Professional Documents
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History of English Literature
History of English Literature
Literature
К.ф.н., доц. Кожокина А.В.
Kozhokina Angelina
Phd, Associate professor
Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia
Introduction
• English literature includes literature composed in English
by writers not necessarily from England, but all are
considered important writers in the history of English
literature (for example, Robert Burns was Scottish,
James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish,
Adgar Alla Poe was American,).
• Until the early 19th century literature from Britain will
mainly be discussed; then America starts to produce
major writers and works in literature.
• In the 20th century America and Ireland produced many
of the most significant works of literature in English
• After World War II writers from the former British Empire
also began to challenge writers from Britain.
Lecture 1. The Development of the English
Language on the British Isles. Beowulf
•
449-1066
After the fall of the western Roman
Empire, Britain was invaded by
Germanic tribes: Angles ['æŋglz]
(Denmark), Saxons ['sæksnz]
(Germany) and Jutes ['dʒu:ts]
(later France) who lived in the
northern and central parts of
Europe.
• Soon after these invasions Britain
split up into 7 kingdoms: Kent,
Sussex, Essex, Wessex, Mercia,
East Anglia and Northumbria.
• Germanic tribes were pagans and
most of British Christians were put
to death. That’s why the stories of
Christian martyrs were typical of
the literature that time.
The Anglo-Saxon English Days of the Week
They spoke different dialects of the West Germanic Language. But they had no written language yet.
And the stories and poems they composed had to be memorized. The famous "Beowulf” belongs
to them.
Anglo-Saxon English
7."Beowulf”
• The beautiful Saxon poem called "Beowulf" tells us of the times long before the Anglo-Saxons
came to Britain. There is no mentioning of England. It has come down to us in a single
manuscript, which was written at the end of the 10th century, at least two centuries after its
composition. The poem was given the title "Beowulf" only in 1805 and it was not printed until
1850.
• The name of the author is unknown. It is impossible for a non-specialist to read it in the original.
Its social interest lies on the description of the life of this period. The scene is set among the
Jutes, who lived on the Scandinavian Peninsula at that time, & the Danes, their neighbors.
• The people were divided into two classes: free peasants & warriors. The peasants planted the
soil & served the fighting-men who defended them from hostile tribes. Their kings were often
chosen by the people for they had to be wise men & skilled warriors.
• The poem shows the beginning of feudalism. The safety of the people depended on the warriors.
There were several ranks of warriors; the folk-king, or lord, was at the head of the community; he
was helped by warriors who were his liegeman. If they were given lands for their services, they
were called "earls", "knights".
• The Danes & the Jutes were great sailors. Their ships had broad painted sails & tall prows which
were often made into the figure of a dragon or wolf or some other fierce animal. The poem shows
us these warriors in battle & at peace, their feasts & amusements, their love for the sea & for
adventure.
• Beowulf is the main character of the poem. He is a young knight of the Jutes, who lived on the
southern coast of the Scandinavian Peninsula. His adventures with the sea-monster abroad, in
the country of Danes, & later, with a fire-dragon at home, form two parts in this heroic epic. His
unselfish way in protecting people makes him worthy to be folk-king. He would be slave to no
man. Though fierce & cruel in war, he respected men & women. He is ready to sacrifice his life
for them. Beowulf fights for the benefit of his people, not for his own glory, & he strives to be fair
to the end in the battle.
Beowulf (Old English and modern English versions)
• The endings, which show the relations between words, were substituted by
dashes. This brought about changes, which developed the language in a
new way. The droppings of case ending meant:
• The stress of the words was shifted. That's why the sound and rhythm of
the language were all together different.
• New grammar forms developed to show the relations of words and
prepositions and pronouns came to be used more than before.
• Since both languages were spoken by all classes of society they emerged
with by another very rapidly. The Danes were in many ways far more
civilized than the English (for example, they brought the game of chess to
the English).
Conclusion
• Thus Old English literature, or Anglo-Saxon literature, comprises literature
written in Old English in Anglo-Saxon England, in the period after the
settlement of the Saxons and other Germanic tribes in England after the
withdrawal of the Romans and "ending soon after the Norman Conquest" in
1066. These works include such genres as epic poetry, Bible translations,
legal works, chronicles, riddles, and others. All in all there are about 400
surviving manuscripts from the period.
• Oral tradition was very strong in early English culture and most literary
works were written to be performed. Epic poems were very popular, and
some, including Beowulf, have survived to the present day. Much Old
English verse in the manuscripts is probably adapted from the earlier
Germanic war poems from the continent. When such poetry was brought to
England it was still handed down orally from one generation to another.
• Old English poetry falls broadly into two styles or fields of reference, the
heroic Germanic and the Christian. The Anglo-Saxons were converted to
Christianity after their arrival in England.
• The epic poem Beowulf is the most famous work in Old English and has
achieved national epic status in England, despite being set in Scandinavia.
Nearly all Anglo-Saxon authors are anonymous: twelve are known by name
from Medieval sources, but only four of those are known by their works with
any certainty: Caedmon, Bede, Alfred the Great, and Cynewulf.
Cædmon is the earliest English poet whose name is known.
Questions and Tasks on Lecture 1
1. What was the lifestyle of Britons? What were the occupations of people of that
time?
2. Who were druids?
3. Why are myths so popular among people?
4. What Germanic tribes invaded Britain in the 5-7th centuries?
5. What was their influence on the culture of Great Britain?
6. What signs of their invasion can still be traced in the Modern English language?
7. What is the origin of English weekdays?
8. What’s the main feature of the language of “Beowulf”?
9. When was “Beowulf”? written? Who is its author?
10. What is its plot of “Beowulf”?? When and where does the action take place?
11. Why does this poem have a great social and historical significance?
12. What was the name of the Norman Duke who was at the head of the Norman
Conquest? What language did the invaders speak?
13. When did the battle at Hastings take place? What was its result?
14. What languages were spoken in Britain in the 12th and 13th centuries? How did
the Norman Conquest influence the English language?
15. Make a list of modern films featuring the Roman and Norman Conquests of Britain.
Have you seen any of these films? How do they depict the natives of the British
Isles and the invaders? Retell the plot of one of these films in brief.
16. Do you like the modern screen version of “Beowulf”? What can this old legend
teach modern generations?
