HISTORIA LITERATURY ANGIELSKIEGO OBSZARU JĘZYKOWEGO
Wykład 1: 15.10.2009
American literature starts with literature to 1620:
Native literature – stories were performed, not written, Native Americans spoke over 100 languages, stories and cultures were very different, diverse (10 different stories about the beginning of the world), understanding of those stories relies on the knowledge of mythology
Literature of exploration – diaries, letters, people from England, Spain supposed to find the new land, studied the land and their inhabitants to send information to their country
Thomas Harriot, John White, John Smith – English authors of diaries
A letter of Christopher Columbus
The writers didn’t consider themselves as American
The subject of those text was a sufficient reason to include them to American literature.
Literature of colonization:
Literature of earlier colonization
Literature of later colonization
150 years ago it wasn’t included in literature, talking of the beginning of the American literature American thought of Puritan literature.
In the western world literature was supposed to be written.
Theorist didn’t see the reason to consider the letters in Spanish American literature, the colonizers only started defining themselves as Americans before the revolution, but before they considered themselves Europeans, discovering the new land.
Robinson took animals from the island, named them, took whatever he wanted, built the fortress, his little Britain, lived the way he used to live in his country, transported all the rules he used to live on into the new land.
Colonizers believed this is their moral obligation to convert everything. To bring the European culture to the new land.
First expedition to colonize the Roanoke Island (1585)
Thomas Harriot – English explorer send to colonize the Roanoke Island in 1585. Some other explorer sent by Arthur Barely found it a beautiful place and therefore Harriot and others were sent there to create a colony. Harriot was a scientist, first of all he built lab on the island.
It was an over 100 men colony. After a few months they were able to cooperate with the native, but after a few months this cooperation ended, food ended. In 1586 the first colonists wanted to go back to England, because the native didn’t want to obey them and because they had no food. The ones who rested there disappeared. The first attempt to colonize Roanoke Island was totally unsuccessful. The second try included also women and children,
John White returned with second group to the island, but he has to left for a while, and when he came back there was no one. They could have been killed by Natives, Spanish or move into the land and join the Native (not very possible) – it was over than 100 people.
John White – artist, provided English men of some information of the land with his pictures.
Jamestown Virginia – captain John Smith as the governor – first successful colonization. The general history of Virginia created by Smith, it’s not objective. He was liar. It was false, had nothing to reality.
First of all the Native were presented from European perspective.
It is thought if you are explorer you have to be European. Only the perspective of white people was presented. Native Americans were as much surprised. One of them described the Europe to his Native friends he. got the name Diego Colon, because his original name wasn’t known. Colonizers used to send to Europe a few Natives each time. Diego was the one of those who survived and he presented the story of the new land. The Native Americans were sent to Europe for the queen and the king to decide if they were people. And they were. ;)
Europeans believed they are supposed to use the land, that they have right or even obligation to do it. Native were presented with the new technology. They were perceived aggressive, but they also were shocked with the aggression of Europeans, their weapon and way of wars.
There are also texts created by Native Americans, often about the colonization too, the Europeans and their behavior, what they did. Both perspectives are worth acknowledging.
Wykład 2: Puritan literature - 22.10.2009
Early American literature - literature of pilgrim fathers and puritans
Pilgrims fathers Puritans
Puritans -general term
Pilgrim fathers –first group of puritans who left England because of religion persecutions:
the little town of Scrooby,
belief that the church needs to be purified of Roman Catholicism,
protestants, extreme reformers,
a want to clean the church of hierarchy,
more strict than other puritans.
They went to Holland first (1608), where they weren’t persecuted, but they felt in danger (what their children will learn in Holland), they wanted the position they had in England, but no-one wanted to grant them such privileges. They left Holland in the ship Mayflower (1620) and settled in Plymouth, though they wanted to settle in the mouth of Hudson Bay. They formed independent commune, trade, separate political, 1691
William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation:
Diary history of puritans and their voyage, described the first meeting with natives
Mayflower Compact – often referred to the first American constitution, bases of the new government, signed on the ship by puritans and other passengers
The first Thanksgiving
Attention to the relationship between Pilgrim fathers and original inhabitants of the land
Subjective, refers to certain historical facts and documents to create objectivity or such an expression
Full of Puritan ideology, Calvinist doctrines
Puritan doctrine of PREDESTINATION – claims that at the beginning of time God decided who will be saved and who condemned, you can never change God’s decision. People should bother, because ( Puritanical – strict, having a strict moral code) the only proof that you are a chosen one is that you behave (live) as you were a saint. Health, long life, wealth were the signs of sainthood.
Some chapters refers to people who will be saved, and others to those who will be condemned, all the described events are used to show Puritan ideology, puritan logic
Other puritans arrived at Massachusetts a few years later, but didn’t join with Pilgrim fathers (1628). Both Puritans and Pilgrim fathers established the idea of freedom, tradition of independent congregations (right to choose their own ministers and to create their doctrines), idea of togetherness, also due to watching others
Great Puritan migration to America (1628):
1628 – Salem Massachusetts – Massachusetts Bay Company
Over hundred people
1628 – John Winthrop – the governor (elected) triggering the initial face of migration to America
1630 – over thousand settlers from England (Charleston sth – area of Boston, Massachusetts) Massachusetts Bay Colony, by 1634 over 20 thousand people came from England, they didn’t all settle in Boston, they dispersed. They had own ministers, the one in Boston ruled the whole colony.
