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| English Literaturep> In “The Making of America” describing the history of the Gestland family she tries at the same time to give a picture of American history. She tried to describe individual & general simultaneously. And that resulted in the style, which was very awkward. She also tried to use the technique that she borrowed from cinematography, like in a film each next shot presents a slight variation from the previous one. Each next sentence differed from the previous one only insignificantly (regularly-repeated phrases, key words). It may look ridiculous, stupid, but many modern writers took this repetition from her. Another side the so-called portraits in literature were created on the basis of rhythmic principle. Every person has his own rhythm & in portraying a person’s life she tried to combine & match these rhythms – literary expressionism. The result of this was simplification of syntax, foregrounding of the verbs, minimal punctuation & omission of nouns & adjectives. “Tender Buttons” is a collection of poems, examples of this technique. The reaction was not unanimous. They accused the style for deintellectualization. For example, Malcolm Kowly said that “reading her style annoys us…”. Stein’s experiments are not so important by itself because they warned other artists against taking the same route. Her works are fruitless & senseless – they distract the communication. But her experiments are noticeable in Hemingway’s syntax, Faulkner’s “continuous present” (=past does exist in the present), Sherwood Anderson’s principles of cinematography. Her significance – she was the first English writer who expressed those tendencies which were the distinctive features of the avant- garde movement. John Doss Passos (1896-1970) He was born in Chicago. He lived a long life but his most productive
period was in the 20-30’s of the XXth century. He reflected the progressive
ideas of the time, produced the epic of American life within the framework
of a literary experiments. He graduated from Harvard. In 1916-17 studied
architecture in Spain & this background can be felt in his works in their
architecture. Participated in the war & after that he began to write. His
first book – “One Man’s Initiation”(1920). It was the first book in He continued the same technique in “Three Soldiers”. He attacks the
corruption of the world, socialist motives become more explicit in his
work. Here he experiments with writing technique – plot. The lives of three
young people – Americans – are in the focus of his attention. At first
their lives are connected, they met each other on the same boat but this is
the only point where their fates are close. As they arrive in Europe their
ways diverge. Each one follows his own path. The plot decenters, follows
the life of each of three heroes. All of them are ruined at the war, feel
lost, disillusioned. It is a typical lost generation novel written in the
modernist technique. John Andrews is a painter, he dreams to express his
protest against the war by artistic means. Both J. Andrews in the book & J. These tendencies increase in his next works. “Manhattan Transfer” He was popular in 20-30’s in Soviet Union, unfortunately his popularity was short-lived for political reasons. As soon as he began to criticize & warn against totalitarianism he fell out of grace. He lived through the economic crises of 1929 & this found its expression in the novel “USA”. Dos Passos wrote “USA” – a big epic where he paid more attention to
generalization. He wrote it for 20 years. It consists of 3 novels: “The 42 V novel - the portraits of literary characters V biographies of historical personalities V news-reel, i.e. news of the day V camera obscure (eye) – inner monologue of the author News of the day was to documentarize the specific moments in the USA history to create the historical colouring & objective picture of that epoch. It included popular songs, headlines from papers. Here they try to follow the stream of consciousness of the newspaper reader. Camera obscure were to show the author’s attitude to life, to bring an individual lyrical touch to the story, personal meditations upon certain subjects, reminiscences of the things passed, expression of author’s ideas upon various aspects of life. It gave a picture of the author’s evaluation for 30 years. Novels are fictions. The portraits of literary characters were imaginary
literary heroes. There were 11 of them – typical representatives of all the
layers of the American society. The central characters John Wool McHouse. From the unique combination of these elements the unique picture of Dos Passos was concerned with the history of the country primarily. The
writer must be an architect of history. His work was a literary conclusion Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) He belongs to the lost generation but he gave his own name to it – “jazz
age”. Jazz was representative of the general atmosphere of the years – the
feeling of instability in life. Age of transition of social values. To his
mind jazz beat ideally expressed that feeling of hopeless despair with
which his young men & women tried to experience the every passing moment of
their lives, their age. There is a recurrent “capre diem”(ëîâè ìîìåíò)
theme in his novels. His heroes indulge & overindulge. Jazz age expresses
instability & changebility of life present in mind of many people who tried
to flee from the feeling of being lost, for they no longer believed in
life, so they tried to live it to their full. Fitzgerald was not very rich
but was educated in Princeton. He dropped out of it because of poor health His finest achievement is the novel “The Great Gatsby” which showed the
contrast between material wealth & the spiritual poverty of the heroes. Was he a positive or a negative character for the author? He possesses
good moral qualities but he is not the paragon of moral beauty, he obtained
his wealth by not clear ways. It’s clear that he is a tragic person. He
wastes his talent for money. Very often he is compared to Clyde Griffite Fitzgerald’s own story in a way repeats Gatsby’s story: he lived bohemian life, gradually writing became an obligation. He appeared to be a hostage of his own success. He also had drinking problems, & his wife whom he loved very deeply had some mental problems. The other works are “This Side of Paradise”, “Tender is the Night”, “The William Faulkner (1897-1962) A unique personality born in small town of Oxford (Mississippi) he grew
up in an impoverished southern aristocratic family & it had impact on him But he found writing to be a pleasure for him. In 1929 he wrote “The He needn’t invent anything – “The Sound & the Fury” is taken from Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts & frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound & fury, Signifying nothing. It seems that the same feeling of confusion is familiar to Faulkner. The
story is about the decay of the Compson’s family. The novel consists of
four parts. The first is told by Benjamin Compson who is mentally