Lecture 2. England in the 14-15th centuries.
Geoffrey Chaucer. Robin Hood Ballads
There are many famous quotations from Shakespeare. Here are some of them.
1. All's well that ends well
2. All that glistens is not gold
3. A sea of troubles
4. Brevity is the soul of wit
5. Delays have dangerous ends
6. Much ado about nothing
7. There is history in all men’s lives
8. There is no darkness but ignorance
9. To be or not to be, that is the question
10. What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Questions and tasks on Lecture 3
1. When did the English Renaissance take place?
2. What English monarchs reigned during the Renaissance period in
England? How did they influence the cultural life of that time?
3. When did William Shakespeare live? What is known about his early
life and education?
4. What are the three periods of Shakespeare’s writings?
5. What are some of the most famous Shakespeare’s plays?
6. Speak on the origin of the word “renaissance”
7. Speak on the philosophy of the Renaissance
8. What outstanding representatives of the Renaissance appeared in
science, art and literature in different European countries?
9. Why do sonnets occupy a unique place in Shakespeare’s heritage?
10.What ambiguous facts about Shakespeare’s life and personality do
you know?
Lecture 4. The Enlightenment.
The 17th – 18th century literature
1. The Enlightenment. Historical background
2. Daniel Defoe
3. Robinson Crusoe
4. Jonathan Swift
5. Gulliver's Travels
6. Robert Burns
1. The Enlightenment. Historical background
This era is also known as the era of enlightenment. People in England would meet at the coffee
house and talk about productive things. It started the British tradition of ‘afternoon tea’.
People were interested in appearance, not in the being genuine. Having good manners and doing the
right thing to the public was essential.
It was a sound-thinking & rational age. Common sense ruled the day. Common sense was the proper
guide to thought & conduct, in commerce & industry.
This period saw a remarkable rise of literature. People wrote on many subjects & made great
contribution in the fields of philosophy, history & natural sciences.
The problem of vital importance to the writers of the 18th century was the study of man & the origin of
his good & evil qualities. According to them, human nature was virtuous but man neglect virtue
under the influence of a vicious society. "Vice is due to ignorance", they said. It's but natural that
the writers of the 18th century started a public movement for enlightenment of people. The writers
of the age of Enlightenment insisted upon a systematic education for all.
This period saw a transition from poetry to the prosaic age of the essayists. An essay is a
composition of moderate length on any subject usually written in prose. The writer does not go
into details, but deals in an easy manner with the chosen subject, & shows his relation to the
subject. The style of prose became clear, graceful & polished.
The leading form of literature became the novel. The main character of the novel was no longer a
prince but a representative of the middle class. This had never happened before: so far, the
common people had usually been represented as comical characters.
The English writers of the time formed two groups.
To one group belonged those who hoped to better the world simply by teaching:
• Daniel Defoe[1661-1731]
The other group included the writers who openly protested against the vicious social order:
• Jonathan Swift [1667 -1745]
• Henry Fielding [1707 -1764]
• Robert Burns [1759 - 1769]
2. Daniel Defoe (1661 -1731)
• Daniel Defoe ['dӕnjəl də'fəu] was born in
1661 in London in the family of a well-to-do
butcher. Daniel's father was wealthy enough
to give his son a good education. His father
wanted him to become a priest, therefore at
the age of 14 he was placed in an academy
to get the training of a priest, & remained
there for the full course of five years.
• But Daniel Defoe didn't like his profession
as, in his opinion, it was neither honorable
nor profitable. He became a merchant.
Several times he went bankrupt because he
was more interested in politics than in
business. Being a merchant he travelled
much & collected a lot of material, which he
used later in his writings.
• Several times in his life Daniel Defoe was
prosecuted. Thus in 1702 he wrote his
pamphlet "The Shortest Way with the
Dissenters". The pamphlet looked as if it
had been written in support of the High
Church. In fact Daniel Defoe described the
cruel Measures taken by the High Church.
For this pamphlet Defoe was sentenced to 7
years imprisonment. Besides he had to
stand in the pillory in a public square.
3. Robinson Crusoe
In 1719 Daniel Defoe tried his hand in another kind of literature – fiction & wrote his famous novel "Robinson
Crusoe“ ['rɒbinsn 'kru:səu]. After the book was published, Defoe became famous & rich.
Books about voyages & new discoveries were very popular in the 18th century. But Daniel Defoe was more
preoccupied with politics & didn't think of trying his hand at writing adventure stories. But a story in one of
the magazines attracted his attention. It was about one sailor. He lived 4 years alone on a desert island. This
story interested Daniel Defoe so much that he decided to use the story for a book. His hero, Robinson
Crusoe, however, spent 26 years on a desert island.
The charm of the novel lies in Robinson as a person. Defoe shows the development of his personality. At the
beginning of the story we see an inexperienced youth, who then becomes a strong-willed man, able to
withstand all the calamities of his unusual destiny.
Defoe was a great master of realistic detail. When reading his description of Crusoe's life & work, one feels that
the person who wrote it must have lived through all those adventures himself, because they are so well
described, even though most of them are rather impossible.
Robinson Crusoe's most characteristic trait is his optimism. His guiding principle in life became "never say die".
He had confidence in himself & in man & believed it was within the man power to overcome all difficulties &
hardships. Another of Crusoe's good qualities, which saved him from despair, was his ability to put his whole
heart into everything he did. He was an enthusiastic worker & always hoped for the best.
Robinson Crusoe like Daniel Defoe himself is very practical. The beauty of the island has no appeal for him. He
does not care for scenery. He regards the island as his personal property. He takes pride in being the
master of the island & is pleased at the thought that everything around him belongs to him. This is also seen
in the fact that he decides to keep the money he finds in the ship, although he knows that it will be of no use
to him on the island.
Crusoe considers his race to be superior to all other races. As soon as a man appears on the island, Crusoe
makes him his servant. "Master" is the first word he teaches Friday to say.
The novel "Robinson Crusoe" is a glorification of energy, yet when concentrated in an individual man these
qualities are exaggerated. According to Defoe, man can live by himself comfortably & make all the things he
needs with no other humans, no other hands to assist him.
