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the Italian Carbonari and supported the cause of the Greek against the Turkish while Shelley supported the Irish Catholics in their struggle for the emancipation. All the poets of the 2nd generation lived very romantic lives and all died abroad and travelled around Italy. features subjective and irrational parts of human nature: emotion, imagination, nostalgia and relationship with nature everyday language →sublime: that is the search for deep feelings, be they of pain or pleasure. →imagination: was seen as the key to penetrate the secrets of the Universe; it was a God-like faculty, the highest and noblest gift of the poet who, through it, was able to modify or even to re-create the world around him. To do that, the imagination had to work freely and the composition had to come spontaneously, almost unconsciously →the poet has a higher sensibility than the common human, so he is able to recollect through his imagination what he sees SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834) He wrote a poem called "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" in 1798 tale: the poem starts with the mariner who stopped a wedding guest to tell him his tale: after a violent storm, an albatross appeared and the mariner killed him for no reason. The other sailors who were with him, decided as a punishment to hang the dead albatross around the mariner's neck. Then, a phantom ship came closer to the crew and on board there were Death and Life-in-Death who cast dice and the results were that all the sailors died, while the mariner survived. The mariner, alone, re-established a relationship with nature and he managed to turn back home but he still continues to stop people telling them his story and teaching them to love all living beings. The final moral is that we all have to be respectful with God's creation, otherwise terrible things would happen. language: frequent repetitions, alliteration, mix of dialogue and narration atmosphere: mysterious with supernatural elements (the two ghosts who played dice) style: medieval ballad (tragic end, story of a single character, written in a dialogue form, supernatural elements which lead the story) GEORGE GORDON BYRON (1788-1824) He wrote a long narrative poem called "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" in 1816 tale: the main character is Harold, a young nobleman who loves travelling. He travelled a lot around Europe and also in Italy (all this trip are based on Byron's experiences). The word "childe" is a medieval title for a young man who was about to become a knight. There are descriptions of the landscapes he visited they reflects Harold's feelings Byronic hero-passionate and mysterious man -rejects moral rules of society outsider and isolated -arrogant, intelligent, moody -interested in their own self-interest or to combat oppressive social, political establishments PERCY BYSSCHE SHELLEY (1792-1822) He wrote a poem called "Ozymandias" in 1817 and "Ode to the West Wind" in 1819 view of life →Shelley imagined a world of ideal goodness, justice, love and beauty, a world of absolute and eternal forces, completely opposed to the everyday world of oppression and injustice. He hoped that mankind could be redeemed by these ideals. They are the universal ideas through which the transcendental world can express itself. They all derive from the idea of Good which is the source of all things. He believed that Beauty was eternal and a source of power. Beauty is mostly found in nature. nature → It's the privileged safe place from the disappointment and injustice of the ordinary world and the interlocutor of man's melancholy dreams and indomitable hopes. Shelley's sensitivity for nature was very similar to that of Wordsworth, pantheistic. He's an atheist who believes in a universal spiritual force that animates everything and links man to nature. In the Ode to the West Wind man is linked to the decaying leaves; he, too, may decay and die. The natural elements, such as the clouds, the west wind, the skylark and the moon, are all personified and endowed with their individual existence. poem "Ozymandias" tale: the poem begins with the poetic voice who met a traveler and listened to his account of Egypt. This traveler travelled to Egypt and saw the destroyed remains of a colossal statue of Ramses II, pharaoh of the Ancient Egypt. The statue is broken into pieces. On it, however, the pride of the pharaoh is still evident, both in the expression on his face and in the caption engraved on the pedestal. meaning: -The poem is about the weakness of power, which is destined to pass like all human things. -Ozymandias, symbolizes political tyranny. The statue is broken into pieces and stranded in an empty desert, which suggests that tyranny is temporary and also that no political leader, particularly an unjust one, can hope to have lasting power or real influence -The broken monument also represents the decay of civilization and culture: the statue is, after all, a human construction, a piece of art made by a creator, and now it-and its creator-have been destroyed, as all living things are eventually destroyed. ode "Ode to the West Wind" theme: there are 5 stanzas and each speaks about the effect of wind 1°STANZA the ode describes the wind as a preserver and destroyer. During the autumn leaves decay and that's a symbol of death and coming of winter season, while during spring and summer the wind can be considered as a preserver because the seeds he carries then will become flowers, plants. 