and Charles began to work in a blacking warehouse at Hungerford Stairs where he was employed to label bottles for 6 shillings a week; a short time previously the father of Charles had been arrested for debts and the family, except for Charles, had joined their father in prison
– the combination of this family trauma and his own menial job profoundly affected Charles´ life and view of the world, and were to haunt him for the rest of his days
– at the age of 12 Charles was sent to school where he did very well and at the age of 15 he began working in the office of a legal firm
– later he worked as a journalist in various newspapers, e.g. The Morning Chronicle , where some of his novels started to be published (Pickwick Papers,?)
– in 1842, Charles and his wife Catherine visited the USA and Canada but quickly became disillusioned with the new republic and therefore they returned to England [-> American Notes (1842) = a travelogue reflecting his experience in the US]
– the next years Dickens spent writing and performing in amateur theatrical groups in big cities throughout the UK
– in the 1860´s his health started to worsen; however, after some recovery he set off an American Reading Tour; after returning to England, he was once again hit with health problems and never fully recovered
– on the 8th June, 1870 he suffered a stroke at his home near Rochester and died the next day; he now rests in peace at Westminster Abbey surrounded by the most significant personages of English history and literature

Primary works:
The Pickwick Papers (1837), Oliver Twist (1838), Nicholas Nickleby (1839), A Christmas Carol (1843), A Tale of Two Cities (1849), David Copperfield (1850), Little Dorrit (1857), Great Expectations (1861)

A Christmas Carol is a story about a mean old man, Ebenezer Scrooge, who is haunted by four ghosts, which changes his outlook on life. The first ghost, the ghost of his former business partner, warns him of the following three visits of the Christmas ghosts. The first of these, the Ghost of Christmas Past, reminds him of the way he used to be, and awakens his feelings of sentimentality. The second ghost, the Ghost of Christmas Present, shows him the family of his sole employee, who, in spite of Scrooge´s meanness, is able to give thanks for what he has. The third ghost, the Ghost of Christmas Future, shows him how the future will be if Scrooge does not change his ways. Scrooge wakes up the next morning a new man, full of generosity and kindness.

Conclusion:
– Charles Dickens is one of the most well-known writers in the English non-speaking world; his style however, though popular, is quite inconsistent ? passages of the greatest mastery, supreme originality, and comic genius are sometimes replaced by the cheapest sentimentality and boring depictions
– some experts believe that Dickens´ decision to publish his first few stories in installments led to his being too sensitive to the public´s taste, thus forgetting his own originality; this led to his introducing characters ?out of the blue? into the story whenever the public started to lose interest
– Dickens´ social commitment cannot be omitted ? his portrayal of child labour in Oliver Twist, or the education system in Nicholas Nickleby led to increased public pressure for reform; thus, Ch.Dickens did what so many writers have tried to do since the beginning of literature: change the world.

Other significant writers of this period:

Thomas Hardy ? a novelist; The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the D´Urbervilles, The Three Strangers, etc.
Lewis Carroll ? Alice in Wonderland
Rudyard Kipling ? The Jungle Book
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ? The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Robert Louis Stevenson ? Treasure Island, Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, The New Arabian Nights
Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning&Elizabeth Barett – Browning : poets

– at the turn of the 19th century, a literary movement came into the foreground which emphasized artistic beauty over the ugliness of capitalistic industrialization, the violence of imperial expansion, and the hypocrisy of the ruling class
– the principles of this movement were that art should serve only itself ? that its only goal was to arouse feelings of beauty, enjoyment, and happiness
– this approach, however, turned out to produce moods of overindulgence, disenchantment, and decadence