Witchcraft in Salem:
1692 – 8 young women, strange things, wild parties in the woods, behaved in a very strange manner, and asked some Puritans bewitched them, they were imprisoned, (no government in Salem at that time), you had to pay for your sale in the prison and for food, some of them died before trial started, very soon the situation got out of control, governor Phips who appointed William Chastis to judge in this area, he accepted spectral evidence, everyone could have been accused of being a witch and that equaled death, before the trial started there were 80 people in prison (only about 2 men), they were judged guilty.
Governor Phips’s wife was accused of being a witch that put the end to the persecutions (1693), hallucinogenic, fangs, drugs, ergotism,
Witch fangs didn’t take place only in Salem, they may grew there, but they took place also in Europe.
??? – head of Boston Clergy: It will be better than 10 witches will escape that one innocent person was condemned (innocent until there are proofs of guilt)
LO: Wykład 3: Puritan literature – 29.10.2009
Early American literature – also can be classified as a literature of colonization (1607-1775), divided in early (1607-1642) and late (1642-1775) colonial era:
1607 – the date of establishment of the first permanent colony, governed by captain John Smith (a year when he met Pocahontas), Jamestown, Virginia
1642 – beginning of English civil wars, end of the great pilgrim migration to America (in its initial form), the date of the outbreak of the American revolution
1775 – till that they people considered themselves as Europeans, discourse of American national identity begins
Thomas Morton, The English Canaan (Promised Land):
Came to America to sell weapon to Natives, settled not in Plymouth but a little bit farther, Merry-Mount (maple, which to the Pilgrim Fathers appeared pagan, they danced there, drunk, had sex, also with Natives)
In Of Plymouth Plantation: bad reputation, drinker, pagan,
Cleared of the accusations by English authorities (they didn’t think the way Pilgrim Fathers did) and returned to Massachusetts (but to Salem not Plymouth)
He highly criticizes Pilgrim Fathers, too strict they were in his opinion, laughed at them, promoting America, poetry (not very good)
Anne Hutchinson:
Free-thinker, philosopher
Accused of being a witch
Came to America in 1634, settled with her husband in Boston (they came to America because of the persecutions of Catholics under Elisabeth and James I)
the atmosphere in Massachusetts was actually quite obsessive,
she found that this was the men who used to meet to discuss the Bible, she started organizing the meetings for women (to discuss religious subjects) she broke some rules,
after some time Anne started to present her own religious beliefs which were sometimes straightly different than those from ministers, many people listened to her, she believed the conformity in laws, strict rules is not the sign of sainthood, holiness, true Godliness came from inner experience of the Holy Spirit, she believed in the inner experience rather than rules.
Ones she claimed that only two of the ministers are elected (it caused some trouble in the colony).
She was tailed at some moment accused of heresy. She was able to respond to the charges in a very clever way, even the judges and ministers had to claim that.
She said she had a few revelations, the response was that she was delusional, she was banished from Boston, because she was not fit to live with the society. She, her husband, children and a few people settled in the land bought from Natives,
1638 they found the town Pocasset (later the name was changed into Portsmouth), they established the colony’s first government,
when her husband died she moved to NY with children (Dutch colony),
whole her family was killed in 1643 despite one daughter.
Mary Rowlandson (1639-1720):
She was not a free thinker
Her book is the relation of her being captured by Indians
Not a great text, not a great thinker, however her text gave birth to a new literary gender – captivity narratives (stories describing women being kidnapped by Indians and than being saved in many different ways) – narrative which points to doctrines, everything is explained with reference to God,
In her opinion the fact she was saved was the act of God, she was very religious, she believed she was saved because God wanted to save her.
Her text presents her opinion about the Indians who captured her (aggressive, pagan, but sometimes she presents them as kind – brought her food for instance)
Roger Williams:
Another unruly character,
banished from Salem for exposing religious and political freedom,
when he settled in Salem he argued for a more democratic church, attacked the apparent colony’s right to take the land from the Indians (remembered as a defender of the Indians),
moved to Plymouth, Bradford welcomed him at first, then pronounced him very ,,,uncertain in judgment,
then returned to Salem and continued religious …, again banished from the colony, threatened with deportation,
forest, lived with Indians for a year,
migrated to Rhode Island, (Anne Hutchinson – also settled in Rhode Island after she left Salem)
anarchy hero,
a rebel against some of the puritan doctrines,
one who honored freedom
Wykład 5: Literature of American Enlightenment and Revolution – 5.11.2009
The Literature of Reason and Revolution:
XVIII century American literature – age of enlightenment
The age of reason, development in science:
Isaac Newton – Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy - presents the universe as a logical mechanism, the universe was not ruled by the God’s decisions, instead he claimed that the universe was a mechanism operated by the very rational formula – the beginning of so-called modern science, miracles, divinity of kings,
Calvinist’s God of wrath was replaced by the gentle God of reason, the universe is such a logical clock, that it argues for a logical mechanist, the God that appeared was the deistic God (deism), the mechanism had to by created by someone according to natural rules, but then the God withdraw, the human societies were believed to function also according to those natural laws.
