20thcenturyenglishlitera课件

1、20th Century English Literature .1In this lecture, you will learnThe social backgroundIdeological backgroundRealism in the 20th century English literatureModernismThe poetry in England in the 20th centuryThe modernistic novelThe modernistic dramaRepresentative writers of this age.2The Social Backgro

2、und1. The natural and social sciences development led to great gains in material wealth.2. Frequent economic depressions and mass unemployment sharpened the contradictions between the rich and the poor.3.The catastrophic two world wars tremendously weakened the British Empire and brought about great

3、 sufferings to its people as well.3The Social BackgroundThe appalling shock of the First World War severely destroys peoples faith in the Victorian values; the postwar economic dislocation and spiritual disillusion produced a profound impact upon the British people, who came to see the prevalent wre

4、tchedness in capitalism.The Second World War marked the last stage of the disintegration of the British Empire. Britain suffered heavy losses in the war: thousands people were killed; the economy was ruined; and almost all its former colonies were lost. People were in economic, cultural and belief c

5、rises.4Ideological BackgroundIdeologically, the rise of the irrational philosophy and new science greatly incited modern writers to make new explorations on human natures and human relationships.1. The theory of Scientific Socialism put forward by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels not only provided a g

6、uiding principle for the working people, but also inspired them to make dauntless fights for their own emancipation.2. The Social Darwinism under the cover of “ survival of the fittest”, vehemently advocated colonialism or jingoism (侵略主义).3. Freuds analytically psychology drastically altered peoples

7、 conception of human nature.5Realism in the 20th Century English LiteratureRealism was, to a certain extent, eclipsed by the rapid rise of modernism in the 1920s. In the 1930s, novelists began to turn their attention to the urgent social problems. They also enriched the traditional ways of creation

8、by adopting some modernist techniques. However, the realist novels of this period were more or less touched by a pessimistic mood, preoccupied with the theme of mans loneliness, and shaped in different forms: social satires by Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, comic satires on the English upper class

9、 by Evelyn Waugh; and Catholic novels by Graham Greene.6Realism in the 20th Century English Literature“The Angry Young Man A group of young novelists and playwrights with lower-middle-class or working-class background in the mid-1950s and early 1960s.They demonstrated a particular disillusion over t

10、he depressing situation in Britain and launched a bitter protest against the outmoded social and political values in their society. Kingsley Amis was the first to start the attack on the middle-class privileges and power in his novel Lucky Jim (1954). The term “The Angry Young Man” came to be widely

11、 used.7Realism in the 20th Century English LiteratureHaving been merged and interpenetrated with modernism in the past several decades, the realistic novels of the 1960s and 1970s appeared in a new face with a richer, more vigorous and more diversified style.8Realism in the 20th Century English Lite

12、rature二十世纪英国现实主义文学改变了维多利亚时代那种高雅温和的倾向，加强了对英国社会的保守性和虚伪性的批判，具有一种冷峻地直面人生的特点。伦敦塔桥.9Modernism1. A reaction against realism2. Modernism takes the irrational philosophy and psycho-analysis as its theoretical base.3. The major themes of the modernist literature are the distorted, alienated and ill relationsh

13、ips between man and nature, man and society, man and man, man and himself.4. The modernist writers concentrate more on the private than on the public, more on the subjective than on the objective. They are mainly concerned with the inner being of an individual. In their writings, the past, the prese

14、nt, and the future are mingled together and exist at the same time in the consciousness of an individual.10The Poetry in England in the 20th CenturyThe modernist poets fought against the romantic fuzziness and self-indulged emotionalism, advocating new ideas in poetry-writing.They advocate to use th

15、e language of common speech, to create new rhythms as the expression of a new mood, to allow absolute freedom in choosing subjects, and to use hard, clear and precise images in poems.11The Modernistic NovelThe modernist writers got great influence by the theory of Freudian and Jungian psycho-analysi

16、s and formed the new technical innovations of novel creation.They believed that multiple levels of consciousness existed simultaneous in human mind, that ones present was the sum of his past, present and future, and that the whole truth about human beings existed in the unique, isolated, and private