2°STANZA describes the effects of wind on the air with the creation of clouds ● · ● ● ● 3°STANZA describes the effects of wind on water saying that it creates waves and storm 4°STANZA the poet introduced himself and asks to the wind to be like it: free and powerful. The poet doesn't feel free, but burden of life 5 STANZA poet want that the wind spread his words. Poetry should be the trumpet of a prophecy that wake up the mankind and says them that spring isn't so far (message of hope). This part can be read in a political key: this ode was composed in the years of Restauration. He hopes in a revolution to renew life in a dead and corrupt world full of suffering and injustice. He wanted a new world no longer based on tyranny, subjection, hypocrisy and materialism. He was optimistic about it as the last lines of the Ode show: "if winter comes, can spring be far behind?" JOHN KEATS (1795-1821) Unlike Byron and Shelley, he doesn't have any political or social commitment as a poet. He's concerned only with the sensuous aspect of Romanticism and Romantic sensibility. He chooses beauty and love as subject matter and dedicates all his life to art. He wrote an ode called "Ode on a Grecian Urn" in 1819 poetics →Like the other romantic poets, Keats refused reason as a source of truth. He believed in the importance of sensation and its pleasure to grasp reality. He considered poetry as the only reason of life and the only means to overcome and defeat death. Poetry should spring naturally from the soul: "if art does not come spontaneously almost unconsciously as leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all". Unlike the other romantic poets, Keats thought that poetry didn't have to contain a message but only reproduce what the poet's imagination suggested to him. Poetry had no other function than that of conveying the sense of Beauty. poet →The poet has to search for beauty and to render it as effectively as possible in words. The poet has no identity, no self. He is passive and submissive to things and people as they are, without trying to change or explain them. He must have the "NEGATIVE CAPABILITY", that is the acceptation that we can't solve everything. It is a great quality in Art. Art must not solve the problems but only explore them. nature → It was another source of inspiration. He didn't see nature in a pantheistic way. He simple saw it as another form of beauty. beauty > He considered Beauty as the main source of life and of inspiration and the only consolation he found in life. It was to him a source of joy. He believed that the purest Beauty was to be found in Ancient Greece. Ode: "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (ode= lyric poem, quite long. It often has an elaborate stanza structure and is elevated and formal in tone and style) → It is centered on the contrast between Reality and Illusion, Life and Art, Art and Beauty. →Keats drew inspiration from a decorated vase from Greece he saw during a visit to the British Museum. The decoration presented different scenes. theme: ● ● ● ● 1°STANZA: The poet addresses to the Urn through a series of questions. Thanks to this questions it's described the urn: there're men, gods dancing in a pastoral setting 2°STANZA: says that the unheard melodies are better than those we actually heard. We can only see on the urn a men piping a song to the girl and can just imagine how the sound can be. Moreover, in the last lines there's an idea of art seen as the only thing that can hold a moment of happiness and make it eternal: the men will continue playing and love his girl forever. They will always be happy because Art can stop both a moment of beauty and an emotion. The beauty of the girl, the passion of the lover and the pleasure of music will never fade 3°STANZA: This stanza reinforces what said before: the imagined pleasure is sweeter and lasts more than the consummated one 4°STANZA: It describes the other side of the urn: a procession of people who have left their town to go uphill and sacrifice a cow to the Gods. The scene is described indirectly through a series of some more questions. The poet really sees the priest leading a heifer to the sacrifice and a procession of people. The sacrifice near an altar, the little town by the river and the empty town are only imagined. 5°STANZA ends with a phrase whose purpose is to show that beauty is the only permanent value of human life because the other things, physical beauty, love and life itself pass away. symbols: The Urn symbolizes the eternal beauty of Art; it is perfect, unchanging and always beautiful; it contrasts human life and love which are never perfect and short-lived. message: The message of the urn to mankind is that Beauty is the only permanent truth in life. There is a price to pay for eternity: immobility and lack of vitality. The people on the urn, frozen in a moment of pure beauty, the boy will never reach the girl, the piper's music is a silent 'unheard melody', the sacrifice will never be completed, the inhabitants will never return, the village will remain forever empty and so on. Art may be eternal but it also means death and