Defoe is a writer of the Enlightenment. He instructs people how to live; he tries to teach what's good & what's
bad. His novel "Robinson Crusoe" is not merely a work of fiction, an account of adventures, a biography &
an educational pamphlet; it is a study of man, a great work showing man in relation to nature & civilization
as well as in relation to labour & property.
4. Jonathan Swift (1667 -1745)
Romanticism was an
artistic, literary, and
intellectual movement
that originated in Europe
toward the end of the
18th century. Most
commonly the publishing
of Lyrical Ballads in 1798
is taken as the beginning,
and the crowning of
Queen Victoria in 1837 as
its end. The writers of this
period, however, did not
think of themselves as
‘Romantics’.
4. Lord Byron (1788–1824)
The generation of Romantic poets includes Lord
Byron. In all his poetry there is a current of
gloom and pessimism. The reason for this
gloom and sorrow may be found in social
and political events of his day. The industrial
revolution in England and the invention of
new machines brought misery to thousands
of workers. Wars, economic and political
oppression of common people, all these
facts gave rise to his discontent with social
and political life. So he raised his voice to
condemn them.
After graduating from Cambridge University,
Byron started on a tour through Portugal,
Spain, Greece, Turkey and Albania. He
returned home in 1811. A trip to Europe
resulted in the first two chapters of Childe
Harold's Pilgrimage ['tʃaild 'hӕrəldz
'pilgrimidʒ] (1812), a mock-heroic epic of a
young man's adventures in Europe, but also
a sharp satire against London society. The
poem contains elements thought to be
autobiographical, as Byron generated some
of the storyline from experience gained
during his European journey.
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
The main character, Childe Harold by name,
came from an old aristocratic family. His
ancestors were men of great courage and
heroism. Harold’s life was very different
from theirs, it is full of pleasure and
entertainment. But then he only feels
weariness and discontent. He lost faith in
friendship and was disappointed in the world
of lies in which he found himself. Hoping to
find Good in other countries he left England.
Childe Harold is a sensitive, disillusioned and
generous wanderer. But he is merely a
passive onlooker unlike Byron himself who
tried to be an active fighter for freedom. By
right of birth Byron was a member of the
House of Lords. In February 1812 Byron
made his first speech in the House of Lords.
He spoke passionately in defence of the
Luddites. He blamed the government for
the unbearable conditions of workers’ life. In
his parliament speech Byron showed
himself a defender of poor people, and that
made aristocracy hate him.
Byron achieved enormous fame and influence
throughout Europe. However, despite the
success of Childe Harold and other works,
Byron was forced to leave England in 1816
and seek asylum on the Continent.
5. Jane Austen (1775-1817)
• Jane Austen ['ɒstin] was born in a wealthy
family in a small English village. Her family
was typically large as was customary at that
time. She had six brothers and a sister.
• Jane Austen's plots, though fundamentally
comic, highlight the dependence of women
on marriage to secure social standing and
economic security.
• Austen brings to light the hardships women
faced, who usually did not inherit money,
could not work and their only chance in life
depended on the man they married. She
reveals not only the difficulties a woman
faced in her day, but also what was
expected of men and of the careers they
had to follow. This she does with wit and
humour and with endings where all
characters, good or bad, receive exactly
what they deserve. Her work brought her
little personal fame and only a few positive
reviews during her lifetime, but the
publication in 1869 of her nephew's A
Memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to a
wider public, and by the 1940s she had
become accepted as a major writer.
Austen's works include Sense and
Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice
(1813) and Emma (1815).
6. Walter Scott (1771–1832)
Sir Walter Scott is one of the most popular
novelists during the Romantic period. He is
often called the father of the English
historical novel. He realized that it was the
ordinary people who were the makers of
history and the past was not cut off from the
present but influenced it. This romantic love
of the past made him create rich historical
canvases with landscape and nature
descriptions, as well as picturesque details
of past ages. His descriptions of the life,
customs and habits of the people are
realistic. Scott's novel-writing career
reached its peak with Ivanhoe ['aivənhəu].
His popularity in England and abroad did
much to form the modern stereotype of
Scottish culture.
At this time in America the prolific and popular
novelist James Fenimore Cooper ['dʒeimz
'fenimɔ: 'ku:pə] (1789–1851) began
publishing his historical romances of Indian
life, to create a unique form of American
literature. Cooper is best remembered for
his numerous sea-stories and the novel The
Last of the Mohicans (1826).
Questions and tasks on Lecture 5
1. What are the main reasons of the growth of the Romantic
Movement in English Literature of the early 19th century?
2. What is Romanticism? What are the boundaries of this period?
3. What are the main issues highlighted by the Romantic writers and
poets?
4. What was the result of Byron’s trip to Europe?
5. Why was Byron forced to leave England for good? Who became
his best friends?
6. What does Jane Austin focus her attention on in her novels?
7. What are some of her most prominent works?
8. What is Walter Scott’s contribution to the English literature?
Lecture 6. The 19th century
literature. Realism.
1. The Victorian novel (1837–1901). Realism
2. Charles Dickens
3. William Makepeace Thackeray. “Vanity
Fair”
4. The Brontë sisters
5. Genre fiction
1. The Victorian novel (1837–1901). Realism
• It was in the Victorian era (1837–1901) that the novel became the
leading literary genre in English. Women played an important part in
this rising popularity both as authors and as readers. Another factor
that caused the the rising popularity of the novel was libraries, that
allowed books to be borrowed for an annual subscription.
• The 1830s and 1840s saw the rise of social novel. This was in many
ways a reaction to rapid industrialization, and the social, political
and economic issues associated with it. A social novel was a means
of commenting on abuses of government and industry and the
suffering of the poor, who were not profiting from England's
economic prosperity. Stories of the poor working class were directed
toward middle class to help create sympathy and promote change.
• The greatness of the novelists of this period lies not only in their
truthful description of contemporary life, but also in their profound
humanism. They believed in the good qualities of the human heart
and expressed their hopes for a better future. The poorest, the most
unprivileged sections of the population were described by Charles
Dickens. He looked into the darkest corners of the large cities.
2. Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
• Charles Dickens was born in a small town on the
southern coast of England. His father was a clerk at
the office of a large naval station there, and the family
lived on his small salary. They belonged to the lower
middle class and there was always talk between the
parents about money, bills and debts.