17、 world of each individual. .12The Modernistic DramaThe modern dramatists expressed their satire towards the upper-class people by revealing their corruption, snobbery and hypocrisy.The English dramatic revolution developed in directions: the working-class drama and the Theatre of Absurd. .13Thomas H

18、ardy(1840-1928)the last and one of the greatest Victorian novelists and poets one of the representatives of English critical realism at the turn of the 19th centuryFamous for his description of the imaginary county “Wessex”. His principal works are the Wessex novels.Hardys work reflected his stoical

19、 pessimism and sense of tragedy in human life.14The Hardy cottage in Higher Bockhampton, Dorchester.15The Characteristics of Hardys Works1. Novels of character and environment2. Critical realism plays an important role in Hardys works.3. Hardy is a meditative story-teller or romancer.4. He is a grea

20、t painter of nature.5. His heroes and heroines are all vividly and realistically depicted6. All works of Hardy are noted for the rustic dialect and a poetic flavor which fits well into their perfectly designed architectural structures.16DeterminismIn Hardys works, man is shown inevitably bound by hi

21、s inherent nature and hereditary traits which prompt him to go and search for some specific happiness or success and set him in conflict with the environment.The outside naturethe natural environment or Nature herselfis shown as some mysterious supernatural force, very powerful but half-blind, impul

22、sive and uncaring to individuals will, hope, passion or suffering.It likes to play practical jokes upon human beings by producing a series of mistimed actions and unfortunate coincidences.Man proves impotent before Fate. No matter how much he tries, he seldom escapes his ordained destiny.17Critical

23、RealismThough Naturalism seems to have an important part in Hardys works, there is also bitter and sharp criticism and even open challenge of the irrational, hypercritical unfair Victorian institutions, conventions and morals which strangle the individual will and destroy natural human emotions and

24、relationships. The conflicts between the tradition and the modern, between the old rural value of respectability and honesty and the new utilitarian commercialism, between the old false social moral and the natural human passion, etc. are all closely set in a realistic background true to the very ti

25、me and the very place. .18Hardys Major WorksHardy himself divides his novels into three groups:1) Romances and fantasiesA Pair of Blue Eyes (1873)The Trumpet Major (1880), etc.2)Novels of IngenuityDesperate Remedies (1871)非常手段The Hand of Ethelberta (1876) 埃塞尔伯塔的婚姻, etc.19Hardys Major Works3)Novels o

26、f character and EnvironmentUnder the Greenwood Tree (1872) Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) The Return of the Native (1878) The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) The Woodlanders (1887) Wessex Tales (1888) Tess of the dUrbervilles (1891) Lifes Little Ironies (1894) Jude the Obscure (1895).20Tess of DUrbe

27、rvillesWritten by Thomas Hardy tragic fate of a “pure” young peasant woman at the time of capitalist invasion into the country in the 19th-century England.21Hardys Major WorksPoems:Wessex Poems (1898)Epic DramaThe Dynasts 统治者三部曲(1903,1906,1908).22John Galsworthy(1867-1933)English novelist and playwr

28、ightKnown for his portrayal of the British upper middle class and for his social satire1932 won Nobel Laureate in literature for his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Soga.23Galsworthys Major WorksNovelsThe Forsyte Soga 福尔赛世家includes:The Man of Property有产业的人I

29、n Chancery进退两难/骑虎难下To Let出租The Modern Comedy现代喜剧 includes: The White Monkey白猿The Silver Spoon银匙Swan Song天鹅曲.24John Galsworthy(1867-1933)约翰高尔斯华绥1932年获诺贝尔文学奖，与威尔斯、贝内特一起，被合称为 “爱德华时代文学三巨头”代表作福尔赛世家三部曲：有产业的人、进退两难、出租裘利安女儿裘恩穷建筑师鲍辛尼裘利安堂兄索姆斯（女儿弗勒）妻子艾琳（儿子约翰）“福尔赛主义”财产意识和占有欲.25The Characteristics of Galsworthys