They believed that people are actually good, the rise of humanitarism, the interest in human liberties,
the time of great transformation of American colonies:
In 1700 there were more or less 250 000 settlers, by 1800 there were already 5 000 000,
over two hundred newspapers (not one like in 1700),
1741 - “The general magazine” – the magazine created by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia,
1783 – independence. The USA gained independence from England, everything begun to be national, the texts tried to define American identity, American nationalism celebrated in literature, the texts created then had the style patterned on English texts, 1791 – first popular novel published in the USA, based on the sentimental trend of English novels, however in the United States drama was considered improper, immoral, indecent, corrupting (although in Europe it was very popular)
American revolution, declaration of independence
Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin – the most important figures of this century, very different , both referred to the first
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1768) – early American literature, Puritan literature:
he was the last great Puritan thinker of America,
he was in-between, the first modern American, the last medieval American, contradictory figure,
his most important text is the sermon written in 1741 (time of the so-called the first great awakening),
very well educated man, Yale graduated,
influenced by John Lock’s empiricist principle (when a person is born is the tabula rasa, which is filled afterwards with the experience), Jonathan Edwards was very familiar with this ideas and he used those in order to prove the validity of puritan doctrines,
very orthodox, traditionalist, conservative, he wanted to go back to the ideology of the original separatist, Pilgrim fathers,
the concept of inner conversion (nawrócenie), according to the puritans one of the signs that someone was elected was the experience of inner conversion as if they were touched by God one day, at some point something changed in them, this was supposed to be the powerful inner experience, once you had this experience you had to describe it to the community (visible saint), Jonathan Edwards was converted when he was 17.
The idea of a half way covenant – you didn’t really had to have the experience of the inner conversion, it was enough if your parents had, it was in order to encourage people to the community, the sacraments have the ability of converting, Edwards was very strongly against these innovations,
Edwards never valued such concepts that free will, improvement, progress, etc.
His text referred to the scientific discoveries, very interested in natural laws, in optics, studied it from a very scientific point of view,
his ideas, importance faded away because he was regarded as a remnant of the past, he was unable to accept the novelties,
Great awakening – religious revival in America, took place in 1730’ies and 1740’ies, heightened, renewed interest in God and religion, enlightenment ideas flourished in America in the second part of the XVIII century
Benjamin Franklin (born in 1706) - representative of the new era
the first American, it was in the XVIII century and because of American revolution,
one of the Founding Fathers of America, one of the creators of American identity,
one of the most important figures in the history of America,
beloved by everyone,
his autobiography still is a best seller (published in 1791), dedicated to his son, but later much more general story directed to people, the Americans, it is difficult to believe that it was contemporary, it was humorous. His story is the first realization of American dream in the history of America, first self-helped book, he wanted to make people’s life easier. The narrator behaves as a teacher, metaphors, proverbs (many of American proverbs actually created by Franklin)
Wykład 6: Literature of American Enlightenment and Revolution – 12.11.2009
Jonathan Edwards:
In his text He proved his knowledge of modern, new science of the XVII century, Newton’s theory etc.
Associated with the first half of the XVIII century
Benjamin Franklin:
Leader of the patriots, author, politician, diplomat, scientist, inventor, lightening r… /rod/,
Associated to the second part of the XVIII century
American Revolution - wider meaning: also concluded the creation of the USA
Revolutionary War (1775-1783) – the War of Independence - a military conflict, struggle against the British, these were the consequences of events of the decades proceeding, listed in the Declaration of Independence e.g. the Stamp Act introduced in 1764, the British crown was interested in gaining profit from English colonies in America – taxing newspapers, legal documents, licenses, famous Boston Tea Party
Thomas Paine – it seems that it was him and his writing that gave America the push to the war, “Common sense” published in January 1776 in the course of two months it was read by almost all Americans, the paper known the “Crisis” known as the “American Crisis” – it was read out to the soldiers and the troops, it is said that it inspired their future success
Franklin’s “autobiography” – not so autobiographical:
American Revolution is absent from the autobiography, never even mentions it,
author of the autobiography is not equal to the character he created,
the book became a bestseller and still is a best seller, the reason: it was a first account of the American Dream - the story of the man who started without anything coming to Philadelphia when he was 17, self-educated, optimistic, easy read, read by common man, by the masses,
he uses humor there, he pokes fun at himself, he creates himself as a humble person, many proverbs, didactic purpose, written in the journalistic style,
flaws of this text – criticized by numerous writers, not written in the continues stretch, he omits some facts (like his participation in the revolution), it seems to be a little bit chaotic, it promoted the figure of the man who realizes his issues and make them happen, blindly optimistic and capitalistic, lost in his optimist, he could focus also on the darker aspects of the XVIII century, extremely positive, everybody he meets appears to be willing to help him, each time he makes a decision it’s a good decision, nothing about slavery, only white man who needed to own some property were allowed to vote, women – no access to education, voting rights, could study at home but had to concern on the domestic matters
The greed of the newspapers (“The moral essay” – 1708), need, cry for American literature, national identity appeared, texts devoted to this subject, American literature of that time meant not-British literature, Americans defined themselves first of all as non-British
The Federalist Papers – texts by 3 writers: Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison wrote for various New York newspapers 1787-1788, they were afterwards analyzed together though they weren’t created together, idea to support American constitution, political text
In XVIII century - they didn’t pay a lot for the essays, articles, Washington Erving –first American who lived from writing articles
Romantism:
In Europe:
Supernatural, mysterious, references to the natural world, individualism
Started in Europe and then reached the USA in the XIX century
Imagination, expression of one’s thoughts
In America:
The changes from XVIII continued:
1810 – 17 states, the population 7 million people, 50 years later (at the beginning of the Civil War) 31 million, and the number of states doubled,
election of the president (Andrew Jackson), before him all of the presidents came from Virginia, he was not from there,
common man arrived – the appearance of egalitarian belief, masses were granted more rights, voting restrictions were relieved - radical change,
new nationalism emerged,
new doctrine referred to the “Manifest Destiny” – Americans were chosen by God, even obligated by him to take more and more land in possession, superior, the expansion of the USA was the will of God,
the country started to become more and more industrial, 1829 – sawing machine, telegraph, steam engines, before America was the nation of small land owners, the contrast in wealth were not as prominent, the numbers of millionaires multiplied in XIX century, the first public servant stole million dollars, people stopped working in farms, now fabrics,
New York – economical capital, the churches focused on saving drinkers, prostitutes, treating them as victims and trying to help them,
slavery was established,
1920 woman gained the voting rights, but XIX early form of feminine movement,
level of education and literacy had risen significantly, compulsory school attendance laws, more Americans began to read,
newspapers were willing to help the authors to make them devote to the writing, journalist – professional writers; men and women,
Before the literature was didactic : self-help books, almanac,
Novels becoming more and more popular
Wykład 7: American Romanticism – 20.11.2009
Dark Romanticism = American Gothic literature (synonyms)
In the mid-19th century: Various transformations, which the American society went through.
