The British Literature
The Middle Ages
The oldest literature (literary) monument of the Anglo-Saxon period is the old Germanic legend about Beowulf. This heroic poem is about the strong and courageous pagan hero Beowulf.
John Wycliffe was a professor of Oxford University. With his students he translated the whole Bible into English. He influenced Master John Huss and our Hussite movement very much.
The Renaissance and Humanism
Geoffrey Chaucer – He was born in London in 1340. He grew up in the family of wealthy vintner in London. Chaucer was well educated, he was a courtier, a soldier and was interested in mathematics, medicine, psychology. He worked for various kings of England mainly as a traveling diplomat. These kings were Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV. His best friend´s name was Johnof Gaunt – the son of Henry IV. As a writer, Geoffrey Chaucer is sometimes called „the father of English Poetry“. He wrote in English when other writers wrote in French or Latin and he inspired others to do the same. His charakters were real and alive, not religious stereotypes. His work is full of humour. His masterpiece „The Canterbury Tales“ is one of the best poetic works in English. It has about 17 000 lines and one or two of the tales are in prose. It is about a party of 31 people who meets before the pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas Beckett at Canterbury. Each of them shall tell a few stories. In 1388 Chaucer, like characters in his famous Tales, also went a pilgrimage to the cathedral in Canterbury. „The Canterbury Tales“ was left unfinished, because Chaucer died in London in 1400. He is buried in the Poets Corner at Westminster Abbey with other famous writers of England.
William Shakespeare: is the biggest author of this period.
Christopher Marlowe: might became another Shakespeare but he had been killed. However he lived only a short life, he wrote many plays – The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus or The Jew of Malta.
Sir Thomas More: He wrote Utopia – a vision of imaginary island with perfectly organised society.
17th Century
John Milton: is the main figure of this period. His masterpiece is Paradise Lost, which is about the revolt of Satan against Heaven and God.
18th Century
In the 18th century there is a big development of the society and economy, journalism, novels and drama developed very much. Literature became very popular.
Jonathan Swith: was a sharp critic. He was a dean in Dublin. He wrote satirical pamphlets on all unfair events in British society. His most popular work is Gulliver´s Travels – allegory of Lemuel Gulliver’s travelling through imaginary countries. He criticises politics in England, kingdoms, corruption, armies, bad politicians etc. He visits four quite different worlds. The first one is country called Lillipyt, where the people are six inches high, the second country is Brobdingnag, which is inhabited by giants. The third are Laputa and Lgado – philosophers and science, and the fourth one is with Yahoos, disgusting beasts in the shape of men.
Henry Fielding: journalist, lawyer and playwright. He wrote a realistic novel Tom Jones, History of a Foundling, where he described the life in the 18th century England. Fielding is considered as the founder of the Modern English novel.
Daniel Defoe: was a politician, traveller and journalist. His most famous work is Robinson Crusoe. Robinson shipwrecked on a lonely island, he represents the qualities, which the middle class needed in capitalist competition to be successful. Moll Flanders is a realistic picture of the life and adventures of a London prostitute.
Romanticism
It was in the end of the 18th century and during the first third of the 19th century. The emphasis is upon emotions rather than on an intellectual attitude.
Sir Walter Scott: is a founder of historical novel. He draw the themes for his romantic novels from old folk ballads, especially from Scottish history. Ivanhoe is from the period of Richard the Lionhearted. The other novels are Waverley, Kenilworth and so on.
The romantic period is known especially for its poetry, Pre romantic period is represented by William Blake (Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience). The best English romantic poets are: William Wordsworth or John Keats. The other are:
Samuel Coleridge: his masterpiece is The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner – a beautiful ballad about the mariner who shot the albatross and because of this the whole ship was cursed. The mariner is the only one who survives and his penalty is to travel from land to land with suffering soul.
Lord George Gordon Byron: represent revolutionary romanticism – unhappy and usually lonely heroes fight for freedom and their fight ends in vain. His main work is Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. The Hero travels all over Europe and make comments of the hypocritical society and unfairness in life.
Pervy Bysshe Shelly: represents also as a Byron revolutionary romanticism. His greatest work is Prometheus Unbound, based on an old Greek legend about Prometheus who steals fire from Olympus to give it to People. Shelley´s Prometheus is also chained to a rock but in the end he is saved and with others fights against the tyrant Jove.