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
– a dramatist, novelist, and a poet
– was a typical representative of this thinking
– his personal life reflected the art form ?art for art´s sake?; he sought new experiences to satisfy all his desires and to indulge in all that was pleasant ? whether moral or immoral, socially acceptable or not
– he was born in Dublin, his father was a physician, mother was a linguist and a translator
– studied at Trinity College, Dublin and at Magdalene College, Oxford where he was awarded the Newdigate prize for the poem Ravenna
– in 1884, he married Constance Lloyd, a daughter of an Irish lawyer, but the marriage was disturbed by Oscar´s passionate relationship with Alfred Douglas, an Oxford undergraduate, for Oscar had bisexual inclinations; therefore, he was arrested, accused of homosexuality, and sentenced to 2 years of hard labour at Reading Gaol; upon his release from prison, Oscar wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol, his cry of prison agony
– then he returned to his lover Alfred and spent the last years of his life wandering Europe, staying with friends, and occasionally writing for different Parisian newspapers
– in 1890, a recurrent ear infection became serious, meningitis set in and Oscar died on November 30
– his grave now lies in the Pere-LaChaise cemetery in Paris
– his works are full of wit, incisive irony as well as beauty, sensitivity, and ornateness

Primary works:
Poems (1881), The Canterville Ghost (1887), The Happy Prince & Other Tales (1888), The House Of Pomegranates (1892), The Picture Of Dorian Gray (1889), plays: A Woman Of No Importance (1892), An Ideal Husband (1893), The Importance Of Being Earnest (1893)

E Tenebris

Come down, O Christ, and help me reach thy hand,
For I am drowning in a stormier sea
Than Simon on thy lake of Galilee:
The wine of life is spilt upon the sand,
My heart is as some famine-murdered land
Whence all good things have perished utterly,
And well I know my soul in Hell must lie.
If I this night before God´s throne should stand
?He sleeps perchance, or rideth to the chase,
Like Baal, when his prophets howled that name
From morn to noon on Carmel´s smitten height.?
Nay, peace, I shall behold, before the night,
The feet of brass, the robe more white than flame,
The wounded hands, the weary human face.

Quotations by O.Wilde:
– ?Men always want to be a woman´s first love; women have a more subtle instinct, what they like is to be a man´s last romance.?
– ?Between a man and a woman there is no friendship. Only passion, hostility, and love, but no friendship.?
– ?There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.?
– ?We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.?
– ?Love is greedy:achieves bliss ? wants paradise, raises to paradise ? asks for heaven.?
– ?I can resist anything except temptation.?

6) 20th Century Literature / Modernism (1900 ? 2000)
– the 20th century was marked by two terrible world wars, political alliances, revolutions (socialistic), economic ups and downs, technical boom, and tensions in the world
– Britain moved from being a powerful empire to becoming a nation of secondary importance behind the US and former USSR; the country has been plagued by social dissatisfaction, labour unrest, crippling strikes, and periodic high unemployment
– The resultant disenchantment, despair, loss of hope, and decline in moral values are all reflected in the literature of this century

A) 1st half of the 20th century

1) PROSE
– 2 literary streams: 1) Realistic ? classical novels observing unity of place, time, and action
e.g. H.G. Wells, George Orwell, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph
Conrad, Agatha Christie etc.

2) Experimental [modernists] ? utterly different from the realistic one;
– main features: 1) action becomes less important
2) emphasis put on the main hero and his thoughts
and emotions (the author is often a main hero)
3) disunity of time, place ? the author freely goes
from one period to another => several time and
thought levels
4) disunited interpretation of the writing –
additional literature is often needed for better
understanding
5) experiments with language, form or
composition
6) absurdity, unclarity, insanity ? the author leaves
the reader to understand his work as he likes
7) thinking about human being and existence of
mankind

– e.g. James Joyce, Virginia Woolf

James Joyce (1882-1941)
– born in Dublin, Ireland; studied at Jesuit Colleges and at University College, Dublin in order to be a priest, but refused to do so later and became opposed to all the thoughts of his Jesuit education
– in 1902 left Ireland to live in Paris and never returned, except for occasional visits
– during these years he traveled a lot (France, Italy, Switzerland) and took hold in Trieste as teacher of languages (had knowledge of more than 10 languages!); died in poverty in Zurich, Switzerland