silence. Though life is subject to decay, it can at the same time be enjoyed while it lasts. JANE AUSTEN (1775-1817) she declared herself an anti-romantic. She wrote Novels of Manners → a kind of fiction quite conventional as to plots and characters, without any romantic heroes or heroines and adventures. They dealt with common characters and events taken from everyday routine life. Her masterpiece is "Pride and Prejudice" published in 1813 literary influences →Austen, in her novels, was influenced by two authors of the early 1700s: Richardson and Fielding. The first one wrote an epistolary novel where he focused on character's feelings. Instead, from Fielding she learned the use of an omniscient narrator who judges and comments on behavior and events but in a subtle way unlike Fielding's narrator which was obtrusive. She also uses irony to highlight social hypocrisy between every rank and the contradictions of social conventions tale: Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have 5 young daughters: Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Lydia and Kitty. Mrs. Bennet's constant preoccupation was to find the suitable husbands for the 5 girls. The novel opens with the news of the expected arrival of an eligible bachelor, Mr Bingley, in the neighborhood where the Bennet family live. The Bennets and Mr Bingley and his friends meet during one of the social encounters that were used to organize in that age. Mr Bingley falls in love with Jane, the eldest daughter while Mr Darcy, Bingley's best friend, seems attracted by Elizabeth, the second daughter. Darcy seems unable to overcome his pride and prejudices concerning social status and acceptable behavior, but then he's eventually unable to control his feelings of love and proposes to Elizabeth. Elizabeth, full of pride and prejudices against Darcy by his behavior of arrogance and snobbery and rumors she has heard, refuses him. As the novel develops, Darcy reveals himself to be much more generous and sensitive than he at first appeared and Elizabeth overcomes her prejudices towards him and understands that she, too, is in love. The novel ends happily with the double marriage of Elizabeth and Darcy and of Jane and Bingley. MARY SHELLEY (1797-1851) Shelley's genre is quite different from that of Austen as this novel can be considered both a development of the Gothic novel and an early example of science fiction. Her masterpiece is "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus" published in 1818. The idea of Frankenstein, explains Shelley, comes from a friendly competition in Switzerland with Lord Byron and others writers. During a rainy day Byron suggested that they should all try to write a horror story. plot: the story is introduced by a series of letters written by Walton, the captain of a ship bound for the North Pole, to his sister in England. Walton finds a dying man, Victor Frankenstein, travelling across the ice. Walton takes Victor aboard his ship, where he tells Walton his strange story. Dr. Frankenstein discovered the secret of giving life to inanimate stuff. Using body parts from corpses, he assembled a monstrous creature. One night he brought it to life but he was so horrified by what he had done that he ran away. The monster takes over the narration and tells of a moment when he saved a little girl's life. The monster felt rejected by the human being so he starts his revenge by killing people: Dr. Frankenstein's brother, fiancé and friend structure epistolary novel (letters written by Walton to his sister). narrators →Walton+ Frankenstein + monster genre→ gothic novel in the description of the ugliness of the monster, in dramatic settings, in the use of highly emotional language → science-fiction novel- emerge a warning against the danger of science, talks about experimentation influences -myth of the Noble Savage (J.J. Rousseau) = the monster can be seen as a symbol of the "primitive man" who became bad due to the influence of civilization, the minster is constantly rejected by society -natural settings similar to those of Coleridge (stormy nights, mountains, isolated islands, North Pole, break nature balance by creating the monster) -Greek mythology, Prometheus - he gave the knowledge of fire to human being, ha was punished from breaking boundaries (as the scientist who gives to humanity the secret of life itself, the scientist is punished with the death of his beloved and his own death) theme →-nature and man= Frankenstein oversteps human limits in his search for the creation of human life. His action upsets the equilibrium of nature. Balance is only restored through death of the inventor and his creature. -social prejudice The 'monster's' horrible appearance leads to fear and social rejection. Social prejudice towards what is different provokes the monster's anger and thirst for revenge. -dangers of science= The novel - as the first example of science fiction - poses a warning against the potential dangers of science and its application. -romantic nature- nature is deeply connected with characters' emotions. It corresponds to Eden. It's connected with progress (Victor uses electricity, a natural force to recreate life, by doing so he breaks the natural order of things) THE VICTORIAN AGE (1832-1910) historical background: The Victorian Age, so-called after Queen Victoria, usually covers in