American Renaissance:
Term used by Francis Matthiessen
The term is used nowadays with the reference to one decade – 1850’ties
Doesn’t refer to any rebirth, but to...
The writers that he assumed to this were Whitman, Emerson, Thoreau, Melville and Hawthorne
Walt Whitman – American writer, poet, between transcendentalism and realism (no emotions, sentimentalized descriptions), born in 1819 – 1892, poet but also an essayist, journalist, humanist, he had numerous professions during his lifetime, the father of free verse
D.H Lawrance he wrote innovatively
The Leaves of Grass – first published in 1855 (no name of the author given, but he describes himself in the book), last published in 1892 (he kept improving, changing it)
Obscene, controversial poems, the reactions were very different
He touches sexual themes, he transgress the boundaries of norms, of the homosexuality, some fragments describes the love by men and women, and some the love between two men
He breaks the boundaries of poetic form
Many ideas based on transcendentalist philosophy
His role of the poet: (Emersonian idea of the poet) his country absorbs him as affectionately as he absorbs it, the process of absorption and of infusion (takes somethig from the country and then gives it to the country)
American first poet of democracy, he writes in the distinctively American way, ‘you cannot understand America if you don’t understand “The Leaves of Grass”’ –a narrative of the poet, the narrative of America
Optimistic figure, agreeing in his perception with Emerson and Thoreau. Loved by them
Ralph Waldo Emerson –one of the two greatest transcendentalists
H. D. Thoreau - one of the two greatest transcendentalists
E.A. Poe – romanticism, but also dark romanticism
Herman Melville – (1819-1891) romanticism, but also dark romanticism. Nowadays he is the most popular American writer of that time, he wasn’t that popular during his life, there is often talk of the Melville Revival, during his life he had periods of popularity, but not because of his writing, his novels were actually not very known then, he was known as the man who lived among cannibals, he worked as the seaman, in 1840 he went on the wailing ship in the some area of South Pacific, they reached the islands called Marquesas Islands, and when he actually deserted the ship he was captured by the original inhabitants of the island (they were cannibals), was imprison there 1 month, escaped, harpooner on another wailing ship, his first (early) novels, stories were descriptive of these experiences:
“Typee, A Peep at Polynes an Life” – devoted to the cannibal life (of those who captured him)
All adventurous stories, readers expected him to write autobiographical novels
Moby Dick – published in 1851, originally it was to be another autobiographical novel, but it evolved into ... the story of captain trying to catch the illusive white whale
Presented life as a difficult journey
Believed that people were naturally imperfect
Nathaniel Hawthorne– (1804-1864) born in Salem, with the name Hathorne, he wanted to dissociate from his relatives by changing his name (John Hathorne – his relative, connected with the Salem trial), romanticism, but also dark romanticism
The Scarlet Letter – his most famous novel (he didn’t liked the term novel he called it a romance, because the text was not based on realistic events, it was symbolist – this was a text organized around certain symbols)– the story of Hester Prynne, who lives in the Puritan community of Salem, she was accused of adultery, because she was pregnant, she was trialled, but she refuses to give away the name of the man with whom she had sex, she was married, but got pregnant when her husband was not present in the town (the law stated to punish it with death), she is punished - she has to wear the huge letter “A” on her dress all the time
It deals with his family’s history
The nature of good, evil, sin, the novel is organized around the concept of sin, hypocrisy, the way they trusted what they saw
He writes about how he takes the blame of his relatives on himself, he is ashamed of his Puritan ancestors, of what they did
Short stories mostly
Psychological novels (romances) – he focuses on the psychological experiences of the characters he presents, he tries to understand them, their decisions, dilemmas
Emily Dickinson – romanticism, but also dark romanticism, Queen Reckless (spent the life in her room). When the others were gaining the popularity she was already a devoted writer, interesting figure of that time (love, passion, death – writes about it in a very interesting way), her writing was discovered after she died by her sister, during her lifetime she was unknown.
3.12 – nie było mnie
Wykład 9: The Age of Realism, Local Color Writers – 10.12.2009
REALISM:
Describes ordinary people
Narrator is objective, not openly, directly present in the text, he’s not supposed to judge
Fascination with physical, detailed description of the objects
Edith Wharton - a representative of the realism movement:
She wrote to the way similar to the way artists painted the pictures - painter’s eye (seen in her descriptions), lights changing, etc.