Primary works:
Dubliners (1914), The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922), Finnegan´s Wake (1939)

ULYSSES (1922)
– Joyce´s most famous and important novel; it takes place in Dublin during a sole day (8 a.m.16th June-8 a.m.17th June)
– a paraphrase of Homer´s epic the Odyssey: the main hero is a christened Irish Jew, Leopold Bloom, he roams round Dublin, thinks and dreams
– other characters: Stephen Dedalus, an intellectual
Molly Bloom, Leopold´s wife
– their names have latent, symbolic meaning:
1. Bloom is a common Jewish name, but in English it means ?a flower, or to flower?
2. Molly is traditionally regarded as a name for a fallen woman in English literature
3. Dedalus = Daidalos + Íkaros
– they also remind the characters of Homer´s epic: Leopold (Ulysses), Molly (Penelopé), Stephen (Telemachos) and all three symbolize something like the Holy Trinity
 whole novel is a complicated allegory full of symbols, religious and mythological themes
– experiments with language -> Joyce used almost the whole of the English vocabulary of his time in the book
– Joyce created a completely new style of writing which allows the reader to move inside the minds of the characters, breaking all the rules of description, speech, and punctuation -> this style is known as ?interior monologue? or ?stream of consciousness?, and it has had a powerful influence on many other writers
– Ulysses is a typical modernist work, but almost unreadable for common readership because of its complicated composition, unusual style, and voluminousness; anyway, utterly original and unique and hence it ranks among the most significant writings in English literature

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
– was born in a suburb of London; her father was a celebrated Victorian critic and biographer
– she never attended school, but was educated at home
– after her father´s death in 1904, she and her sister became leading figures in the so-called Bloomsbury Group, an avant-garde circle concerned with social issues, anti-imperialism and feminism
– she became very interested in understanding and describing characters from within in order to capture the true nature of human consciousness
– her novels are very experimental in their technique and her perceptive experiments in literary technique are striking
– she wanted to revolutionize the sense of plot and this can be seen in most of her works
– Virginia was also an excellent essayist and diarist; however, she suffered from depression and had suicidal inclinations and in 1941 she succeeded in committing suicide

Primary works:
Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To The Lighthouse (1927), The Waves (1931), Night and Day (1919), The Voyage Out (1915)

Herbert George Wells (1866-1946)
– he was inspired by Darwin as well as technology, politics, and social sciences
– he became one of the most important followers of Dickens in the critical realist novel and one of the main founders of science – fiction
– his science ? fiction novels are marked by the question of what disastrous consequences can come from the rapid technological progress in old societal conditions

Primary works:
The Time Machine (1895), The Invisible Man (1898), War of the Worlds (1898)

George Orwell (1903-1950)
– was born in India and studied in England
– he worked for the British Imperial police in Burma, witnessing much imperialist oppression; after that he spent 5 years in the poorest areas of London and Paris
– his writing was inspired by his experiences among the poor, unemployed, and other rejects of capitalist society
Animal Farm (1943)
– ranks among his best known works, ridiculing the revolutionary movement and development in the former USSR by means of personification [ uses animals to describe the revolution ? pigs represent the socialists etc.]

1984 (1949)
– the title was reached by switching the last two digits in the year 1948 when the book was finished
– an anti-utopian novel satirizing communism or either the dangerous tendencies of the late capitalist, neocolonialist, and neoimperialist society