• Charles and his eldest sister didn’t go to school for a
long time. Their father lost his job and was
imprisoned for debt. All the property the family had
was sold, and the boy was put to work in a blacking
factory. He worked hard washing bottles for shoe-
polish and putting labels on them, while his father,
mother, sisters and brothers all lived in debtors’
prison. Many pictures were stored in his memory, and
he later described this unhappy time in David
Copperfield and Little Dorrit.
• In about a year the Dickenses received a small sum
of money after the death of a relative, so all the debts
were paid. Charles got a chance to go to school
again. But he left school when he was twelve. He had
to continue his education by himself visiting regularly
the British Museum reading-room. Then he first got a
job as a newspaper reporter, then as a parliamentary
reporter. He started writing funny street sketches.
Thus he discovered his writing abilities almost
accidentally.
• Charles Dickens emerged on the literary scene in the
late 1830s. His most popular works are A Christmas
Carol (1843), Dombey and Son (1846–48), Great
Expectations (1860–61).
Literary Style
Dickens loved the literary style of the 18th century
Gothic romance. His literary style is a mixture of
fantasy and realism. His writing style is poetic, with
a strong comic touch. His satires of British
aristocratic snobbery are colourful and memorable.
Comparing orphans to stocks and shares, people to
tug boats, or dinner-party guests to furniture are
just some of Dickens's acclaimed flights of fancy.
Many of his characters' names provide the reader
with a hint as to the roles played in advancing the
storyline, such as Mr. Murdstone in the novel David
Copperfield, which is clearly a combination of
"murder" and stony coldness.
Characters
• As for Dickens’s characters, one "character" vividly
drawn throughout his novels is London itself. From
the inns on the outskirts of the city to the lower
reaches of the Thames, all aspects of the capital
are described in his work.
• Dickens is famed for his depiction of the hardships
of the working class, his intricate plots, and his
sense of humour. But he is perhaps most famed for
the characters he created, for his ability to capture
the everyday man and thus create characters to
whom readers could relate. Dickensian characters-
especially their typically whimsical names-are
among the most memorable in English literature.
The likes of Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Jacob
Marley, Oliver Twist, The Artful Dodger, Bill Sikes,
Pip, Miss Havisham, David Copperfield, Samuel
Pickwick, and many others are so well known and
can be believed to be living a life outside the novels
that their stories have been continued by other
authors.
3. William Makepeace Thackeray (1811– 1863)
• Thackeray presents a strong contrast with Dickens, both
as man and as a writer. He was born at Calcutta (India).
His father died while he was a child and he was taken to
England for his education; he was a student at
Cambridge. Next, on the Continent, he studied drawing,
law. His study of the law was interrupted when he came
of age by the inheritance of a comfortable fortune, which
he managed to lose within a year or two by gambling,
speculations, and an unsuccessful effort at carrying on a
newspaper.
• Real application to newspaper and magazine writing
secured him after four years a place on 'Eraser's
Magazine,' and he married. Not long after, his wife
became insane, but his warm affection for his daughters
gave him throughout his life genuine domestic
happiness.
• For ten years Thackeray's production was mainly in the
line of satirical humorous fiction, none of it of the first
rank. During this period he chiefly attacked current vices,
snobbishness, and sentimentality. The appearance of his
masterpiece, 'Vanity Fair', in 1847 (the year before
Dickens' 'David Copperfield') brought him sudden fame.
He died in 1863 at the age of fifty−two of heart failure.
• The great contrast between Dickens and Thackeray
results chiefly from the predominance in Thackeray of
the critical intellectual quality and of the somewhat
fastidious instinct of the man of society and of the world
which Dickens so conspicuously lacked. As a man
Thackeray was at home and at ease only among people
of formal good breeding; he avoided direct contact with
the common people.
'Vanity Fair’
• His novels seem to many readers cynical,
because he scrutinizes almost every
character and every group with impartial
vigor, dragging forth every fault and every
weakness into the light. On the title page of
'Vanity Fair' he proclaims that it is a novel
without a hero; and here most of the
characters are either altogether bad or
worthless and the others very largely weak or
absurd, so that the impression of human life
which the reader apparently ought to carry
away is that of a hopeless chaos of
selfishness, hypocrisy, and futility. One word,
which has often been applied to Thackeray,
best expresses his attitude—disillusionment.
The last sentences of 'Vanity Fair' are
characteristic: 'Oh! Vanitas Vanitatum! which,
of us is happy in this world? Which of us has
his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?—Come,
children, let us shut the box and the puppets,
for our play is played out.'
• In his books the reader finds the lessons that
simple courage, honesty, kindness, and
unselfishness are far better than external
show.
4. The Brontë sisters
• The Brontë ['brɒnti] sisters, Emily, Charlotte and Anne, were
other significant novelists in the 1840s and 1850s. They were the
daughters of the rector of a small Yorkshire village, Haworth, where
they were brought up in poverty. Their novels strikingly express the
stern, defiant will that characterized all the members of the family.
They were a product and embodiment of the strictest religious
sense of duty.Their lives were pitifully bare, hard, scarcely varied.
• All three Brontë sisters introduced an unusual central female
character into the novel and complex relationships and problems
this character was involved in. With unusual courage and
directness, together they changed the way the novel could present
women characters: after the Brontës, female characters became
more realistic, less idealized and their struggles became the subject
of a great many novels later in the 19th century.
• Their novels caused a sensation when they were first published but
were subsequently accepted as classics. They wrote from early
childhood, and in 1847 the three sisters each published a novel.
Charlotte Brontë ['ʃa:lət 'brɒnti] (1816–1855)
The poem generally follows traditional grammar and syntax, but Eliot
moves from idea to idea and sentence to sentence using
associative thought. For example, when he thinks of walking on the
beach, he is reminded of mermaids. And while it's not immediately
clear what peaches and mermaids have to do with old age, the
passage shows readers something about how the speaker's mind
wanders.
3. James Joyce
• In 1922 Irishman James Joyce's novel Ulysses [ju:'lisiz] appeared. The novel is one of the
greatest masterpieces of modernist literature. With its depth and complexities, Ulysses completely
changed our understanding of literature and language. Ulysses is endlessly inventive; it is like a
maze in its construction. The novel is both a mythical adventure of the everyday and a stunning
portrait of internal psychological processes. Brilliant and sparkling, the novel is difficult to read.