Victorian Age (Critical Realism) – 19th century:
Victorian Age produced great novels criticising various evils of prosperous but imperialistic society. Among the best authors of this period belong:
Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre, who both (of them) dealt with moral and psychological problems.
Charles Dickens: described truly the life of poor people in England in 19th century. He combines comic and serious situations. He himself suffered in his childhood and his bitter experience can be found in his works. Among his major novels belong Little Dorrit, David Copperfield, The Pickwick Papers, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist.
William Makepeace Thackeray: he wrote novels against snobbery and hypocrisy. His main novel is Vanity Fair.
The First Half of The 20th Century
Thomas Hardy: together with D. H. Lewrence represents the naturalistic trend in literature. He understands hard life of common people, hates hypocrisy and brutal egoism of the rich, his work is ironical and pessimistic (Far from the Madding Crowd).
Davis Herbert Lawrence – Sons and Lovers, Lady´s Chatterley´s Lover
Robert Leis Stevenson – wrote romantic adventurous stories (Treasure Island)
Oscar Wilde: He was born in Dublin, Ireland. He was critized by London society. He was in prison too. Then he lived in a prison. He wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray or dramas (Lady Windermere´s Fan) or fairy tales (The Happy Prince, The Selfish Giant).
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: is the creator of Sherlock Holmes and he makes one of the grates detective storywriters of all times.
Rudyard Kipling: was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature as a first British author. He wrote short stories about India, the sea, the jungle and its animals – The Jungle Book, The Second Jungle Book.
John Galsworthy: he got the Nobel Prize, he was a critical novelist, dramatist and short story–writer. His most known book is Forsyte Saga – he describes upper middle class family.
Herbert George Wells – he wrote sci-fi – The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds
James Joyce: he was born in Dublin, he wrote modern novels and experimental prose. Dubliners is a collection of short stories. His masterpiece is Ulysses – they wander around Dublin in the course of one day (Homer¢s Ulysses about 20 years) and all the characters in the book correspond to the character of the legend.
Georg Bernard Shaw: is the most famous personality in drama of this period. He attacked the whole society. In his plays he criticises the false morals of the society – Pygmalion (My Fair Lady). He was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Other writers are – Joseph Conrad, Aldous Haxley, Virginia Woolf, Graham Greene
Contemporary literature
A group called: Angry Young Men – John Wain, Kingsley Amis, John Braine.
John Wain: he expressed disillusionment and emptiness of intellectuals after W. W. II as all angry young men – they are angry, criticise snobs and people in power. He wrote The Young Visitors.
Kingsley Amis: the most famous member of this group. He is world famous for his Lucky Jim (the main character is Jim Dickson – a lecturer at one small university).
John Braine – Life at the Top, Room at the Top
William Golding: he was rewarded a Nobel Prize. His most known book is Lord of the Files – the story is set to the future, when an air–crash leaves a group of young boys on an island. First they are happy without their parents and they try to form an ideal society, then they form 2 groups and the end is full of barbarian bestiality.
J.R.R. Tolkien: based the stories of his fairy tale novels on his profound knowledge of old Germanic and Celtic myths. He created a fantasy world of Middle-Earth where small hobbits seek happiness, goodness and live many adventures – Habbit, The Lord of The Rings.
George Orwell: wrote excellent novels criticising totalitarian society (Animal Farm, 1984).
Agatha Christie: is the most widely read author in the world. She is the queen of a detective story and wrote about 70 novels – The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Ten Little Niggers, Sleeping Murder, Curtain.
Arthur C. Clarke: is a world-known science-fiction writer – 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Fountains of Paradise.
Other authors are – Iris Murdoch, John Fowles, Alan Silitoe, Dylan Thomas, Douglas Adams (sci-fi with detective stories and humour – The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything)
Drama
John Osborne – play Look Back in Anger – it was the beginning of the angry young men movement.
Samuel Beckett – a Nobel Prize winner, he is important both for drama and prose. His famous play is called Waiting for Godot.
Harold Pinter – is influenced by Kafka and Beckett, for example the plays: The Room, The Birthday Party.