handicapped. He is that very idiot who tells the story of life’s confusion. The following works treated the same topic. In 1945 he produced the
chronological supplement to the work “Light in August”, “Absalom! The decline of the South, race conflict & the constant overlap of the past & the present, loss of human values are the themes of his works. A line of descendants of formerly rich South families. The values of the past generation became corrupted in the modern world. Atmosphere of doomed despair. He got a Nobel prize in 1950. The values for him are courage, honour, pride, hope, sympathy, self-sacrifice, compassion. In 30’s his style changed. These works are easy to read. He turns to
another topic – the trilogy “The Hamlet”, “The Town”, “The Mansion”. He
thought he had spotted a disease in American society called “snopecism” The change in Faulkner’s outlook resulted in the structure of the novel. Faulkner is also famous for his short stories collected into two volumes: “Knight’s Gambit” “Collected Stories” Their theme is decline & deterioration o South. Here we meet the same
heroes or allusions to the characters & events of earlier novels. Every
book is interrelated. “The Bear” is a perfect example of Faulkner’s style. Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) He laid the foundation forAmerican drama. He comes form actor’s family,
education was not systematic, he did different odd jobs – gold digger in “The Emperor Jones” “The Hairy Ape” “All God’s Chillun Got Wings” (chillun = children) These plays voiced his protest against racism & exploitation. His plays
differed from typical Broadway production. They are very experimental. On
the one hand, they are realistic dramas, showing the life of people who
never before were the subject of writers’ interest. On the other hand, his
plays exhibit his search for the adequate form to treat this topic. “The Hairy Ape” is a story of a young proletariat Robert Smith whom everybody calls Jank. He was offended by a daughter of a certain man of property & so he is expressed his …to such a degree that he was put to jail where he absorbed certain socialistic ideas. But when he is released he tries to find his “áðàòüåâ ïî äóõó” he is taken for provocateur. He is very much shocked and baffled so he goes to the zoo where he lets an ape out of the cage. Eventually this ape kills him & he dies in the ape’s cage. His remarks to the play are very important & he pays great attention to the setting. First scene shows the worker’s dwelling. It must remind a cage by O’Neill. Then the scene shifts to a stove-hall is shown. There must be a flame: the fire symbolizes the hell of capitalists exploitation. The next scene shows the fashionable hotel – the paradise of the rich. The last scene is also an ape cage. It finishes the cycle. The naturalistic symbolism conveys the idea of inhumanity of exploiters, shifts the accents from the conditions, turning man to a beast to the biological characteristics. In his work of 30-40’s experiment takes to realism. “The Great God Brown” “Lazarus Laughed” “Strange Interlude” He resorted to various techniques of modern theatre – psychoanalysis, inner monologue, mask theatre. His masterpiece is trilogy “Mourning Becomes Electra”. Here he develops
classical notion of the tragic & transfers it to American soil of the civil
war period. He takes an eternal conflict & puts it to America. Histories of Later he intended to write a saga about wealthy people. It materialized in two plays: “A Touch of the Poet” “More Stately Mansions” O’Neill showed how several generations of American families gradually lose their values, their destines mingle. Individual lives become part of national history. The plays crowning his career are “A Moon for the Misbegotten”, “Long Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) He is a southerner born in Columbus, Missouri, where his grandfather was
the Episcopal clergyman. When he was 12 his father who was a travelling
salesman moved with his family to St. Louis, & both he & his sister found
it impossible to settle down to the city life. He entered college during
the Depression & left after a couple of years to take a clerical job in a
shoe company. He stayed there for two years, spending the evenings writing. In 1940 he started journey around the country & ended it up in New York. The play introduced features of new plastic theatre. The principles of
this theatre Williams formulated in the afterward to the play “Note for His second play “A Streetcar Named Desire” gained him a reputation of
leading stage writer & Pulitzer Prize. In this play there is a clash
between realism & imagination; physical forces, brutishness & helplessness;
sexual drive &thirst for poetic love; naked ugly truth & illusion, world of
fantasy. The main character is Blanche du Beau. The action takes place in Williams plays with human subconsciuosness. But he finds that the core of the conflict is not inherent in the struggle between masculine & feminine but a complex interrelation of personal circumstances: social & others. Tennessee Williams’ human type is an outcast, lonely, constantly in search of a relative soul with whom to share a burden of loneliness. But life is such that the outsider is doomed to defeat. The only salvation is love (but even this is questionable). Broken & lost people who are not able to defend themselves & their dreams can find love that will help them to sustain. Williams is a prolific writer, he also wrote 2 collections of poems. He combined poetry & realism & this unique combination singles him out from other writers. “Camino Real” is an allegoric drama, very experimental. “This is my conception of contemporary world in which I live,” he said. The scene is divided into two parts: V fashionable hotel in which people are bored & degraded V slums in which people are weak, humiliated, apathetic The town is in terror, free thoughts are persecuted, people are killed in the streets, brainwashing is actively underway. All problems are solved by an old gypsy woman who provides a certain entertainment. The city is called Camino Real[re’a:l], that is the way of hope & dream. It ends to sound real[ri:al], that is the way of reality, dead end of civilization. Killroy is an ordinary American who feels that atmosphere of social
hysteria & he tries to make sense in life. Old literary characters (Don His other plays “Baby Doll”, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, “Something Post Modernism. Post modernism can be regarded in two aspects: V as a literary trend V as a phenomenon which doesn’t belong exclusively to literature – a certain mentality of post industrial age. Post modernism appeared after the second WW. In 50’s, especially 60’s new type of fiction, new writing emerged, drastically different from previous writers. The idea that permeated this works: there is need to reevaluate old values, the values that lead Western civilization (idea of emancipation, enlightenment). But the WWII showed that the belief that a human is a reasonable creature who can build a reasonable society is inconsistent. |
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