10. English literature

OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE (500-1066)

• The oldest literature - from the Anglo-Saxon period (5th cent.) - war songs, sagas- handed over by oral tradition

• After introduction of Christianity- started monks write songs down- language- Old English- consist of elegies (lyrical poems full of sadness and dark atmosphere) , war poems heroic epics (Germanics stories, later Christian legendswritten in poetry)

• old Germanic legend - Beowulf (from the 7th century- unknown author). This heroic poem is about a strong hero Beowulf. The Danish king is in trouble, his men are killed by Grendel- the creature. B.- comes to help him and kill the monster, becomes king and rule long time. He is killed by animal. Detailed description of the tribal life and ancient times

MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE (1100- 1500)

• language and literature - under strong Norman- French influence ( from the conflict of Old English and Norman)

• E. language - new grammar and vocabulary enriched by many Romanic words (educated words-law, court, literature, tec.)

• During the Middle Ages - Roman Catholic church- strongly criticised by John Wyclef - a professor of Oxford University.  He translated the whole Bible into English with his student. He influenced Master John Huss and our Hussite movement very much.

• The end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of Renaissance - Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer - frame novel, It s a brilliant
  portrait of 30 pilgrims who travel to Canterbury- each tells 4 stories (romances, frivolous, humorous stories) - a picture of the 14th century society (there are a knight, a priest, a lawyer, a merchant, a miller) - he critizes a moral of his time

MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE (16TH- 20TH CENT)

Renaissance period (1500-1616)

• introduced printing in E. - helped spread literature and philosophy

• rediscovery ancienit Greek and Roman culture - revolt against church's autority, new philosophical learning - humanism

• literature and art -more interests in man tahn in religious probleme, main aim - describe changes in society

• renaissance in E- represented by philosophical writings (More) and later by drama ( so called Elisabethan dr.: Marlowe, Shakespeare)

• Sir Thomas More- the greatest E. humanist- wrote the Utopia, a vision of imaginary island with perfectly organized society- he wrote for king Henry VIII

• Christopher Marlowe- best playwright before Shakespeare, rebel
  his tragedies - full of violence and revolt against society- most renowned- The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus- based on legend according to Faustus sells his soul to the Devil to get more knowledge and power than any mortal can have.

The Enlightment Period (1689-1760)

• Restoration of the Monarchy (1660), Glorious Revolution (1688) - brought radical changes in life, E. became modern capitalist country

• Critism of social and political affairs, journalism, novels and drama developed very much, literature became popular among the middle clase, people became interested in public life

• Daniel Defoe - a politician, traveler and journalist. Robinson Crusoe, shipwrecked on island, he had to spend a few years on deserted island, narration fuul of detailed realitis descriptions of R. day-to-day life, celebrates civilization, human inteligence, shoving his belief in progress and civilization R. represents the qualities which middle class needed in capitalist competition to be successful.

• Jonathan Swift -Irish novelist,n a sharp critic- bitter and biting satirical tone, wrote satirical pamphlets on society,
  Gulliver's travels- he laughs at politics, madnesse of science, human character in general, G visits four different worlds- experiences how funny and petty-minded thein inhabittants are (ague in Liliput about egg)

• Henry Fielding- a journalist, lawyer, wrote a realistic novel Tom Jones, History of a Foundling. There are many characters through whom Fielding describes the life in the 18th century.

The Romantic Period

• Characteristic topics: historical topics, love country, nature, detail, description of weather…

• writers candivided in two groups: Lake poets- William Wordsworth, Samuel T. Coleridge, Robert Southey- inspired by wild nature of the Lake District (write ballads, Langer poems based on tragical story, dark and mysterious atmosphere

• Second group: Percy Bysshe Shelley- his wife Mary wrote Frnkenstein, George Gordon Byron, Walter Scott- founder of historical novel. He wrote Ivanhoe - old legend.

• G.G. Byron- rebel, struggled (bojoval) for independente, revolted against the E. society, religion, loved by readers and imitated by poets, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage or Don Juan (both written in poetry)- conflict between the society with its strict rules and the individual, free, love with nature and art

The Realistic Period (19th century)

• Show a true picture of life of different clasess, authors often use own experiences from thein childhood→ critize the social injustice and ill morals of their time

• Charles Dickens- had hard childhood, his fater went to prison, work in factory(more than 10 hours a day), use experiences in novel- David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, masterpieces- Little Dorrit, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Great Expectations-his books show life of lower classes, are sentimental, Characters-full of colour and life-good people are nice, bad are evils→ through child's eyes, happy ending
  Oliver Twist- found as baby, orphanage, he was brought up in severe conditions- often could and hungry, cruelly punished for everything, sold to an undertaker(podnikatel), he escapes, arrives in London, becames a member of gang of young pick-pockets and made to steal with them, he is caught to stealing, finnaly he has good luck and gets back to his mother's family