High-social classes, especially the NY high society (members of high recognizable people)
The Age of Innocence
The most important aspect is for her psychological realism: problems, dealing with feelings (desire, betrayal, unfaithfulness)
REGIONAL WRITING (LOCAL COLORISTS) – subgenre of realism, expression of realist impulse, often resulted from the desire to capture the distinctive ways of life in US before the industry, etc transformed the country;
by women for women – new female market appeared new opportunities for women writers, to describe world from the perspective of the woman
Aim: immortalize the distinctive character of the region (habits, custom, language)
Very much concerned with numerous problems the American society faced during the certain times, addressed and answered very important questions, tackled them in their texts (concept of women’s rights, the threats of industrialization and mechanization, corruption, inequality, exploitation of workers, racial inequality – at that time referred to a nigro problem)
Number of Afro-American who started their career at that time:
Booker T. Washington – the most popular book - Up from Slavery written in 1800 (autobiography)
W.E.B Du Bois – The Souls of Black Folk, 1903
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Kate Chopin
The Awakening – preserving the custom, language of the American South, writes about the Creoles, the black, writes about distinctive character of the region, but also about the woman and the process of her awakening – a version of the Sleeping Beauty, who realizes that if she gives up her roles of the wife and the mother (she’s not a good mother, describes her 2 children as antagonists and doesn’t love her husband) there is no place for her (liberal woman) in the society of that time – position of women in the American society, the treatment of the woman – shocking; she commits the suicide, symbolist text
Local colorist – describes with details the character of the region, Creoles, characters, presents the inferior position of the women in American society
Willa Cather – both a realist and a very famous poet,
most important text – a novel titled “O Pioneers”
Amy Lowell - Connected with the movement of imagism
IMAGISM - trend of modernism, poets of the early 20th century who wrote fevers, devoted to expression of certain ideas, thoughts through the use of meaningful imagism:
most popular representative – Ezra Pound – the writer of imagism and modernism
direct treatment of the thing, whether objective or subjective
Do not use words that don’t go with the text
To compose the text in the musical phrase – rhythm
In a station of the metro (2 lines) – comparing people to branches and petals (faces – white petals black branches)
Simple, direct sentences,
Onomatopoeias (tap, tap, tap)
NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE:
Started to be considered literature quite recently
First time NA text were written down was 19th century – scientist, anthropologist wrote down formal speeches, native stories, musicologists paid particular attention to the songs of the native people,
NA literature became accessible then
the increase of interest was caused by the belief that NA are in the verse of extinction, belonging to the past
1830 – Indian Removal Act was passed by the Congress – granted president Jackson permission to relocate eastern Indians to the lands west of Mississippi
1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre – perceived by everybody as a last fight between white soldiers and NA, believed to be the year when NA vanished from the surface of the world,
Wykład 10: Local Color Writers, The Lost Generation, Modernism – 17.10.2009
19th - Native American literature became more available, interest in NA literature and culture (Ethno musicians also)
1830 – the Indian Removal Act passed by government – gave permission to president Jackson to relocate NA to lands east from Mississippi
1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre took place – symbolic end of NA, the last battle fought between NA and American soldiers, which NA lost
Reasons:
Situation of NA in 19th did not actually improve – it was getting worse and worse, which culminated in 1890,
throughout 19 century NA started spiritual habits - ghost dance religion was created, it was banned in 1890 on Lakota Reservations, NA continued their religious rituals, ceremonies,
officials called in troops to this reservation 3 000 soldiers 350 Indians, 120 children and women – attacked the reservation 29.12.1890, more than 150 NA were killed)
The boarding schools for NA (Canada residential schools) – flourished in 1870, in 1980 – last RS closed in Canada
NA children (children of the First Nation) – were supposed to go to these school, allowed to go home for holidays,
primary idea – to teach Native children that they forget they are Native: religious customs, traditions, culture, forbidden to speak their own languages, to continue their rituals,
led by churches, religious organizations,
many of these kids were oppressed: not only in mere psychological way, also beaten, raped, killed. Not in every school, but many trials - temporary many trials in USA and Canada, this shameful part of history is now being revealed
20th century
THE LOST GENERATION:
term used by Gertrude Stein - modern poet and writer, very famous, her conversation with E. Hemingway said it. He included it in his epigraph to the book The sun also rises
it doesn’t refer to any special group,
certain sentiments in the USA after the I world war, experience of it,
1917 - USA entered the war as an ally of England and France,
American losses were not that great, during Civil War were more people killed,
all the fighting during IWW in Europe, was however extremely traumatic experience for American Nation writers, thinkers
the writers of the so-called LG deal with the experience of loss, feeling of powerlessness, fragmentation, disillusionment, there are no God, sense of unity they had before war was lost,
the beginning of the 20th century - regardless of the war:
industrialization – contributed to the MODERN TEMPER – the literature after IWW was permitted by the Modern Temper
telephone, electricity, motion picture, radio – new type of culture emerged – popular culture
car – dramatically reshaped the stricter of American industry – millions of jobs were created for Americans, they had to build highways – the geography had transformed, some places became more accessible, important, cities changed their shapes, suburbs came into being.