30、Critical Realism and Its Social EffectGalsworthy inherited the fine traditions of the great Victorian novelists of the critical realism such as Dickson and Thackeray. He learned from Maupassant for the vigor, economy and clarity of writing, Turgenev for the wisdom and naturalness, and Tostoy for the

31、 depth of insight and the breadth of character drawing.26The Characteristics of Galsworthys Critical Realism and Its Social EffectTechnically, he was more traditional than adventurous, focusing on plot development and character portrayal. With an objective observation and naturalistic description, G

32、alsworthy has tried his best to make an impartial presentation of the social life in a documentary precision.By emphasizing the critical element in his writing, he dauntlessly laid bare the true features of the good and the evil bourgeois society. He was also successful in his attempt to present sat

33、ire and humor in his writing. He wrote in a clear and unpretentious style with a clear and straightforward language. .27Oscar Wilde（1854-1900）Irish poet and dramatist unconventional poet and artist known as decadents and aesthetesa creative genius with wit and flamboyancean artist persecuted for his

34、 homosexuality, a sort of protomartyr for the cause of gay rights. full of talent, passion and, most of all, full of himselfview life as a performance.28Oscar WildeIn 1879, he settled in London, and soon won a reputation both as a writer and as a spokesman of the school of “Art for Arts Sake.”He soo

35、n became the leader of the Aesthetic Movement. Though in many of his brilliant plays and fairy tales he criticize the cynicism and bigotry of the bourgeois-aristocratic world of his days, he, for all that, remained a septic（腐败的） and pessimist.29Aesthetic MovementThe Aesthetic Movement is a late 19th

36、 century development which argued that art is not supposed to be utilitarian or useful in any practical sense.Instead, aesthetic experience is a fully autonomous and independent aspect of human life.Thus, art should exist solely for its own sake: I art pour I art (art for arts sake), a phrase first

37、used by Cousin in 1818 in his lectures Le Vrai, le Beau, et le Bien.Thus, the Aesthetic Movement was not entirely autonomous but was, instead, part of the larger trend labeled aestheticism.30AestheticismAestheticism is the doctrine or disposition that regards beauty as an end in itself, and attempt

38、to preserve the art from subordination to didactic, or political purposes.The term is often used synonymously with the Aesthetic Movement, a literary and artistic tendency of the late 19th century which may be understood as a further phase of Romanticism in the reaction against philistine bourgeois

39、values of practical efficiency and morality.31AestheticismAestheticism found theoretical support in the aesthetics of Immanuel Kant and other philosophers who separated the sense of beauty from practical interests. Its slogan is art for arts sake.Aestheticism was a cultural phenomenon of “fin de sie

40、cle” in Europe. It was a kind of Escapism in essence. Ralph Fox thus wrote about the aesthetic school of literature: “ Art for arts sake is only the hopeless answer of the artist to the slogan art for moneys sakehopeless because ivory never was a good material for fortifications.”.32Wildes Main Work

41、sThe Pictures of Dorian Gray道林.格雷的画像Lady Windermeres Fan温德米尔夫人的扇子A Woman of No Importance一个无足轻重的女人An Ideal Husband理想的丈夫The Importance of Being Earnest埃耐斯特的重要性The Happy Prince and Other Tales快乐王子故事集his only noveldramaWilde made his reputation in theatre world between 1892 and 1895 with a series of hi

42、ghly popular plays.fairy tales.33George Bernard Shaw(1856-1950)Irish dramatist, literary critic, a socialist spokesman, and a leading figure in the 20th century theatre.a freethinker, defender of womens rights, and advocate of equality of income.was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.34S

43、haws Major WorksIn his long dramatic career, Shaw wrote more than 50 plays of a variety of subjects:1. His early plays were mainly concerned with social problems and directed towards the criticism of the contemporary social, economic, moral and religious evils. Widowers House is a grotesquely realis

44、tic exposure of slum landlordism. Mrs. Warrens Profession is a play about the economic oppression of women.35Shaws Major Works2. Shaw wrote quite a few historical plays, in which he kept an eye on the contemporary society. The important plays of this group are Caesar and Cleopatra (1898) and Saint J

