English literature

• brief introduction
  • one of the oldest literature in the world
  • oldest litery monument of the Anglo-Saxon period is legend about Beowulf (8th century)
  • oldest English writer is John Wiclife (he criticized Pope and Church) => he influenced Jan Hus
  • 14-16th century – Renaissance period
    • Geoffrey Chaucer – Cantenbury tales (picturized by Federico Fellini)
    • William Shakespeare
  • 18th century
    • Daniel Defoe – Robinson Crusoe
    • Jonathan Swift – Gulliver’s Travels
  • 19th century – Romantic period
    • George Gordon Byron – Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
    • Walter Scott
  • 19th century – Realism period
    • Charles Dickens – described truly the life of poor people in England
      • Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, The Pickwick Papers
  • 20th century
    • Oscar Wilde – The Picture of Dorian Gray
    • Windston Churchil – memoirs of the Second World War – Nobel Prize
  • contemporary literature
    • Joanne Rowling – Harry Potter

William Shakespear

• is considered to be the greatest dramatist of all times
• the Globe Theatre – actor and writer
• 37 plays and sonnets
  • comedies
    • A Midsummer-Night’s Dream
  • tragedies
    • Romeo and Juliet
    • Macbeth
    • Hamlet
    • Othello
    • King Lear
  • historical plays
    • Richard III.
    • Julius Caesar

Walter Scott

Walter Scott was born in the Old Town of Edinburgh in 1771 as a son of solicitor and died in 1832. He was popular Scottish historical novelist and poet. He has a truly internacional career in his lifetime with many readers in Europe, Australia, and North America. Many of his works still remain classics of English-language literature.

When he was two years old he survived bout of polio which left him lame in his right leg for the rest of his life. He often attended spa for treatment and water cure. Aunt Jenny took care of him during his childhood. He has a private education before he went to a high school. When he was well able to walk Walter started his studies at Royal High School of Edinburgh. He liked reading especially chivalric romances, poems, history and travel books. After finishing school he was sent to stay for six months with his aunt, attending a grammar school. Then he began studying classics at the University of Edinburgh (he was only twelve years old). He has his own memorial in Edinburgh – Scott monument with his statue.

His first works were English translations from German. His first work with signs of interest in Scottish history were collected Scottish ballads published as The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. He married Margaret Charlotte Charpentier and had five children with her. The Lay of the Last Minstrel (poetry) bought him fame after he founded a printing press. Other poems: The Lady of the Lake.

Waverley, a novel which did not name its author (name Author of Waverley.., The Wizard of the North)

Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe is a novel set in 12th century England, he mixed real historical events and people with fictitious story. Ivanhoe is the story of one of the remaining Saxon noble families at a time when the nobility was overwhelmingly Norman. A member of this family, Wilfred of Ivanhoe was out of favour with his father Cedric because Ivanhoe fell in love with Lady Rowena (a ward of Cedric whom was promised to another man) and also for his allegiance to the Norman king Richard I of England (Lionheart) who is returning incognito from the Crusades. At that time Prince John of England wanted to seize power to become a king. Other major characters included various Knights Templar, Jewish moneylender Isaac with his daughter Rebecca, Robin Hood, etc..