2) Critical realism in english literature of the early 20th century. J. Galsworthy, h.G. Wells, b. Shaw.

It was peculiar with the influence of modernism and psychologism. However, it was characterized by its attention to details. It tried to reproduce the most detail and objective life of Great Britain before and after World Wars. Realism represented the social life and paid much attention to domestic problems. Its representatives showed tragic vision of life using satire and dark humour, but still their vision of life is much more optimistic than the modernistic one.    Narrative form used by realists is characterized by several narrative characters in order to create an objective vision of life.

The realists first and foremost criticized the capitalist society from a democratic viewpoint and portrayed the extremely shocking contradictions of bourgeois reality. 2) Sympathy for the laboring people. 3)Humor and satire are used to expose and criticize the dark side of reality.4) The major contribution of the critical realists lies in their perfection of the novel.

The events that influence development of realism are the following: World War 1,Russian Revolution, Strike 1928,Marxist Ideology

1) John Galsworthy (1867-1933). He was a novelist, dramatist, short-story writer and essayist. He was born in a well-to-do family in Surrey. His father was a rich lawyer. John got first education at home. Then, he was sent to Harrow School, after he studied at Oxford. Wrote 3 trilogies: -The Forsyte Saga: ‘the man of Povetry’, ‘In Chancery’, ‘To let’ with 2 interludes – ‘Indian Summer of a Forsyte’, ‘Awakening’. -A modern Comedy: ‘The white monkey’, ‘The Silver Spoon’, ‘Swang Song’

with 2 interludes: ‘A silent Wooing’, ‘Passers By’.-End of the Chapter: ‘Maid in waiting’, ‘Flowering Wilderness’, ‘Over the River’.

2)George Herbert Wells. Father of social fiction ( science fiction + social problems)- novelist, playwriter.

His realism is pierced with fantasy and satire. “The invisible Man”, “The time Machine”, “The war of the Worlds”, “The First men on the Moon”, “The War in the Air”, “The world Set Free”.

World War 1 real shocked him. In this early cycle of science fiction Wells touches upon the problems and human civilization- this is the main theme in such works as:

«The Time Machine»-this is dystopia-the picture of the future society which is far from ideal and perfect.

«The Invisible Man»- in this book the writer touches upon the problem of morality, ethics and science.

3) Bernard Shaw. Changed the aim of drama from entertainment to social. His plays are didactive.

Shaw divided his plays into:

1) Plays Unpleasant: ‘Widower’s Houses’, ‘The Philanderer’, ‘Mrs. Warren’s Profession’ – showed the dirty of the rich income, wealth, showing at the same time that not individuals but society at large was to blame for letting such people be prosperous.

2) Plays Pleasant: ‘Arms and the Man’, ‘Candida’, ‘The man of Destiny’, ‘You never can tell’ – showed the tough reality without its romantic shade.

3) 3 plays for Puritans: ‘Devil’s Disciple’, ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’, ‘Captain Brassbound’s Conversation’.

Gradually Shaw’s satire was getting sharper and sharper.

3) MODERNISM IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. J. JOYCE AND V. WOOLF AND THEIR AESTHETIC PROGRAMS, D. H. LAWRENCE’S WORK.

The flourishing of Modernism dates back to the 20-30ss of the 20^th century. In this period a new generation of writers appeared, who were called ‘modernists’. The name of the trend comes from the word ‘modern’- something new and fresh. Those writers used a new technique “a stream of consciousness” – the unspoken thoughts and feelings of the character without resorting to objective description or conventional dialogue and often without logical sequence and syntax.

Modernists were influenced by the ideas of Zigmund Freud. Levels:

- the Super Ego – the sphere of the social morals, conventions, laws, according to which man in society has to live (Realists).

- the Ego – this is a part of human aspect which combines both the Super Ego and Id.

- the Id – the subconscious, subliminal sphere of human basic instincts (like that of surviving) – Modernists.

Very often the id and the Super Ego are in conflict. And the Ego is a kind of field for their struggle. Such a conflict became the conflict of the new modernist literature. The most widely known conflicts are ‘the Oedipus complex’ (the child’s attraction to the parent of the opposite sex), ‘the Death wish’, ‘the phallic symbol’ (sexual relations between men and women).

In accordance with Freud’s ideas Modernists attached great importance to the experiences- impressions – of man’s childhood. Their narration is very often based on associations rather than on logical grounds.

Modernists wrote their works for the ‘select few’- for the ‘high brow intellectuals’, because their works abounded in historical, literary, mythological and other kinds of allusions (mentioning historical events, people; religious words, sentences).

1) Unlike realists who viewed human characters as social types , predetermined by the environment, modernists saw the cause of human actions in man's subconscious or subliminal sphere.

2) Concentrated on man's inner world, thoughts and feelings. Special technique known as. "a stream of consciousness".

3) Their works abounded in historical, literary, mythological and other kinds of allusions.

1)James Joyce. Irish novelist. Established “ stream of consciousness” as a valid way of writing fiction.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, a novel which is largely autobiographical, about a boy growing up in Dublin, prioritizes art. His view of life is grim. He doesn’t have any illusions. The person is flesh and bone with few ideas.

2)Virginia Woolf . Novelist and critic, a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Tries to experiment in almost all novels. Her text is a game, she plays with the reader. Mrs Dalloway ,To the Lighthouse ,Orlando -identity is never fixed. We never know what we are.