• In it Joyce creates parallels with Homer's epic poem the Odyssey.
• Ulysses records events in the lives of two central characters – Leopold Bloom and Stephen
Daedalus ['sti:vn 'dedələs] – on a single day in Dublin. The action takes place in 1904. Leopold
Bloom is a middle aged Jewish man. Stephen Daedalus is a young intellectual. Bloom goes
through his day with the full awareness that his wife, Molly, is probably receiving her lover at their
home (as part of an ongoing affair). He buys some liver, attends a funeral and, watches a young
girl on a beach.
• Daedalus passes from a newspaper office, expounds a theory of Shakespeare's Hamlet in a
public library and visits a maternity ward – where his journey becomes intertwined with Bloom's,
as he invites Bloom to go along with some of his companions. They end up at a notorious brothel,
where Daedalus suddenly becomes angry because he believes the ghost of his mother is visiting
him.
• He uses his cane to knock out a light, and gets into a fight--only to be knocked out himself. Bloom
revives him and takes him back to his house, where they sit and talk, drinking coffee. In the final
chapter, Bloom slips back into bed with his wife, Molly. We get a final monologue from her point of
view. The string of words is famous, as it is entirely devoid of any punctuation. The words just flow
as one long, full thought.
• Of course, the summary doesn't reflect a whole lot about what the book is really all about. The
greatest strength of Ulysses is the manner in which it is told.
• This work is an experiment, where Joyce widely and wildly plays with narrative techniques. Some
chapters concentrate on a phonic representation of its events; some are mock-historical; one
chapter is told in epigrammatic form; another is laid out like a drama. In these flights of style,
Joyce directs the story from numerous linguistic as well as psychological points of view.
4. William Golding’s Life
William Golding was born in 1911 in England. A frustrated child, he found an
outlet in bullying his peers. Later in life, William would describe his childhood
“I enjoyed hurting people.” His father was a schoolmaster and eventually,
William decided to follow his father’s footsteps. In 1935 Golding took a
position teaching English and philosophy at a school. Golding’s experience
teaching undisciplined young boys would later serve as inspiration for his
novel Lord of the Flies.
• Although passionate about teaching from day one, in 1940 Golding
abandoned the profession to join the Royal Navy and fight in World War II.
Golding spent the better part of the next six years on a boat. Like his
teaching experience, Golding’s participation in the war would prove to be
fruitful material for his fiction. In 1945, after World War II had ended, Golding
went back to teaching and writing. In 1954, after 21 rejections, Golding
published his first and most acclaimed novel, Lord of the Flies. Riddled with
symbolism, the book set the tone for Golding’s future work, in which he
continued to examine man’s internal struggle between good and evil.
• In a film adaptation of the critically acclaimed novel was made. Two
decades later, at the age of 73, Golding was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize
for Literature. In 1990 a new film version of the Lord of the Flies was
released, bringing the book to the attention of a new generation of readers.
5. Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”
Lord of the Flies tells the story of a group of English schoolboys. They are the only survivors of a
plane crash during a war, and they find themselves on a deserted island. The boys soon realize
that they need a leader so they elect Ralph. As a leader, Ralph selects Jack to be responsible for
hunting. After an exploration of the island, Simon comes up with the idea that they should light a
fire to draw the attention of the passing ships. Unfortunately the unmonitored fire burns the forest.
• At first, the boys enjoy their life without adults, and spend most of their time playing. But after a
while they split in two groups; some work together to maintain the order, while the others rebel,
they descent into savages seeking for violence.
• Lord of the Flies. Its modernistic features:
1) Embracing history. History is not rejected in Golding's novel. The English boys find themselves
during a war. Their plane has crashed apparently because an atomic bomb. Here, on the
deserted island, the young boys create a world of their own, a new world, which in fact is not very
different from the one they already knew. Golding's experience with the war let him know the very
different ways in which people respond to stress, change and tension.
2) The search for the answer to the questions like “What is there to be known? Who knows it? How
can I know this world?” When the children get on the island they are eager to know everything
about it and therefore these questions emerge in their minds. Slowly every one of them gets the
answer to these questions. The children are not the only ones who are left with these questions,
the reader also.
3) Crono-topical contextualization. In Golding's novel there are no exact dates or names of places,
everything is vague. The reader only gets to know that the boys find themselves during a war,
they are the only survivors and they are on a deserted island. What we know exactly is that they
are British and that the action takes place at the dawn of the next world war. We can only
assume that this is the Cold War, since the book was written in the 1950's.
4) As for rejecting realism, Golding tries to present the inner life of the boys, their feelings, their ideas.
He manages to do this magnificently because of his own experience with the war.
Symbolism in Lord of the Flies
• Symbol #1
• Piggy’s Glasses
• Piggy is handicapped and wears glasses. He also has asthma. His asthmatic disability has blessed him with
rational power. On the other hand, his glasses have given him an edge to start a fire. Hence, it becomes a symbol
of life which is used to prepare a fire to use as a signal for rescue. It becomes so much significant among the
boys that Jack and his hunters attack Ralph and Piggy and their group to snatch the glasses to make their own
fire.
• Symbol #3
• The Signal Fire
• The signal created by fire by the boys is actually a symbol of life and safety. It also shows that civilization is alive
on the island. When the boys determine to stay alive and to return to the civilization, they instantly accept Piggy’s
suggestion to light the fire, using his glasses. However, as the boys become lazy and oblivious, they ignore to
keep it alive. Hence, the fire eventually dies. Even by the end, it becomes clear that the signal fire is important for
the civilized behavior and helped in the safe rescue of the boys.
• Symbol #4
• The Beast
• The beast is actually the head of the parachuting dead soldier hanging by the branches of trees. It is infested with
maggots and flies. The only boy who knows the reality of this beast is Simon. However, he fails to explain it to
other boys. Therefore, it has transformed into a symbol of something dreadful and terrifying. In fact, this head
symbolizes the inner savagery and barbarism of the boys in specific and mankind in general.