literature a period of time longer than the actual reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), stretching from 1832, the year of the first Reform Bill, to the death of Edward VII in 1910. The Victorian Era certainly represented an age of optimism, justified by peace, prosperity and technological and industrial progress. But we have to consider that while the ruling classes benefited from this situation, the working classes paid the price of this development: laborers worked in unsanitary conditions, they didn't have access to clean water, healthy food and they couldn't even afford their children a decent education. economy: The Victorian Age are the years of technological improvements in the process of industrialization. The main industries were those of textile, iron and steel. Moreover, the construction of new roads, railways and canals made transports easier and cheaper urbanization: The process of industrialization affected the population. People started moving from the countryside to the industrial areas in search of job. This led to the expansion of cities. At the same time the rapid and uncontrolled growth brought serious problems of overpopulation, pollution and diseases effects: The industrialization had negative effects among poorer classes. There was a high discontent among this classes due to harsh working and living conditions, high food price and economic depression. Were born working-class movements. On the other hand, for the ruling classes, industrialization brought great wealth since Britain became the leading industrial power in the world. religion: Religious groups, like the Evangelical movement, in order to help the most in need, provided employment and improved living conditions for workers mentality: "Social Darwinism" is the theory of nature selection at the base of the society of the time. It says that only the fittest survives. education: primary education become compulsory only in 1880 and free 11 years later. Despite that only rich families could afford the education of boys at school, while girls used to study at home. Poor families didn't send their children to school. important dates: 1837= Queen Victoria ascended the throne of Great Britain 1848= Karl Marx published the Manifesto of the Communist Party →revolutionary movements throughout Europe 1851 Great Exhibition in Crystal Palace (no longer existing) 1880s-1900s= Britain's imperial expansion with the occupation of Egypt, The Sudan, other African countries (30% pop.) 1891 - Elementary Education Act, education became free art and architectures neo-gothic style The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben →Brunel built railways, tunnel under the River Thames, bridges and steamships literary background: Victorian literary production is divided into 2 phases: Early Victorian Age (Victorian Compromise): characterized by the wish to show the reality without criticize it. Their aim was to instruct and entertain. Writers had a social and moral responsibility to portray society in a realistic way denouncing its injustices but they also expressed faith in progress. Late Victorian Age (Anti-Victorian Reaction): writers exposed the contradictions of their age without personal or moral judgements. Some of them were affected by Naturalism which had developed in France following the theories worked out by Charles Darwin which saw man only like a creature conditioned by heredity and environment. No faith in progress The Victorian Age was The Age of the Novel. A lot of Novels were produced and the whole period was characterized by the constant growth of the number of readers. Features of Victorian novels: -entertainment, moral aim -writers make their readers reflect -represent the conditions of life of Victorian people (realistic) -complex, adventurous, surprising plots -3rd person narrator (omniscient) -3 volumes usually CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870) Early Victorian novelist his masterpiece is "Oliver Twist" published in 1838 and" Bleak House" in 1852 Dicken's novels are mainly tragicomic: he denounced the contradictions of his society using a comic tone. aim didactic because he wanted to warn the ruling classes about the poorer conditions (also inside workhouses), without offending them. settings take place most of all in London, they begin in negative circumstances and they ended well. characters →His favorite characters were the children because they weren't corrupted by the society (he talks about exploitation of children), but he included also other people of society from gentleman to laborers language full of descriptions. He had a fundamental role in English literature: he invented words, he spread words that already existed but unknown, used popular slangs expression Most famous works Oliver Twist (novel, 1838), A Christmas Carol (ghost story, 1843), Bleak House (1852), Great Expectation (coming-of-age novel it shows sentimental and moral development of a young protagonist, 1860) plot →Oliver Twist is a poor boy of unknown parents. He was brought up in a workhouse in an inhuman way. He was later sold to an undertaker as an apprentice, but the cruelty and the unhappiness he experienced with his new master cause him to run away from London. In London he joined a gang of young pickpockets, led by the Fagin. They tried to make a thief out of