45、oan (1923)圣女贞德.3. Shaw also produced several plays, exploring his ideas of “Life Force”, the power that would create superior beings to be equal to God and to solve all the social, moral and metaphysical problems of human society. The typical example of this group is Man and Superman (1904).36Shaws

46、Major Works4. Besides, Shaw wrote plays on miscellaneous subjects:For example, The Apple Cart (1929) is about politics; John Bulls Other Island (1904)英国佬的另一个岛is about racial problems; Pygmalion (1912)匹格玛利翁 is about culture and art; Getting Married (1908), Misalliance (1910) and Fannys First Day (191

47、1) are about the problem of family and marriage; and The Doctors Dilemma(1906) is about the ignorance, incompetence, arrogance and bigotry of the medical profession. Too True to Be Good (1932) 真相必露 is a better play of the later period, with the authors almost nihilistic bitterness on the subjects of

48、 the cruelty and madness of World War I and aimlessness and disillusion of the young.37Shaws Literary IdeasShaw held that art should serve social purposes by reflecting human life, revealing social contradictions and educating the common people.Being a dramatic critic, Shaw directed his attacks on t

49、he Neo-Romantic tradition and the fashionable drawing-room drama. His criticism was witty, biting and often brilliant. Shaw was strongly against the credo of “art for arts sake” held by those decadent aesthetic artists. In his critical essays, he vehemently condemned the “well made” but cheap, hollo

50、w plays which filled the English theatre of the late 19th century to meet the low taste of the middle class.38Mrs. Warrens ProfessionThe social significance:The play tells an outrageous truth:In a moribund capitalist society, even prostitution can be made a means of exploitation by an ex-prostitutio

51、n Mrs. Warren and a sound investment by a respectable aristocrat Sir George Crofts.Here Shaw exposes and satirizes the entire capitalist system, shows his infinite sympathy for the exploited, and therefore sharply and daringly touches on the most fundamental being of the capitalist system.39George B

52、ernard Shaw“英国现代戏剧奠基人”，1925年获诺贝尔文学奖代表作巴巴拉少校 慈善救世军少校巴巴拉军火制造商安德谢夫诗人教授科森斯 鳏夫的房产 华伦夫人的职业.40萧伯纳戏剧主要内容批判讽刺各种社会现实问题，包括社会的文明习俗和伦理道德。描写了中产阶级一代人的软弱。思考具有普遍意义的人生态度与人性问题。萧伯纳、鲁迅、蔡元培 萧伯纳、鲁迅、宋庆龄.41戏剧艺术特征以“机智”为中心特色的幽默风格。扩大语言技巧在舞台上的作用，压缩简化动作与情节。对固定喜剧程式进行了谐谑摹仿。在写实手法中引入梦幻、象征、神话等非写实手法。.42James Joyce(18821941)an Irish no

53、velistrevolutionized the methods of depicting characters and developing a plot in modern fictionwidely considered as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.43James JoyceIn the 20th century, Joyce was deeply influenced by Ireland and wrote all his works about Dublin.But unlike his contempora

54、ry Yeats, he took no part in Irish nationalism or in Irelands life.His astonishing way of constructing a novel, his frank portrayal of human nature in his books, and his compete command of English has made him one of the outstanding influences on literature.44Joyces Major WorksChamber Music 1907-Col

55、lection of poems-Inspired by urine in a prostitutes chamber potExiles (a play)Dubliners 1914-Collection of short stories all set in Dublin-Stories progress from childhood to maturity-“The Dead” was added years later-Tried to get it published from 1904-1914; published much altered-Too “real” regardin

56、g morals and conduct, people and places, politics and church, lewd actions.45Joyces Major WorksA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 1916-Semi-autobiographical-Stephen Dedalus coming of ageUlysses 1922-Novel based on The Odyssey-Follows one day in the life of Leopold Bloom-Many still follow in Leos footsteps-The great modernist epic-Mythic method: the past and the present-Extend