19th 20-ies:
JAZZ AGE – emphasizes liberty, freedom, rights granted to individual at that time, time of paradoxes: concept of Jazz Age - everyone having fun and drinking concept of prohibition
prohibition - much energy focused on the concept of prohibition - 18th amendment forbade the manufacture, sale (…) and transportation of intoxicating liquors (ratified January 1919, then reappeared - disappeared in 1933) – largely and openly ignored, it opened the door to organized crime, the figure of the gangster was created
The change, shift in the position of women: In 1920 women received the right to vote – 19th amendment to the constitution, new image of the woman emerged , reflected in the novels (Hemingway e.g.); hair cut short, short skirts, liberated, can do whatever she wants to do, e.g. lady Bran Ashley – representation, it is an illusion, they may have had this kind of freedom, but legally and economically they were very much dependent on their husbands, very limited access to many jobs.
The decade during which Afro–Americans made themselves important part of American cultural life
1915 – GREAT MIGRATION of Afro-Americans - new opportunities opened for Afro-Americans due to industrial needs because of IWW, factories in the north America, Afro-Americans migrated from the south to the north
The decade ended in the traumatic way in 1929 – New York Stock Market crashed, millions out of job, great depression started,
throughout 1930-ties: America struggles to restore nation economy, also in literature continued until the IIWW, it made American prosperous again
Thinkers particularly influential in 1920-ies, 1930-ies and 1940-ties:
Karl Marks – German thinker - concentrated on:
the concept of social class,
economic root of the society,
interest of the dominant class represented by the idea of society,
material position, determined by the social class we’re born to
Sigmunt Freud – psychoanalyst –
invented the concept of psychoanalysis,
the human self was grounded on the unconscious, some traumatic experiences, unwanted desires were hidden there, they could be digged out and explained determined by the most drive (sex drive for instance)
Both promoted the concept of determinist,
Agreed with the ideas of 1920-ies: countered, opposed the long-standing American beliefs, free will, free choice
MODERNISM
First international European movement, inspired by the events of the IWW:
European:
James Joys, Ulysses
William Butler Yeates, Writing of Marcle Pruce – remember of things passed (???)
Thomas Mann, The magic mountain
Cultural movement: also painting, music, architecture, not limited to literature
Laid the conviction, belief that the previously sustaining rights of life were not longer available after IIWW: unity, truth, authority – turned out to be lies, revealed as false
Sense of fragmentation – primary feeling, emotion unveiled in the modernist literature, revealed in the form of the text, they very often experimented with the form of literature
innovations
Traditional pattern of the novel subverted, questioned in Modernist Literature,
Often ironic, shifts in perspectives (William Faulkner’s novels, The sound and the Fury, The life in August), instead of having the traditional narrator who knows everything, many perspectives, shifts emphasized by the change of the fond
Questioning the concept of authority – the narrator is no longer authority, he doesn’t control the action
Virginia Woolf
idea of the stream of consciousness writing – the technique which appeared in the category of modernism,
e.g. visible in her novel Mrs. Dalloway
the narrator’s idea, aim is to present the way in which one thinks, with all the digressions, the ways the mind wanders,
not very coherent, no proper beginning, not develop in the traditional way, no conclusion
Hemingway, Sun Also Rises – innovations
William Faulkner’s – novels:
The sound and the Fury,
The life in August
Wykład 11: Lost Generation / Modernism – 7.01.2010
Ernest Hemingway
The Sun Also Rises – his best novel, published in 1925. It was firstly to be titled Fiesta. In the summer of 1925 he started this novel, by October 1927 the novel under the present title was a bestseller (20 000 copies sold)
second epigraph to this novel contains the term Lost Generation (with the reference to the group of ex-patriot writers: the drama of the I World War, which demolished the fundamental truths, values and left disillusionment, fragmentation, trauma, fear, anxiety. They felt separated from the past, needed new modes of expression, the images of waste, sterility) - statement by Gertrude Stein
Jake Barnes – a war veteran, main male character (antagonist?) of the novel. He was an ex-patriot, constantly drinking character, living in Paris, travelling to Spain for the fiesta. He was wounded in the war, the wound made him impotent. Barnes was in love with lady Ashley – platonic, unfulfilled love (all the characters – metaphorically castrated in the war)
interesting picture of gender - what American culture experienced then was the fact that position of woman changed
Lady Ashley – representation of these changes: always drunk, hair cut short, changes sexual partners, smokes cigarettes, active, liberated, cruel to the men who love her - she could be depicted as rather masculine than feminine
Jake Barns (the main man protagonist) - impotent, in love with someone, waits for a lady - rather feminine (in the traditional sense) than masculine
Composing his work in Paris, cafes
Simple journalistic style, preferred short words to longer ones, does not reveal everything, his text appeared to be very direct
Hemingway works famous for they elegiac quality (modernism) - no happy endings, novels often ending with a death of someone, captured in the joke “Why the chicken cross the road.. Hemingway: To die. In the rain.”