him. They didn't manage to do it because Oliver was helped by an old gentleman, Mr. Brownlow. Anyway, Oliver was kidnapped by the gang and forced to commit burglary. He was then adopted by Mr. Brownlow and at last received kindness and affection. Investigations were made about who Oliver really is and it's discovered that he has noble origins. At the end, the gang leaders and Oliver's half-brother, who paid the thieves in order to ruin Oliver and have their father's property all for himself, were arrested. theme-hypocrisy in workhouses-big institutions of the Age that host orphans, old people, poor people and disabled. Moreover, this places provide accommodation, food, clothing, doctors, medicine, work and education. The officials of the workhouses were the Master. On paper the workhouses seemed like a good solution to the problem of poor but in practice that became places of abuse and misery: strict rules, families were split up and harsh punishments for breaking rules In the novel Bleak House, the writer described slum housing, property speculation, overcrowded urban graveyards, neglect of contagious deceases and the educational needs of children. masterpiece aim social background setting narrator Charles Dickens (1812) Oliver Twist Giovanni Verga (1840) Rosso Malpelo representing society in a realistic way representing society in a realistic way Victorian Age Italy post-unification, verismo urban life, cities and slums omniscient-all-knowing and all- rural, regional life (no industries yet) impersonal narrator →objective presentation of life seeing LEWIS CARROLL (1832-1898) -late Victorian writer -his masterpiece is a book written for children: "Alice's adventures in Wonderland" (1865)→ contrast between narrowness of everyday and infinitive power of imagination ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850-1894) -late Victorian writer -his masterpiece: "The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1886). plot →Mr Utterson is a respectable London lawyer and friend to the brilliant scientist Dr Jekyll. After the disturbing tale of a man assaulting a small girl, Utterson begins to question the odd behavior of his friends. Utterson discovered that Dr. Jekyll has created a potion able to release his evil side, Mr Hyde. These 2 beings are in a perpetual struggle. The story ends with the suicide of his individual who prefers to eliminate Hyde, rather than live in crime. themes →→-double identity= the identity of Jekyll and Hyde in the same body is in conflict. Jekyll is a respectable gentleman, rational, rich, civilized, handsome and well educated. Hyde is the opposite: uncivilized, ugly, follows his instincts. The conflict mirrors the contrasts in Victorian society between poor and rich. -contrast between good and evil- the double identity show how human nature can be both bestial and rational influences → Gothic novels (Frankenstein) + elements of detective fiction: scattered clues, mystery, suspense, unsolved crimes setting →-London during Victorian Age= is depicted as a modern city that, under the surface of progress and modernity, hides a world full of contrasts, emerging violence and crime, transgressions and deceptions. -Most of the actions occur at night when Hyde operates. Night and fog- obscurity, Dr Jekyll's dark side. -Jekyll's house has an elegant façade while the rear door used by Hyde is in a sinister building with no windows style the story is told from different perspectives creating a deep sense of mystery. There're a lot of narrators OSCAR WILDE (1854-1900) -late Victorian writer -he was a dandy-esteta -his masterpiece: "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1891)→rich and handsome young man who sells his soul to devil. There's a meditation about art (=had no moral value)- beauty-life AESTHETICISM: search for beautiful things period last decade of the 19th century origin→France reason reaction against materialism and restrictive moral code of the bourgeoisie reaction →escaping into aesthetic isolation, leading an unconventional existence pursuing sensation and excess, cultivating art and beauty in England → Keats, Ruskin (search for beauty in art), Pater (rejected religious faith) principles →-life should be lived as a work of art -absence of didactic aim -hedonistic attitude -evocative use of the language of the senses -excessive attention to the self -disenchantment with the contemporary society task of artist → create Beauty for Beauty's sake. A writer mustn't communicate important ideas simply but he has to suggest them. No description, but suggestion implication →art hasn't reference to life therefore it has nothing to do with morality and doesn't need to be didactic Not only his works, but his life, too, reflected this principle, so that the only thing in life that matters is art and pleasure. plot: The novel tells the story of a rich and beautiful young man, Dorian Gray, who had inspired an artist, Basil Hallwords, to paint his portrait. Dorian was fascinated of his own beauty as it appeared in the picture and wished that he could remain young and beautiful forever. Under the influence of Lord Henry Wotton, a cynical pleasure-loving aristocrat whose conversation fascinated him, Dorian led an immoral life abandoning himself to all sorts of sins. His wish to remain beautiful forever was magically fulfilled but the signs