Agatha Christie (1890-1970)
– one of the most well-known female English authors; ranks, with side by side A.C.Doyle, to the most famous detective-stories-writing-authors
– she was born in Torquay, Devon; in 1914, she married Archie Christie, but by then World War I had broken out; Agatha worked in a hospital at that time and that experience was useful later on (as she was working in an apothecary she learnt about dangerous poisons which helped her to make the plot in her stories)
– her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published in 1920; it was based partly on her own nursing experience and the city of Styles was a replica of Torquay; the novel gave an illuminating picture of Britain recovering from World War I and though she said that she disliked descriptive writing Styles proved to have an accurate eye for recording social history; there her readers became acquainted with Hercule Poirot, the eccentric but likeable Belgian detective with the funny-looking black moustache; and as Sherlock Holmes would not be complete with his Dr.Watson, so H.Poirot has Mr.Hastings, his loyal companion who helps him in solving the cases
– Agatha made news herself when she disappeared for a few days after her husband wanted a divorce; she was soon found to be staying in a hotel in Harrogate, in the north of England; she suffered a nervous breakdown because her mother died at that time and she had troubles with her husband; by the way, she was missing for 11 days and her disappearance was a bit mysterious; it is interesting to note that it was while she was suffering so much that she wrote one of her masterpieces ? The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
– after the divorce she married a British archaeologist, Max Mallowan; she went with him to Syria and Iraq and her detective skills were a help to him in his excavations; this time the marriage was happy and blessed and she eventually died in peace in 1976
– she wrote 79 novels and several plays; her sales outnumber those of W.S.!, her works have been translated into many languages (more than 100) and have been made into films and series on many occasions

Primary works:
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), Murder on the Orient Express (1934), Death on the Nile (1937), Five Little Pigs (1943), Ten Little Niggers (1939), The Mousetrap (a play, 1952) etc.

D.H.Lawrence (1885-1930)
– born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire to a family of a miner and a woman of higher class
– the contrast in the social classes of his parents greatly influenced his development and can be seen in his semi-autobiographical novel Sons and Lovers (1913)
– however, he achieved fame because his novels challenged the literary and social status quo with defiant eroticism as it can be seen most in his famous novel Lady Chatterley´s Lover (1928), which depicts an adulterous love between Lady Constance Chatterley and her gamekeeper Oliver Mellors and which led to much controversy and a scandal in Britain
– D.H.Lawrence´s opinion of the writer´s purpose was very different; he felt it was the novelist´s job to show how an individual´s view of his own personality was affected by conventions of language, family, and religion and to show how people and their relationships with each other were always changing; he was known as a man of violent temper and in some writings, he produced very reactionary opinions on the role of women and politics; his views seem unacceptable to some people but they do agree that he was a master in his portrayal of the human spirit

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973)
– he was a philologist and writer, born in Bloemfontein, South Africa; he studied in Birmingham and at Oxford University, where he became a professor of Anglo-Saxon (1925-45) and of the English language and literature (1945-59); was a soldier in World War I, witnessed the worst battles so he could be regarded as a member of Lost Generation like E.Hemingway, E.M.Remarque
– a founder of a new literary genre – fantasy
– his stories are debated even today as being very symbolic in nature; some people say that his most famous work The Lord of the Rings symbolizes World War I (the monumental battles) and World War II (the good forces being the Allies- the peoples of Middle-Earth and Sauron, the dark lord, resembles Hitler and the armies of orcs the Nazis)?Tolkien denied all of this, accusing them of ?digging where there was no water?
– whether symbolic or not, Tolkien enjoys one of the largest cult followings in English literature
– his ardent interest in language, saga, and mythology led to his books about a fantasy world in which the beings have their own languages, culture, habits, history, and mythology
– to make it really realistic he even thought up several artificial languages for the purposes of his books, thus languages like Elvish, Dwarvish, and many other appear in his books; though being completely new and original, mainly based on northern languages such as Norwegian, Swedish and Celtic languages like Gaelic, Welsh and Irish

Primary works:
The Hobbit (1937), The Lord of the Rings (3 parts : The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King/ 1954-55); The Silmarillion (1977-posthumously)