3)Lawrence. His manner of writing is more traditional in comparison with that of Joyce’s and Woolf’s. His novel ‘Sons and Lovers’ can be considered a talented illustration of the Oedipus complex. His other novel deals with sex and love(The white Peacock, Lady Chatterley’s Lover). He showed the eternal desire to love and to be loved, the relation to be sexes as a constant struggle.

4) REALISM IN THE ENGLISH POST-WAR 2 LITERATURE. CH. P. SNOW, G. GREENE, THEIR MAJOR WORKS.

WW II changed the ideological life of Britain greatly! Post-war Britain faced heavy financial losses, growing dependence from the USA, the cold war and the atomic threat. Such circumstances led to the rapid intensification of the cultural and moral crisis, particularly of the intellectuals, and caused their disillusionment. 1)Charles Persey Snow one of the most outstanding realist writers of the 20^th century England. Literary fame came to him when he started publishing a series of 11 novels under the general title of Strangers and Brothers which took him around 25 years to finish. The most important novels are: The light and the dark, Time of hope. His last novel Last Things of the series was finished in 1970. The title of the series is symbolic: ppl are “strangers” if they are alone, isolated from the environment.

2)Graham Greene was a very prolific writer, novelist, short - story writer, playwright, publicist. He himself divided his novels into two groups:

1) "serious novels" -"The Quiet American"

2)"entertaining novels"

One of the most important features of Greene's works is the extremely wide geography of his novels.

The idea of moral choice and moral involvement brings Greene close to existentialism.

5. THE PHILOSOPHICAL NOVEL IN ENGLISH LITERATURE. W. GOLDING, I. MURDOCH.

Philosophical novel was another phenomenon of the 1950 - 60ss in Eng lit-re- the writers of this time dealt with various life situations from a purely philosophical point of view. They were less concerned with concrete realities, with the day-to-day problems, but they tried to understand the general laws of human development and human predicament.

1) It was another phenomenon of the 1950 - 60ss in English literature. It was called so, because the writers of this time dealt with various life situations from a purely philosophical point of view.

2) These writers were influenced by the philosophy of human existence) which was based on subjective idealism

3) Existentialism looks at the world as absurd, uncognizable and chaotic. Human life is purposeless, for its final end is death. Man is a lonely, (alien to all the others), living in fear. The concept of "free choice" is one of the key ones of the existential philosophy.

Symbolism and allegory The characters are rather archetypes than social or psychological types. Archetypes take their roots in mythology.

1)W. Golding. His war experience made him think about the nature of man and the future of mankind. He thinks the evil is in man’s nature. “Lord of the Flies”. William Golding (1911-1993) was born in Cornwall, England. He attended the famous private school, and then went to Brasenose College, Oxford, where he started to study science, then he started studying literature. After college, he started a career in teaching.

1954 – first novel “Lord of the Files”, is in the form of the fable, tale that tells one story through another.

1955 – “The Inheritors”, set in the prehistoric age

1956 – Pincher Martin

1979 – “Darkness Visible”

1980 – “Rites of Passage”

1983 – he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

2)Dame Iris Murdoch was an Irish-born British author and philosopher, best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her novels, in their attention and generosity to the inner lives of individuals, follow the tradition of novelists like Dostoevsky, Tolstoy besides showing an abiding love of Shakespeare. Iris Murdoch(1919-1999) was born in Dublin. Her mother was Irish and her father was an English civil servant. The family moved to London. She studied at Somerville College, Oxford.

1954 – first novel “Under the Net”, a comedy

1958 – “The Bell”, which depicts an Aglican religious community in Gloucestershire

1965 – “The red and the green”, about the Irish rebellion in 1916

1973 – “Black Prince”

1975 – “A world of child”

1978 – “The sea, the sea”, which won the Booker Prize

She was a prolific and highly professional novelist. Murdoch dealt in her works with everyday ethical or moral issues. She often used fantasy and gothic elements to create atmosphere in which characters are trying to find meaning to their lives.

6) POSTMODERNISM IN BRITISH LITERATURE, ITS BASIC FEATURES. J. FOWLES, M. AMIS.

The term Postmodern literature is used to describe certain tendencies in post-World War II literature. It is both a continuation of the experimentation championed by writers of the modernist period and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature. Arguably postmodernism peaked in the 60's and 70's and probably died in the 80's.

Continuing the narrative experiments of the modernists, the first generation of postmodernists, (John Barth, John Fowles and Angela Carter), produced texts that simultaneously questioned and violated the conventions of traditional narrative.

The features are the erosion of the boundaries between "high"art and "low" art, the development of numerous hybrid genres, the authors write not in one certain genre, but they combine and mix them, «death of author»-they now do not press their opinion on a reader, but only give the story to them, the themes of World War II, its cruelty. And some not exclusive features: Irony, playfulness, black humor, metafiction and pastiche are often used for irony.

1) John Fowles (1926-2005) was an English novelist who earned an international reputation, with his books translated into numerous languages, and several adapted as films. The most commercially successful of his novels, The French Lieutenant's Woman, appeared in 1969. Winner of several awards and made into a well-received film starring Meryl Streep in the title role.

2) Martin Louis Amis is an English novelist. First novel, The Rachel Papers (1973). Note (1984), London Fields (1989), and Time's Arrow (1991), the Information (1995), Night Train (1997), Heavy Water and Other Stories (1998),Experience (2000), and The War Against Cliché (2001).