of age, experience and vice appeared on his portrait. The face on the portrait become so ugly that Dorian finally decided kill himself. At the moment of death, the painting returns to its original beauty while on Dorian face appeared all the past years. themes: -aestheticism -value of youth and beauty- Dorian wants to remain young and beautiful for the rest of his life. That's goes against nature's law and for that, at the end, will be punished with death -appearance and reality -vanity and temptation can lead to dire consequences and that is important to live a moral life -art is eternal at the end, Wilde dies but the art keeps his beauty setting: London, at the end of the 19th century style: story is told by an obtrusive third-person narrator THOMAS HARDY (1840-1925) -late Victorian writer -his masterpiece: "Tess of D' Urbevilles" pessimism, Tess woman driven by passion goes to tragic ending. Setting imagined, rural camping in England→nostalgia for rural England, melancholic tone. RUDYARD KIPLING (1865-1936) -late Victorian writer -his masterpieces: the novel for children "The Jungle Books" (1894) and "The White Man's Burden" -he won the Noble Prize for Literature in 1907 -his novels are characterized by the point of view of colonizers (they celebrate British Empire) →exploiting in other countries was right because they justify it saying that they want to educated them, improve conditions and bring progress. But in practice they want to impose their way of life -contrast between civilized west and uncivilized east plot: The White Man's Burden is a long poem addressed to the US. It develops the idea of imperialism as a humanitarian mission. Colonizer thought they were superior therefore they had to help those people bringing progress, education and civilization CHINUA ACHEBE (1930-2013) -Nigerian writer -he was born into an Igbo community -his masterpiece: the novel "Things Fall Apart" (1958)→it describes the reality of colonial Africa in the 1890s from an African perspective, showing their language, traditions and rituals. plot: it tells the story of Okonkwo's life, leader of an Igbo community, who is exiled for 7 years from his village of Umuofia for accidently killing a clansman. When he turns back to his village, he finds out that many things have changed in his absence: there's a church, a school and lot of people were converted to Christianity (all due to the white missioners). As a reaction Okonkwo and the other Igbo leaders burn the missionary church down but unfortunately then they are handcuffed and send in prison by the District Commissioner FIRST HALF 20TH CENTURY historical background: In 1914 broke out the 1st World War. On the one side the Triple Entente (=Uk + France+ Russia) and on the other side the Triple Alliance (=Germany+ Austria+ Italy). The war began when the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914. Germany in order to attack France, marched through neutral Belgium. At this point Britain intervene to defend Belgium against the strong Germany. In 1917 the US joined the war helping UK. American participation accelerated the German defeat: on 11th November 1918. The peace treaty was signed at Versailles in 1919 by Britain, France, Italy and the USA. The effects of the war were the high number of victims (9millions), it marked the decline of European dominion over the world and the rise of the new Great Powers: Russia and USA, and paved the way for dictators like Mussolini and Hitler. The war shocked a whole generation. The toll was enormous and people lost their faith in Liberalism, capitalism and progress: they realized that science and industry had not produced a better world but only weapons of mass destruction and had made the power of destruction greater than before. other important dates: 1903= the suffragettes' movement was founded in the UK. Women began to claim for more rights and for their emancipation. At the beginning it was a pacific movement but eventually it degenerated in violence. There were many riots and some of its leaders were also arrested. Thanks to their role during the war, they did the jobs of men who were away fighting and they were also engaged in the war as nurses. The women obtained the right to vote in 1918. 1910= Freud's psychoanalysis these new theories revolutionize the concept of life and of the world. NO faith in objective reality. } 1915 Einstein's Theory of Relativity 1917 Russian Revolution whose ideals were those of international socialism and social equality 1922=Benito Mussolini and his Fascist government →dictatorship 1929= Great Depression started from USA 1933= Hitler came to power in Germany. It started thanks to the occupation of an important economic zone: Ruhr. No Ruhr+ economic crisis →Hitler to power. His form of government was a totalitarian regime characterize by a violent sense of nationalism, racialism, anti-communism and anti-Semitism 1936-39= Civil War in Spain. It brought to the creation of a fascist totalitarian State led by Francisco Franco and supported by Gern and Italy literary background: The events of the First Half of the 20th century marked also the literary production. There was no faith in progress, in the social system and in the validity of its institutions. The new outlook on life emphasized the individual human being, the individual sensibility and the individual