prejudice against numerous groups:
very often accused of anti-Semitism,
refers to Negros (politically correct term in that time),
homosexual people
he wanted to reflect the sentiments of the era (the narrator is never the author)
Writing – his moral responsibility – he perceived it that
He believed the traces of the author are always present in the text, therapeutical purpose of the writing
Francis Scott Fitzgerald
The Side of Paradise – published In 1920
The Great Gatsby – deterioration, fall of the concept of the American dream (after the war it appeared to be a delusion)
Jay Gatsby – the main character of the novel – he reinvents himself in order to be worth the woman he loved and also to be a member of elite (the way to Daisy Buchanan is through money), he does it in an illegal way, involved in illegal business. He fails, is killed in the end. Gatsby never achieved what he wanted to achieve
many symbols, symbolist novel
A critic of the concept of the American Dream, and of American elites (the group that Gatsby aspires to - described as not very kind, intelligent, good)
Associated with modernism, but he didn’t really experimented. Anyway, his themes were connected with modernism
Romantic sensibility – reflected in:
the tendency to view the world symbolically in the way of deterioration (of the fall)
romantic love (to Daisy Buchanan), but still he wants to be rich – they are dreamers, try to pursue their dreams
Symbolic imagination – many of his novels are symbolist novels in the same way in which The Scarlett Letter is a symbolist novel
E. Hemingway, F.S. Fitzgerald:
Both left America at least for some time, both composed in Europe
They were acquaintances:
Fitzgerald liked Hemingway’s fiction, is responsible for a very important change, transformation of The Sun Also Rises – it was him who advised Hemingway to cut off first two chapters (reported to the female character, Lady Ashley),
Hemingway appreciated Fitzgerald as a writer
LITERARY MODERNISM
Literary movement, associated with literary works created between 1914 -1939
A response, reaction to the new theories about human life and human behavior:
Carl Marx – economic forces control human behavior, determine people’s actions,
Freud – people are not in control even their minds fully,
Charles Darwin – people are not much better than animals, the mercy of the biology
strongly shaped by these ideas and the experience of the IWW
no faith in humanity – no heroes, but irony instead (concept of heroism lost somewhere)
Literary innovations, experiments with form
The stream of consciousness writing – evident in James Joyce’s Ulysses, Virginia Woolf’s Miss Dalloway, - supposed to be reflecting the way in which one thinks (fragmentary, incoherent, chaotic)
Fragmentation (crucial for modernism) - no proper beginnings (introduction of the hero), closure, sense of finality in the end, very often multiple narrators (concept of Godlike narrator who controls the story is gone, narrator is not the God. Perhaps narrator doesn’t even know what is going to happen, no moral judgments about the characters)
Theory of omission (Hemingway) – only the top of the iceberg is revealed to the reader, rest is to be imagined, (bad story is the one which make reader confused, when they cannot guess what happened), e.g. Hills Like White Elephants (man and a woman quarreling about something – the reader can guess out of the context that the theme is proposed abortion)
They perceived their writing as moral responsibility – not describing the waste land, but trying to find the ways of surviving in this desert,
POSTMODERNISM – they liked the idea, played with it (the ideas of modernism)
Wykład: Southern Literature - 14.01.2010
SOUTHERN LITERATURE – appeared in 1920-ties
authors associated with it were usually born there. However, Mark Twain born in Missouri was also associated with the South and even called the Father of the Southern Literature:
William Faulkner
John Steinbeck
themes: slavery, social hierarchy, tradition and the past, the concept of the family (great value, but also the source of various drama), the concept of kazirodztwo
SUTHERN RENAISSANCE
1920-1930: Renaissance in Southern Literature
Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, Katherine Anne Porter, Allen Tate,
Southern Literature became popular, a number of writers emerged
SOUTHERN GOTHIC
contrary to the British gothic American Gothic concentrated with: the state of mind, the figures of mad man, inner states, imagination, fear, atmosphere of mystery, suspect.
characteristic feature: grotesque - they use common Southern stereotype (e.g. southern bell – beautiful traditional young southern woman) they transformed it in grotesque, (visible in Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily)
the southern literature was misunderstood by the northern readers
John Steinbeck (1902-1968)
Associated with West (California)
Wrote 27 books (including 16 novels)
1962 – Nobel Prize
Believed to be controversial: liberal politic views, in his novels he writes about the fall of American dream
Famous for his California novels, these includes:
The Grapes of Wrath (A Pulitzer Prize – 1939),
Of Mice and Men (not a novel, but included here)
Of Mice and Men
Portrays negative side of capitalism
band from school because of the negative portrait of not only the Southern, but also the whole American society
1930-ties – time of the Great Depression – American Society described in the similar way,
Lenny - simple minded, mind of the child, gigantic, extremely strong, occupies much lower position in the hierarchy
George - young strong man, occupy a high position
Both are members of the working class. Because of massive unemployment they had to travel from a farm to a farm in search of work. All of the workers had they dreams – Lenny and George dreamed of earning enough money to buy a house and grow vegetables, have rabbits (Lenny), even this simple dream is impossible for them to achieve. All of the characters could be describes as the losers of the American Dream.
Society divided and hierarchical, even among the workers there is hierarchy:
Crux - black man, marginalized,
Candy - the old man with a dog – shot in the story - no use for them, doesn’t have a hand – wounded, compared to the dog: both old and useless
Curly’s wife – the only one female character in the novel. Curly was the son of the owner of the house
the characters are stuck, incapable, immobile America – a sad, limited place, which offers almost nothing. Steinbeck takes the famous American concepts: mobility, American Dream, etc. and transform them into something ugly, reveals their falsehood (the characters spend their time drinking, stuck in this vicious circle - no opportunity, chance for them)
William Faulkner (1897-1962)
Born in New Albany, Mississippi,
Original name - Falkner
At the age of 13 – begun writing poetry. He dropped out of school, because he wanted to be a soldier, but was too short and therefore not accepted (?). Eventually he entered Royal Canadian Air Force, with which he served during the I World War
Studied literature at the University of Mississippi, but left it without the degree. Faulkner never received any formal education.