• Symbol #5
• The Lord of the Flies
• This is the head of a pig that the hunters from Jack’s group impale and plant on a stick to offer a sacrifice to the
beast. They believe that the beast which supposedly terrifies them will be pleased. It is a physical representation
of their awe towards that beast. The phrase ‘the lord of the flies’ refer to their naming it as the lord of those flies
which swarmed the head of the dead soldier. It symbolizes something that is to be presented as a gift to the beast
to hold sway over the flies as it is their lord.
Symbolism in Lord of the Flies
• Symbol #6
• Ralph
• There are mostly young boys on the island, and they all represent innocence. Ralph, with his sensible nature, is a
specific representative of civilization and order. It is he who finds the conch and calls others to form an assembly. In this
sense, he represents leadership and guidance. Therefore, he is a symbol of law, order, authority and civilization on the
island.
• Symbol #7
• Piggy
• In spite of the physical disability, due to weak eyesight and asthma, Piggy has a very clear perspectiveon things and is
also a visionary in his thoughts. He represents those sane voices that are not heard much in the crowd, but they prove
true. He shares the idea of lighting the fire by using his glasses. He also gives suggestions for an assembly and
formation of rules on the island. In this sense, he is a symbol of rationalism, order, and legitimacy.
• Symbol #8
• Jack
• Jack does not show much of his true nature at the beginning of the novel. However, he proves highly unpredictable,
barbaric and savage by the end. His first posture of being a hunter and an aggressive young boy shows his wild nature.
He gathers a pack of boys with painted faces. He announces that they are his hunters and that he would train them for
hunting. With the passage of time, they fall into the pit of savagery during hunting and become enemy of the group led
by Ralph. They kill Piggy and chase Ralph to kill him next. Hence, Jack becomes a symbol of evil and savagery. He
represents the savage culture as opposed to Ralph who represents civilization.
• Symbol #9
• Pig
• The pig is an animal found on that island. The boys, the group of hunters, led by Jack, find the traces of a pig and start
hunting other pigs. With the course of time, it becomes their practice to talk how to hunt pigs and trap them. Once Jack
plants the head of a pig on a stick, calling it ‘the lord of the flies’ with the purpose to present it as a sacrificial gift to the
beast. Hence, the pig symbolizes a temptation for the boys to leave humanity and turn to savagery and barbarism.
• Symbol #10
• The Naval Officer
• The naval officer is a British officer of the Royal Navy. He appears by the end of the novel who comes to the island after
seeing the fire. He confronts Ralph who is running for his life from Jack’s hunters. When he sees the boys playing the
barbaric game, he scolds them for showing dirty and rude manners unbecoming of the British boys. He asks Ralph
about their game and their presence on the island over which Ralph’s eyes are filled with tears. He is hardly able to
narrate the barbaric episode to the officer when other boys appear. They instantly become a pack of civilized dirty boys
after seeing the officer in uniform with a pistol in his holster. In other words, the naval officer represents order, authority,
and culture. His uniform and pistol are symbols of the rule of law and the tools to establish it.
Famous Quotes from Lord of the Flies
• Quote #1
• “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English,
and the English are best at everything.”
• Quote #2
• “What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What’s grownups going to think?”
(Piggy, Chapter-Five)
• Quote #3
• “Which is better—to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?” (Piggy, Chapter-
Eleven)
• Quote #14
• “And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph
wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the
air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.” (Chapter-Twelve)
These lines narrated by the end of the novel when Ralph and other boys gather around
the British officer. Ralph is standing in the middle, weeping for the end of innocence.
It is the end of innocence because the hunters are after Ralph to kill him. They have
already killed his wise friend, Piggy and are chasing Ralph through the thick forest
when they come face to face with the officer. The officer has just landed on the island
to look for missing soldiers. Ralph weeps about how they were innocent children, and
how they turned into savages on that island away from society.
Themes in Lord of the Flies
• all humans have a dark side that can cause a breakdown of
society's ethical standards if this dark side overcomes one's
reasoning and right thinking.
• mankind’s natural savagery can tackle even the most civilized
people.
• In our society itself we can se how people often loose their
civilization and act savagely certain circumstances. During the wars,
we human kill our own race to attain triumph over one’s ideologies
and gain power. In smaller society for instance, people willing to rob,
cheat and back-stab each other to fulfill their own desire and thirst
for wealth. Even in a family, a father who supposed to be the leader
act savagely by raping his own daughter to fulfill his sex lust. We
labeled ourselves as highly civilized but still the human nature urged
us to loose humanity and go against the civilization. Therefore these
are the issues conveyed by William Golding through his writing by
critically developed his theme on civilization and savagery.
• human discrimination and prejudice
• we human discriminate individuals who are not in the same agreement or ideologies with us. In
terms of the novel, Golding expressed his idea of discrimination and prejudice through the
character of Piggy and Simon. Piggy is an orphan and raised by his aunt, physically he is fat,
wearing thick spectacles and having asthmatic problem. He constantly refers to the old way of
life. He doesn’t believe in the beastie because Piggy is an intellectual who lacks social skills, he
is an outsider. The boys ridicule him over and over again but he can not do anything for himself
and constantly tries to get out of work while relying on Ralph. He is the only voices of reason and
the link to the adult world. Eventually, towards the end, piggy is killed by Roger. Piggy becomes
the victim of discrimination and prejudice because of his differences compare to other boys in the
island.
• Besides that he is also different in a way that he is the only boy wearing spectacles in the island.
Here Golding makes use the literary element symbolism to distinguish Piggy with the other boys.
His spectacles are the symbol of clear sightedness, intelligence and rationale where he is the
only boy with such ability. Yet his opinions are always neglected and his rights are always
discriminated, the act that his glasses are taken away forcefully by Jack, “Here- Let me go!” His
voice rose to a shriek of terror as Jack snatched the glasses off his face.”(Golding, 1954, p.53)
shows how his differences are made used by the others
• truth and enlightens will be buried in this prejudice society and world. Simon is the one who
arrives at the moral truth of the novel, and the other boys kill him sacrificially as a consequence
of having discovered this truth.