2) DRAMA

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
– he was a famous English playwright, essayist, and pamphleteer
– born in Dublin, Ireland; he came from an old, privileged, but impoverished Protestant family; his father was a merchant, but was not very successful and ,unfortunately, became addicted onto alcohol and therefore he could not provide his son a proper education
– since he was 15, Shaw had been working as a clerk in a real estate agency in Dublin
– the only positive influence on Shaw was his mother; she was keen on music and left her husband for a teacher of music to live in London where she started to teach singing herself
– in 1876, Shaw followed her mother to London; in London, he contributed articles about music to a magazine called The Hornet and studied Wagner´s operas and socialist literature including Marx; he also joined the Fabian Society in 1884 which was a group of intellectuals who refused violence, supported socialism and wanted to defeat capitalism in the way of using parliamentary means
– it was at that time when Shaw established himself as a literary, art, musical, and dramatic critic; his reviews were published in magazines such as The World or Saturday Review
– in 1898, he married a rich Irish heiress Charlotte-Payne Townsend; the marriage was quite happy, but Charlotte died in 1943
– he tried to take up a political career, but was not very successful, his speeches did not gain him enough votes; this was probably caused by his support of socialism that could not have attracted the English burgeios middle classes; he traveled a lot ? Russia, South Africa, the USA
– in 1925, Shaw celebrated a great success, he attained probably the highest achievement that a writer can achieve ? the Nobel Prize for Literature
– Shaw´s aim in many of his plays was to subject his audiences to completely new points of view and ways of looking at themselves and the society they lived in; he enjoyed the shock and offence this often created

Primary works:
The Doctor´s Dilemma (1906), Androcles and the Lion (1912), Pygmalion (1913), Heartbreak House (1919), Back to Methuselah (1921), Saint Joan (1923)

Pygmalion is the story of Eliza Doolittle, a poor ignorant flower-girl who happens upon the famous phonetics expert, professor Higgins. As part of a bet, Higgins attempts to teach Eliza how to speak and behave like a member of the upper class. He succeeds, but in more ways than one. She learns to speak like a lady and he learns how to love.

Samuel Beckett (1906- )
– like G.B.Shaw he was rewarded by the Nobel Prize (1969)
– in the 1950´s, a wave of the ?Theatre of the Absurd? spilled from France to England and S. Beckett is considered to be the originator of this genre
– World War II, including the Nazi execution of several of his friends, gave Beckett feelings of loneliness, fear, loss of identity, and a loss of perspective and purpose in life; these feelings are more and more reflected in his works; his life philosophy became existentialist ? the belief that human existence is irrational and without goal or escape
– a key absurd play is Waiting for Godot ? there is very little plot or action; two clowns are waiting, and their master is pulling a slave; the philosophical questions are very basic: to be or not to be, act or wait, believe or despair; Godot does not have an identity and the whole work is full of absurd nihilism

3) POETRY

Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)
– a Welsh poet, born in Swansea
– his poems, as he said, were written to be read aloud and they deal with the themes closest to people such as: birth, death, and love

And Death Shall Have No Dominion

And death shall have no dominion
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot
Though they go mad they shall be sane
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again
Though lovers be lost love shall not
And death shall have no dominion

And death shall have no dominion
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily
Twisting on racks when sinews give way
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break
Faith in their hands shall snap in two
And the unicorn evils run them through
Split all ends up they shan’t crack
And death shall have no dominion

And death shall have no dominion
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain
Through they be mad and dead as nails
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down
And death shall have no dominion

B) 2nd half of the 20th century
– in the second half of the 20th century we can find a group of young writers who are called
?Angry Young Men?
– a group of young British writers annoyed with the contemporary situation in the society, they do not respect the goals and conventions of their fathers and want to live differently, but unlike the parallel movement in the USA – the beat generation ? eventually, they find their place in the society and lead the life which they opposed to at the beginning
– main features: nonconformity; against English conventions, order, social hierarchy, British conservatism, hypocrisy, snobbery etc.
– they prefer living in the country to the life in big cities such as London
– realistic, humorous books, sarcasm, irony, social criticism, satire
– colloquial language
– main hero is often a young man after graduating, do not like the idea of having a steady job and common life, hates routine, but finally mainly owing to a marriage with a girl from upper class he finds his place in the society and has no reason to revolt
– a special type of novel = a campus novel ? the story is set at university, dealing with the relationships between the professors and the students and the differences between them
– authors : King