Got the Nobel Prize
First publications:
1924 - Fist publication: Collection of poems - The Marble Faun
1926 - First novel: Soldier’s Pay
These books didn’t make him popular
1929 – publishing of Sartoris – 15 novels connected by the setting (a fictional county Yoknapatawha), they are referred to Yoknapatawha novels. This includes his most famous texts. These novels reflected decades of economic decline, gloomy, depressing portrait of the society. Themes he tackles: class division, racism, poverty.
The sound and the fury - incorporated the multiple narration
Light in august
As I lay dying
Famous for incorporating various writing styles
The most important value in his life: his art, writing – his moral responsibility
Last years of life he spent in Hollywood writing screenplays
Alcoholic, his marriage was not very happy
Died, because he fell of the horse
1949 – Nobel Prize
Connected with the American South: Southern Literature, Southern Renaissance, Southern Gothic
Grotesque - visible in Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily: He uses common Southern stereotype - southern bell – beautiful traditional young southern woman. He transformed it into grotesque. Emily is a main protagonist in this text, heroine of this story. She is presented, remembered from the past as a slander, pretty southern bell. Her father was a slave owner. Emily is a remnant of the past, representation of old traditional values, respected as the representation of the past. To some point she doesn’t even have to pay taxes. Towards the end of her life she is a crazy spinster, who happens to be necrophilia (something gloomy, ugly, grotesque - resembles Queen Victoria who sleeps with the dead bodies)
Wykład: Confessional Poetry – 21.01.2010
Confessional Poetry1
Poetry of the personal eye,
this style of writing emerged in 1950-ties and 1960-ties in the USA
Started by Lowell and Snodgrass
Term launched when Robert Lowell published collection titled Life Studies (1959) –believed to be the first collection of confessional poems (divorcing his wife, mentally troubled, maniac depressive syndrome. All he went through reflected in the poem – extremely controversial: he criticizes wife very harshly and admire, trace his lover, for whom he dumped his life, tackles the most privet events in one’s life)
W.D. Snodgrass – most famous confessional collection – Heart’s Needle
Famous representatives (most prominent): Sexton, Plath
Personal poetry, you can directly connect the events described in the poem with the events from author’s life
Not about writing down feelings, not diary, not merely about being personal, shocking – they were very good poets: well-educated, craft and construction important for them, careful about the composition of their poems.
Sylvia Plath ironic (dying – a king of art, performance), metaphorical (distant from her body, the metaphor of the fact that Nazi, who used the bodies of people they killed to produce the soap or lampshades from the skin. If the body can be transformed to an object it is not her, but an object) - experience from life not presented in very straight-forward, direct way,
The dominant image of the woman of that time – housewife – beautiful, careful and elegantly dressed, responsible for the house: controls it, the family, a lot of children. In real life women not treated seriously confessional poetry broke this tradition – women’s voice very loud, writing about sexual abuse, suicide, mental problems, husbands, children – ground breaking, extremely controversial, shocking (in the 1950-ties)
Anne Sexton (1928-1974)
Her psychologies encourages her to poetry as a way of therapeutic treatment
Autobiographical
Started to write poetry as a teenager in her preparatory school, first published in this school’s year book, she did not really continue writing in that time, her mother accused her of plagiarism
Finishing school for women (called charm school) – a school to produce a lady, to prepare woman for marriage, emphasizes training in cultural and social activities (especially domestic activities – e.g. good manners),
she worked as a model for some time
met her husband, they eloped and got married
1934 – recurring depression
1956 - Hospitalized for the first time, tried to commit the suicide, resumed writing poetry – it helped her, but not cured
1957 – second attempt of suicide
1958 – entered a seminar by Robert Lowell, met Sylvia Plath (both Robert Lowell’s students)
1959 – first poems published – To Bedlam and Back (Bedlam – mental institution) – very personal collection
Become a professor in Boston University
Very successful writer
1973 – hospitalized 3 times, got divorce, published 3 collections of poetry
1974 – committed suicide
Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)
Often writes about her father (lengthy illness, he believed that he was suffering from terminal cancer. It was diabetes, they had to amputate his leg. He died when she was 8)
Author of one single novel “The Bell Jar”2 – confessional – describes what happened to her starting from 1950 (when she was accepted to college)
1952 – received a prize of 500 dollars (Mademoiselle Offices) – worked as an editor, applied for the scholarship at Harvard University (not accepted into this creative writing course)
1953 – first suicide attempt, hospitalized, shock treatment
1955 – Cambridge University – full scholarship
She met Ted Hughes - famous British poet, got married
She was mentally unstable, he started to cheat on her, got involved with one of his lovers, who had his child
1963 – committed suicide
Lady Lazarus
Title reference to the biblical figure (resurrection, man waken to life by Jesus)
The experience of almost dying – repetitive, happens again and again and again, “one year in every ten I manage it”
She writes about her struggling with depression, her willing to die, more directly about suicide attempts (unsuccessful)
Most prominent themes she tackles in this poem would be also body, the attitude to men
Men - 4 different aspects of the same male figure: her doctor, her enemy, God, Lucifer – authorities. Her as a Phoenix who wishes to eat those men, destroy, kill them
It seems that the body is another crucial subject – an issue you cannot overlook. The body becomes corpse (monster woman, walking corpse, someone who died and was resurrected) - fragmented, divided in various parts, filled with worms, repulsive and digestive on one hand, on the other hand she talks about striptease, sexuality
Perfect example of Confessional Popetry
Very metaphorical text, carefully composed, highly ironic – very good text