• In today’s world, differences are the core factor of discrimination and prejudice. Differences in
race and skin colour for example left black people discriminated in white world. Their rights are
neglected and even they are not treated as human. For that they have to fight to live and now in
some countries they are still fighting for it. Despite of that, Palestinians are living in fear and
thousands of them are being killed cruelly by Israelis due to their differences in religious and
ideologies. Palestinians rights for a free land are neglected, but just greed, ego and blood lust
remained. There are more and more discrimination happening in our world today, yet Golding
already conveyed this issue his writing few decades ago for us to ponder about. Adolf Hitler and
his Nazi
Themes in Lord of the Flies
• leadership determines the triumph or destruction of a society
• Ralph, for example stands for the good-hearted but not entirely and effective leader of a
democratic society, a ruler for instance who wants to rule by law derived from the common
consent. Piggy is his adviser, someone who is unable to rule because of his own social and
physical shortcoming, but he is able to offer sound advice to the democratic leader. Jack, on the
other hand, represents a totalitarian dictator, a ruler who appeals to the emotional responses of
his followers. He rules by charisma and hysteria. Roger, the boy who takes the most joy in the
slaughter of he pigs and who hurls the rock that kills Piggy, represent the supporter necessary for
such a totalitarian ruler to stay in power. Golding effectively showed how both type of leadership
works and it consequences at the end. Ralph made a good leader at beginning, but towards the
end Jack succeeded to manipulate the fear of the beast to gain support and name himself as the
leader when he said, “We’ll hunt. I’m going to be chiefWhen Jack took over the leadership, the
becoming more eager in killing and entirely changed into a savage tribe which finally leads into
the fall of civilization and humanity. This is beautifully portrayed by Golding through the imagery
of killing the sow, “the sow staggered her way ahead of them, bleeding and mad, and the hunters
followed wedded to her in lust, excited by the long chase and the dropped blood.” He uses the
imagery to show how human can change themselves under different or particular leadership. The
people will be like an exact mirror of the leader. Therefore leadership should be in the right hand
for the betterment of the people.
• In our world, leadership had once torn the world apart. At the end of the World War II, for many
years, leaders such as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and United States President
Franklin D. Roosevelt led democratic countries against totalitarian leaders such Germany’s Adolf
Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini. Further, in the early 1950s, the world appeared to be divided
into two camps; the so-called Free World of Western Europe and the United States, and the so-
called Iron Curtain world of communist Eastern Europe and Soviet Union. The innocent people
have just followed their leaders whether they agree or do not agree with it. Even in a family,
leadership is very precious. Parents should possess good leadership and positive influences over
their children for a better family and future. Broken family for example is lack with capable and
positive leadership thus its effect are to the children, they will posses the same ideologies of
leadership which will consequence in more destruction in the future. Therefore leadership is the
crucial element that determines triumph or destruction of family, society or nation
Questions on Lecture 8
1. What are main features of modernism?
2. Who are its main representatives?
3. Dwell upon the stream of consciousness
technique.
4. What is the plot of Ulysses?
5. Who are its main characters?
6. What is Joyce’s contribution into the world of
literature?
7. What is known about W. Golding’s life?
8. What is the message of his novel “The Lord of
the Flies”?
Lecture 9. Postmodernism
• Kurt Vonnegut ['kɜ:t 'vɒnigət] was born in Indianapolis, USA, in 1922. Vonnegut emerged as a novelist and essayist in the 1960s. His
classics are Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions. He is known for his satirical literary style, as well as the
science-fiction elements in much of his work. He blended the absurd with pointed social commentary. Vonnegut created his own unique
world in each of his novels and filled them with unusual characters, such as the alien race known as the Tralfamadorians in
Slaughterhouse-Five (1969).
• After studying at Cornell University from 1940 to 1942, Kurt Vonnegut enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was sent by the Army to what is now
Carnegie Mellon University to study engineering in 1943. The next year, he served in Europe and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. After
this battle, Vonnegut was captured and became a prisoner of war. He was in Dresden, Germany, during the
• Allied firebombing of the city and saw the complete devastation caused by it. Vonnegut himself escaped harm only because he, along with
other POWs, was working in an underground meat locker making vitamin supplements.
• Soon after his return from the war, Kurt Vonnegut married his high school girlfriend, Jane Marie Cox. The couple had three children. He
worked several jobs before his writing career took off, including newspaper reporter, teacher, and public relations employee for General
Electric. The Vonneguts also adopted his sister's three children after her death in 1958.
• Showing Vonnegut's talent for satire, his first novel, Player Piano, took on corporate culture and was published in 1952. More novels
followed, war remaining a recurring element in his work. One of his best-known works, Slaughterhouse-Five, draws some of its dramatic
power from his own experiences. The narrator, Billy Pilgrim, is a young soldier who becomes a prisoner of war and works in an
underground meat locker, not unlike Vonnegut.
• Emerging as a new literary voice, Kurt Vonnegut became known for his unusual writing style—long sentences and little punctuation—as
well as his humanist point of view. He continued writing short stories and novels, including Breakfast of Champions (1973), Jailbird (1979)
and Deadeye Dick(1982).
• Despite his success, Kurt Vonnegut wrestled with his own personal demons. Having struggled with depression on and off for years, he
attempted to take his own life in 1984. Whatever challenges he faced personally, Vonnegut became a literary icon with a devoted
following.
• His last novel was Timequake (1997), which became a best seller despite receiving mixed reviews. Kurt Vonnegut chose to spend his
later years working on nonfiction. His last book was A Man Without a Country, a collection of biographical essays. In it, he expressed his
views on politics and art, and shed more light on his own life. Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007, at the age of 84, in New York city.
4. Characteristic features of postmodernism in
Vonnegut’s works
• Most Vonnegut’s works are brilliant examples of the postmodernism trend in literature and they certainly reflect its
particular features.
• First of all, the characteristic peculiar to postmodernism is sense of disjunction and desolation. It appears to this
or that extent in all Vonnegut’s stories. For example, members of the Fords’ family in the story “A big trip up
yonder” are all close relatives. But they are in a constant fight for sleeping places in the flat. They are all rivals in
the competition for the fortune.
• The second feature is “cool apathy”. It can be observed throughout most stories. His characters aren’t concerned
about anything and don’t show any enthusiasm in anything. Such as the painter in the story “2BRO2B”. He is an
aloof observer who doesn’t want to interfere with anything.
