British and American Literature

BRITISH
The oldest literature monument of the Anglo-Saxon period is an old Germanic legend about Beowulf (from the 8th century). This heroic poem is about a strong hero Beowulf.
During the Middle Ages, Roman Catholic church was strongly criticised by John Wyclef a professor of Oxford University. He translated the whole Bilbe into English with his student. He influenced Master John Huss and our Hussite movement very much.
The end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of Renaissance in literature is marked by Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. It s a brilliant portrait of 30 pilgrims who travel to Canterbury and each tells 4 stories. In this way we are given a picture of the 14th century society.
In the 1476 William Caxton introduced printing in England which helped spread literature and philosophy. The Middle ages philosophy was under theological influence, while the Renaissance philosophy turned to Plato and Aristotle philosophy and formed new philosophical learning – humanism. It went hand in hand with interests in education and social reforms.
Sir Thomas More wrote the Utopia, a vision of imaginary island with perfectly organized society.
The greatest personality of English renaissance is William Shakespeare. Between his master piece belong The comedy of errors, Henry VI or Romeo and Juliet. Now, I will talk about tragedy Romeo and Juliet. It is tragedy about love between two young people – Juliet Montec and Romeo Capulet. Their families live in Verona and they don t like together and so they don t grudge them. Julie likes Romeo in so far, that she pretences, that she makes suicide, but Romeo sees that and makes suicide real. It has bad end – it is tragedy.
In 18th century, with the development of the society and economy, journalism, novels and drama developed very much. Literature became popular among the middle class and first authors were from these circles.
Jonathan Swift was a sharp critic. He was a dean in Dublin. He wrote satirical pamphlets on all unfair events in British society, but his most popular work is Gulliver s Travels.
Daniel Defoe was a politician, traveler and journalist. His most famous work is Robinson Crusoe. Robinson, shipwrecked on island, represents the qualities which middle class needed in capitalist competition to be successful.
Henry Fielding was a journalist and lawyer. He wrote a realistic novel Tom Jones, History of a Foundling. There are many characters through whom Fielding describes the life in the 18th century.
Characteristic topics for Romanticism are: historical topics, love country, nature, detail, description of weather? We can divided writers in this era to two groups.
First are „Lake poets“. To this group belong William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge
They wrote about nature, mood, lyrical balads. They lived in Lake District. Second group are George Gordon Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats. To this group belong Sir Walter Scott. He is founder of historical novel. He wrote Ivanhoe – old legend.
Victorian age produced great novels critizing various evils of prosperous, but imperialisctic society. Best author of this era is Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights and Charotte Bronte – Jane Eyre. Charles Dickens descibed truly life of poor people. He combines comic and serios situation. He wrote Little Dorit, The Pickwick papers and Oliver Twist. William Makepeace Thackeray wrote novels against snoberry. His main novel is Vanity Fair.
Thomas Hardy together with D. H. Lawrence represents the naturalistic trend in first half of 20th century. He understands hard life of common people. D. H. Lawrence was the son of minor so he knew crulty and humilitation of the working people. This was shown in many novels such as Sons and lovers. In Lady Chatterley s Lover he analyzes sexuals relations between a man and a woman. Oscar Wilde is biggest representant of this era. He was influenced French theory „l art-pour-l art“ and founded the aestethic cult in London. He wrote Picture of Dorian Gray and The Happy prince. Rudyard Kypling was awarded as first british writer . He wrotes stories about India and The Jungle Book.John Galsworthy was a critical novelist. He described the decay of the Victorian upper middle class in Forsyte saga. James Joyce together with Marcel Proust and Franz Kafka mark the turning point in modern novel. Joyce, born in Dublin, wrote an experimental prose Dubliners. The most famous representant of this era is G. B. Shaw. He attacked the whole society. In his plays he critizes the false morals of the society. In second half of 20th century rolled in group of writers, which hated social systém. They called Angry Young men. To this group belong Kinglsley Amis and his Lucky Jim and John Braine with „Room at the top“. Nowadays we speak about experimntal writing. This represents William Goldwing and his „Lord of the flies“ and Geroge Orwell and „Animal farm“.

AMERICAN
Till the first half of the 19th century was about conditions of the settlement in the New World. While the romantic movement arose in Europe as the expression of the revolt against political and religious authority, in America romanticism was connected with nationalism. They were proud of the American intellectual tradition which created their republic. Washington Irwig wrote on American topics – the history of New York, essays on American life, a large biography of George Washington. One of his well-known book is The Sketch book. James Fenimore Cooper described American wilderness and wrote Indian novels of adventure – The Last of Mohicans. Walt Whitman was a poet of democracy, freedom and sexual love and he made the American poetry independent on European poetry. He influenced the whole modern poetry with rhythmical free verse which was his innovation. Edgar Allan Poe – a poet and short story writer , critical essayist and the founder of science fiction and detective story. His best poem is The Raven. He wrote wonderful short stories such as The Black Cat, The Golden Bug or The Pit and the Pendulum. Ralph Waldo Emerson was the leading philosopher in the „transcendentalist“ movement . It was based on the doctrine of free will, on the individual conscience and the sense of right. Herman Melville was the greatest symbolist, he sailed on seas for many years. His experience at sea were the basis for almost all his novels. The most famous novel is Moby-Dick, the symbolic story of captain Ahab, a free man. Mark Twain is one of the greatest. He became famous as a humorist and story teller. His novel The Gilded Age gave the name to the whole period after the Civil war. This book is a bitter satire on one period of the get-rich -quick years in the second half of the 19th century. His best books are based on his own experiences along the Mississippi – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. These books describe the adventures of boyhood. Huck is portrait of a frontier boy.
The quick development in America at the end of the 19th century in industry, trade and the manufacturing goods gave rise to many problems. Authors first try to describe the life, where money-making dominates, destroys human character and put aside all human values. Realism and naturalism developed.
Theodore Dreiser had a proletarian childhood and he became a reporter, editor and novelist. His masterpiece is An American Tragedy. His hero is negative, he becomes a murderer, but it is not the hero who is to blame but the society and the system. Jack London became very popular due to describing adventurous life at the time of the Gold rush. Martin Eden is a novel about a man who wants to be successful.
After the World War I a group of writers known as the „Lost Generation“ entered literature. They were writers who were influenced by the war.
Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1954 for its famous book The Old Man and the Sea, which is about human strength. Hemingway became journalist after war, he wrote for example A Farewell to Arms. Francis Scott Fitzgerald is connected with the Jazz Age of the 20s. He wrote many stories about wealthy people, for whom everything is so easy because of money. His best novel is Great Gatsby.Next important author is John Steinbeck. He won the Nobel Prize in 1962. He tried to uncover the reasons of social injustice. The Grapes of Wrath describes the Depression following after the crisis of 1929. His other famous works are Of mice and Men or Travels with Charley.
Norman Mailer is one of the best authors the World War II. The Naked and the Dead is based on his own experiences in the Pacific. It is about group of soldiers who survive the attack on a island occupied by the Japanese. Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22, an antiwar novel connecting absurd black humour and Yossarian s terrible experiences from World War II. Ray Bradbury is the outstanding author of warning science fiction literature. His best novels are Martian Chronicles or Fahrenheit 451.
20th century poetry is famous for a group of poets and artist who gathered around 1956 in San Francisco and are called the „Beat Group“ They practiced new ways free life, behavior and new use of language. Among the best known poets of this era belong Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti or Jack Kerouac. 20th century is connected with development of drama too. The most famous author of drama is Tennessee Williams. His wrote Cat on a hot tin roof. In this play he critics relationship in classic American s families.