• Brontë sisters- childhood wasn't happy- father was reverend- they spent most of their life at the parsonage (fara) separated from other people- were brouhgt up by strict aunt- later in boarding school→main characters are orphans, they suffer a lot

Charotte Bronte - describe her terrible experiences in b. school - Jane Eyre - a girl who had suffer a lot efore she found a happiness

Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights - novel with romantic plot, realistic scenery and character decription, complicated and highly imaginative story full of contrasts

Turn of the Centuries

• Narration- based on realistic sceneries, but more artistic (Wilde) or enriched by romantic (Stevenson features-rysy)

• William Makepeace Thackeray- Vanity Fair- wrote novels against snoberry

• Robert Louis Stevenson-represent new romanticism

Tresure Island-inspired by small map, full of adventures, pirates and dangers at sea, narrator-little boy Jim Hawkins, who got a map of whereabouts(umístění) of Captain Flint's tresure, Dr. Liversey and all of them set off Tresure Island, during journey they find uot that most of the crew are pirates, tehey fight with them and at the end are succesful, The strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

• Oscar Wilde - proclaimed his doctrine- art more than reality-trying to make his life a piece of art, attracted attention by his eccentric clothesand briliant, witty (vtipný, duchaplný) conversation, followed tration of E. conversational comedy- remarkably, succesful, because of witty and satirical tone and amusing situations, An Ideal Husband, The Importace of Being Ernest

Fairy-tales- sad with a strong subtone of melancholy, sympathy for poor and unhappy, The Happy Prince, The Nightiangle and the Rose
novel- The Picture of Dorian Gray- D.-handsome young boy, he falls in love with his own extraordinary beauty portrait painted by his friend, he has wishes to remain (zůstat)the same all the time, the portrait would grow old and ugly instead of (míst) him, he starts to hate it and decides to kill the painter, he convinced(presvedceny) that he would stop it and would be able to lead a happy life again, he destroys the picture- but at the same moment he himself falls down dead- as an old man with disgusting face

• Turn of the century- authors who established new literáty genres (žánry)

• H.G. Wells- Invisible Man, The Time Machine - represent an early form of science-fiction

• Sir Artur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes - the greatest detective story, the most popular of all literary characters of the 20th cent.

The 20th century

• Form of interstage between Victorian era and modern literary form:

• Rudyard Kypling was awarded as first british writer . He wrotes stories about India and The Jungle Book- modern version of the beast(zvířecí) epic of Middle Ages- story of Mowgli- a man- child brought up in the jungle- full of mystic atmosphere of India

• Thomas Hardy, D. H. Lawrence - the naturalistic trend in first half of 20th century- He understands hard life of common people, D. H. Lawrence - the son of minor so he knew crulty and humilitation of the working people- This was shown in many novels such as Sons and lovers. In Lady Chatterley`s Lover - analyzes sexuals relations between a man and a woman.

• George Bednard Shaw- Irish playwright, strongly influenced by K. Marx, attacked the capitalistic society- critizes the false morals, his socialisti ideas- Widower's House, Mrs. Warren's Proffesion- satire about a lady who pens several brothels(„bordel“), Pygmalion- satire on high society-he laughs at morals of both the high as well low clases, Eliza a flowergirl of no education, becomes a pupil of prof. Higgins, famous phonetician, he teach her how to speak and behave properly(vhodně), he knows he would miss her, if she left, S. doesn't decide the final solution, but it seems that they are too independent to stay together

• John Galsworthy - a critical novelist. He described the decay(rozklad) of the Victorian upper middle class in Forsyte saga.

• James Joyce -together with Marcel Proust and Franz Kafka mark the turning point in modern novel, born in Dublin, wrote an experimental prose Dubliners

• AFTER THE WORLD WAR II: groving critism, feelings of absurdity and helplesness - based on the negative experience, a strong critique of totalitarian regimes, frustration of modern man

• ANGRY YOUNG MEN: after WW II, economical cisis in 1930's- people wern't so optimisti abou modern era, because of politoval sit. in Russia

• Kinglsley Amis - Lucky Jim, John Braine -Room at the top

• Geroge Orwell- Animal farm, 1984-represent a kind of satire on the comunist ideology, describe made up worlds based on totalitarian principes

• William Goldwing- Lord of the flies- the story tells about a group of boys who were left on a deserted island after an accident- they very kuckly change from well-behaved and civilized children into brutal and primitive savages(divoši), who are able to kill thein fellows(společníka, kamaráda)

• ABSURD DRAMA: quetions the life of man- is it worth living?, What stall we do so as not to waste our lives?

• Samuel Becket-Waiting for Godot- two tramps, who are waiting for a mysterious man called Godot- the problem is that he will never turn up (objevit se)-they know it in fact- so they only thing do is killing their time and discusing things they can't solve anyway

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