• Postmodernism is also marked by intertextuality. It implies explicit allusions and references to other sources,
works. Intertextuality serves as an aspect of the awareness about history and works of art. We can find in his
texts mentioning of various titles of literature works, historical events and the Bible. For example, the very title of
the story “2BRO2B” is a reference to the famous Hamlet’s monologue by W. Shakespeare. One of the main
characters of the same story also mentions “the invisible man” which reminds the reader of Herbert Wells’ novel of
the same name.
• What is also inherent in works of postmodernism is playfulness. It deals with meanings, words, signs, quotations
etc. The author plays with the text and involves the reader in this “game”. Purpose of it is to give the reader an
opportunity to take part in understanding of the text, to guess what is going on and to assume the developing
events. Thus, in the story “2BRO2B” there are several samples that illustrate the wordplay in the text (“My name
is Duncan” “And you dunk people?”).
• We cannot leave out irony. It becomes one of the most important stylistic devices in Vonnegut’s stories. Thus
Wehling in the mentioned above story “2BRO2B” has to choose only one of his triplets to stay alive. So answering
the remark that he doesn’t sound very happy he says with sad irony: “What man in my shoes wouldn’t be happy?
All I have to do is pick out which of the triplets is going to live, then deliver my maternal grandfather to the Happy
Hooligan, and come back here with a receipt”.
• Postmodernism works coolly and ironically expose the constructedness.
• Postmodernism works coolly and ironically expose the constructedness. And K. Vonnegut’s
stories prove it. Constructedness implies the distinct organization of structures. Postmodernism
works refuse it and rather support fragmentation, inconsistency and spontaneity. The author puts
here constructedness on the foreground. In the story “2BRO2B” this fact finds its realization in
the description of the garden “Never, never never had a garden been more formal, been better
tended. Every plant had all the loam, light, water, air and nourishment it could use”. The whole
story ridicules the perfectly constructed and organized society where there were no prisons, no
slums, no insane asylums, no cripples, no poverty, no wars, where all diseases as well as old
age were conquered. But in such a society people can’t perform their main function - to multiply
and replenish.
• Excessive organization and preciseness are also shown in the way of the character’s life in the
story “A big trip up yonder”. Their life sticks to the same routine for decades: “At six o'clock, they
arose again, for it was time for their generation to eat breakfast in the kitchenette. They had
twenty minutes in which to eat, but their reflexes were so dulled by the bad night that they had
hardly
• swallowed two mouthfuls of egg-type processed seaweed before it was time to surrender their
places to their son's generation”.
• In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that unlike modernist works, Vonnegut’s postmodernist
stories are not orderly ended, their denouement is quick and unexpected. Vonnegut’s stories
combine many characteristics of postmodern literature that appear on the level of content,
composition, form, usage of artistic devices and relationship between the author and the reader.
They allow us to observe the distinctive features that show the border between postmodernism
and earlier movements.
Questions on Lecture 9
1. What are main features of
postmodernism?
2. Who are its representatives?
3. What do you know about Kurt Vonnegut’s
life?
4. What characteristics of postmodernism
can be found in Kurt Vonnegut’s literary
works?
Quiz:
1. "The Great Gatsby" is the perfect portrayal of the
a) “Roaring Twenties” b) “Roaring Thirties” c) “Roaring Forties”
2. Who wrote the crime novel "Ten Little Niggers"?
a) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle b) Agatha Christie c) Emile Zola
3. How many lines does a sonnet have?
a) 12 b) 14 c) they vary
4. In which century were Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" written?
a) the fourteenth b) the fifteenth c) the seventeenth
5. "Jane Eyre" was written by which Bronte sister?
a) Anne b) Charlotte c) Emily
6. What is the book "Lord of the Flies" about?
a) a road trip around the USA b) a swarm of killer flies c) schoolboys on a desert island
7.Shakespeare was born in … .
A) London B) Stratford-on-Avon C) Oxford
8.Who said "To be or not to be, that is the question”?
A) Othello B) Romeo C) Hamlet
9. Who was the author of the famous storybook 'Alice' Adventures in Wonderland '?
А) Kipling b) Dickens c) Carrol
10.His real name was Samuel Clemens.
А) J. London B) O’ Henry C) M. Twain
11.Sherlock Holmes is the character of the books written by … .
А) A. Christie B) A. Conan Doyle C) G. Chesterton
12.Miss Marple is the character of the books written by … .
А) A. Christie B) A. Conan Doyle C) G. Chesterton
13.Robin Hood lived in … Forest .
A) Black B) Dark C) Sherwood
14.The novel shows the events of the Civil War in the USA.
А) "Gone with the Wind” B) "American Tragedy” C) "Farewell to Arms”
Complete the statements:
1. Romanticism is a literary movement which appeared as a reaction to
…
2. Modernism in English literature was caused by …
3. The philosophy of the Renaissance was …
4. The main representatives of modernism are …, …, …
5. The main representatives of post-modernism are …, …, ….
6. Constructedness implies …
7. Intertextuality implies explicit …
8. Diversified history (presenting history from different points of view) is
a feature of … trend in literature.
9. The main features of the stream of consciousness technique are …
10. According to his “theory of iceberg”, instead of stating the obvious,
Hemingway attempts to use … to convey his themes.
Answer the questions:
1. What literary movements reject constructedness and support fragmentation,
inconsistency and spontaneity? Which of these movements ironically exposes
constructedness and which rejects it completely? Give examples of works and
authors.
2. Intertextuality serves as an aspect of awareness about history and works of art. What
authors use intertextuality abundantly?
3. What is K. Vonnegut’s attitude to cultural and technical progress? How is it expressed
in his novels and stories?
4. What novel depicts the perfect dictatorship? How is it connected with democracy? How
are genetics and cloning exposed in the novel?
5. What literary trends focus on the inner world of the main characters, their ideas and
impressions rather than objective presentation of reality? What writing techniques and
tools are used in these trends? Name the authors and works.
6. Why is “Ulysses” a mythical adventure of the everyday and a stunning portrait of
internal psychological processes? How are psychological processes depicted?
7. How did Golding’s experience teaching unruly young boys serve as inspiration for his
literary work?
8. Why does “Beowulf” have a great social and historical significance?
9. Representatives of what literary trend believed that "Vice is due to ignorance"? What
did they fight for?
10. How does Jane Austen depict an average middle-class English family at the end of
the 18th, at the beginning of the 19th century? What hardships did women face in her
time and how did she reveal them in her novels?