writers and terms twentieth century british lit. nadine gordimer 1923- 1991 nobel prize winner from...
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WRITERS AND TERMS
TWENTIETH CENTURY BRITISH LIT
Nadine Gordimer 1923-1991 Nobel Prize Winner
From Johannesburg, South Africa
Parents were immigrants from Lithuania & England
Grew up in conventional society
Wrote about effects of apartheid, legal until 1991
She understood the black man’s burden in her country; treats SA from a literary perspective
Activist for AIDS
Believed short story was literary form of our time
Very sensitive to discrimination of any kind
Siegfried SassoonSiegfried Sassoon Wilifred OwenWilifred Owen
WWI Trench Poets
Believed inBelieved in Became Disillusioned byBecame Disillusioned by
The glory and honor of war and serving one’s country
Enlisted with prideVery romanticized
view of warSassoon had a
breakdown; almost went AWOL
The two met in a hospital
The carnageThe sufferingThe lack of progressThe lack of supportThe hopelessnessOwen was killed a few days before the war ended; died young
Trench Poets
1976 Riot in Soweto1976 Riot in Soweto Sharpsville MassacreSharpsville Massacre
Police fired into backs of crowd of people who were protesting law that made all blacks carry a pass book to travel in and out of the city; employers could write negative things to prevent them from entering.
Laws stated black could not hold a post higher than the lowest white
Soweto protested policy that required classes to be taught in Afrikaans, the language spoken by white SA’s
More than 600 blacks were killed.
This spurred Gordimer’s interest in apartheid
South African Apartheid
Idioms
An expresson that does not literally mean what the words say
British idiom is different from American idom
“Round the neighborhood”
“In a wax”
“Honor Bright”
DH Lawrence 1885-1930
Brilliant, imaginative, and emotionalSuffered from censorship and public condemnationPortrays characters as victims of a restrictive societyPortrays nature as symbolic of what is vital in lifeWrote Sons and Lovers, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and
Women in Love: all dealt with relationshipsFelt the source of all knowledge in life was in man
and womanFelt there was a conflict between instinct, which he
saw as good, and education, which he saw as bad
Traveled with his German wife FriedaLived in New Mexico, England, Italy,
and AustraliaDied of tuberculosis
Influenced by Freudian psychology
His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanizing effects of modernity and industrialization. In them, Lawrence confronts issues relating to emotional health and vitality, spontaneity, and instinct.
Lawrence is now valued by many as a visionary thinker and significant representative of modernism in English literature.
The Rocking Horse Winner
Deals with conflict between instincts and education
Paul rides his horse to find a winnerWhispering increases after his mother gets moneyBassett is his first partnerHe loses on his first betWins on Malabar, his final pickHis mother’s heart is a little stoneShe thinks about her son; her instincts start to
kick inConflict between materialism and nature
William Butler Yeats’ Reading
http://youtu.be/cy4gFQwDficI will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings; There midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray, I hear it in the deep heart's core.
1892
“Snake”
Set in ItalySpeaker goes to water trough and meets a
snakeHe becomes intrigued by it and watches itThe voices of his education tell him to kill itHis instinct tells him to admire itHe listens to his education and throws
something at itHe says he has something to expiate…a
pettiness.
George Orwell (Eric Blair) 1903-1950 Born in India; from England
An English novelist and journalist. His work is marked by keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense opposition to totalitarianism ,a passion for clarity in language and a belief in democratic socialism.
Orwell's influence on popular and political culture endures, and several of his neologisms along with the term Orwellian— a byword for totalitarian or manipulative social practices — have entered the vernacular
First published in the literary magazine New Writing in the autumn of 1936 and broadcast by
the BBC Home Service on 12 October 1948.
Orwell, the narrator writes of his experience as a police officer in Burma. He shoots an elephant, even though he knows he should not, in order to avoid being laughed at. He regrets his action.
The essay is also a condemnation of imperialism:
“When the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys.“
A narrative essay: his first famous piece.
Irish poet and playwright; revived Irish theatreIrish poet and playwright; revived Irish theatre
The Lake Isle of InnisfreeThe Lake Isle of Innisfree
Represents an escape from the stress of reality. Portrays the countryside as an idyllic refuge.
Uses assonance and alliteration.
Based on his grandparents’ farm in Ireland
William Butler Yeats 1865-1939
1888-19231888-1923 From New ZealandFrom New Zealand
Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp Murry (14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield left for Great Britain in 1908 where she encountered Modernist writers such as D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf with whom she became close friends. Her stories often focus on moments of disruption and frequently open rather abruptly. Among her most well-known stories are "The Garden Party,” "The Daughters of the Late Colonel," and "The Fly." During the First War Mansfield contracted extra pulmonary tuberculosis, which rendered any return or visit to New Zealand impossible and led to her death at the age of 34.
Katherine Mansfield
The light is central symbol
Conflicts:
1)Class vs Humanity
2)Rich vs Poor
3) Power
“I seen [sic] the little lamp.”
James Joyce1182-1941
Famous novelist and short story writerDublin, Ireland Works:DublinersUlyssesA Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManFinnegan’s Wake
Known for his stream-of-consciousness style.Considered to be one of the most influential Writers of the twentieth century
“Araby” is a carnival or bazaar that the narrator wants to attend in order to purchase a gift forMangan’s sister whom he barely knows.
He has an epiphany at the end: realizes the futility of his mission.
“Araby”
Everyone needs to escapeEveryone needs to escape
The priest: his booksMangan’s sister: her
religious retreatsHis uncle: alcoholThe boy: his fantasiesCoping with the
dreariness of reality is a theme.
The boy goes on a quest.
His views himself as a gallant knight on a noble quest.
Mangan’s sister is described with images of light and white.
The QuestThe Quest
Born Michael O’DonovanBorn Michael O’Donovan
Famous Short Story WriterFamous Short Story Writer
Proud of being Irish Member of Irish Republican
Army Prolific short story writer Over 70 dealt with Irish family
life
Frank O’Connor 1903-1966
O’Connor knew education was way our of his horrific family life.His dad was an alcoholic and cruel; called him a sissy because he liked to read.
My Oedipus ComplexLarry: unreliable narrator
Story relies on dramatic irony
Larry wants to get rid of his dad because he competes with him for his mother’s attention
Humorous Tone
Uses British idiom: “in a wax”
In resolution Larry and his father unite against Sonny, the new baby
Dylan Thomas 1914-1953
From Wales but mostly lived in London.Wrote first volume of poetry at 20.Gave lectures and did readings in the U.S.Died in NYC at 39 of alcoholism.Flamboyant and popular figure.Famous relationship with his wife Caitlin
Do Not go Gentle into That Good Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2cgcx-GJTQ&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNvujNd1gLw&feature=related
A villanelle (a 19-line lyric poem)Written for his father who was on hisDeathbed.Thomas wanted him to resist death.Builds an argument to persuade him
Fern Hill
Poem uses half rhyme, internal rhyme, and end rhymeLyric poemComments on the cruelty of timeIrony is that we are always moving closer to death even while wonderfully alive.
Uses puns and words in a playful manner“Though I sang in my chains by the sea.”
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughsAbout the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
Samuel Beckett1906-1989
An avant-garde playwright, novelist, poet, and director
1969 Nobel Prize
Irish but lived in Paris
Work is bleak and offers a tragi-comic outlook on human nature
Associated with black comedy or gallows humor
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot
Beckett is considered by many to be most important post-m
Modernist writerWork is minimalistAssociated with Theatre
of the Absurd: uses dark elements to create humor
Very little sceneryCharacters wait for
Godot: that long-expected something that people wait for but which never comes