consciousness as opposed to accepted social order, social values and social ideals. One of the main aspects of the period was the search for new spiritual belief. The cultural response ranged from social commitment to either rejection of conventions and traditions or a nostalgic clinging to them. The main genres of the period were: FICTION= on one hand there was continuity with the tradition of the realistic novel but with more focus on either psychological realism or social and political engagement. On the other hand, the modernist fiction, where writers shifted their interest to the problem of representing individual consciousness under the influence of new psychological theories. Modernists used a particular technique called "stream of consciousness" in order to reproduce the flow of thought in an individual's mind. Stream of consciousness: fragmentation of the character's perspective, the breaking of syntactic and grammar rules and the overlapping of past and present events. Its influences came from: -theories of Freud-psychoanalysis based on the idea that our actions are motivated by causes we aren't aware of. There's a mysterious part in everyone's mind, the unconscious, where irrational and subjective impulses are set. -Henri Bergson- he revolutionized the concept of time, it's a constant flow (no structured as a series of units) -sense of anxiety, fragmentation and loss caused by the War ● POETRY= the general picture of poetry of the period is a fragmented one. Poets can be divided into: “English sensibility" and "European sensibility". English sensibility →poets who drew inspiration from existing values and English tradition European sensibility →poets who were influenced by other European traditions, like the French symbolists poets. When war broke out, poetry responded in different ways, patriotic and pacifist, traditional and experimental. "War poets" react in different ways: At first the patriotic enthusiasm led many to enlist like the poet Rupert Brooke. Then came anger as a reaction to war rhetoric, that was predominant in Siegfried Sassoon's poetry. Meanwhile Wilfred Owen gave voice to compassion creating poems that were like elegies for the young soldiers he had met at the front. Finally, a detached unsentimental view also started to emerge as in Isaac Rosenberg's poems. RUPERT BROOKE (1887-1915) -War poet -Brooke's masterpiece is "The Soldier" (1915) -in his poems war is depicted as clean and cleansing and death is seen as a reward. -patriotic enthusiasm summary: is an Italian sonnet narrated by a soldier reminiscing about the practice of burying dead soldiers near the places where they were killed. It wasn't routine to ship soldiers back home during World War I. The narrator is generally agreed to be Brooke himself. The narrator speaks to an unknown party to comfort them about the burial of English soldiers on foreign lands. He tells them that graves are a part of England, that they are a piece of home for those soldiers who died abroad. He concludes the poem by stating that if he should meet the same fate, he's connected both physically and mentally to England, and anywhere he's buried will thusly become English soil. analyze: It is a highly patriotic poem, one written early in the war when the nation was far more optimistic about the war and its outcome. The poem's repetition of "England" reinforces this patriotic sentiment. The poem is intended to romanticize the deaths of soldiers by essentially showing that England survives despite their loss, that their sacrifice has symbolically brought a piece of England to other lands. The graves and battlefields aren't described in dark or ominous terms, but rather with images of flowers and of nature seemingly at peace. This is, of course, in stark contrast to the descriptions and accounts of the Great War that came in the following months and years. The poem's overall tone is one of hope and dignity in the face of death. It doesn't deny that there will be sacrifices in the War, but it implies that those sacrifices are for a greater good. SIEGFRIED SASSOON (1886-1967) -War poet -his masterpiece "Suicide in the Trenches" (1918) -anger as a reaction to war -Bitter and violent reactions to war are expressed through irony -Sassoon denounced the political errors and lies for which the soldiers were being sacrificed in various ways -He used a documentary style recreating the physical horror of the war through anger and satire -Neither compassionate nor pitiful he reported shocking and realistic details in a spontaneous way summary: War is the theme of 'Suicide in the Trenches.' The poet focuses on how the horrors of war impact young soldiers, like the man who chose to kill himself rather than spend any more time in the trenches of WWI. Sassoon mentions the insects, explosions, lack of alcohol, and more. He also focuses on how soldiers are celebrated and quickly forgotten by the public. WILFRED OWEN (1893-1918) -War poet -his masterpiece "Anthem for doomed youth" (1917) -he gave voice to compassion creating poems that were like elegies for the young soldiers he had met at the front -Owen's poems contain accurate accounts of gas casualties, men losing their minds, men who are clinically alive but physically destroyed -Assonance and alliteration gave his lines a haunting quality, a gravity and moral force that turned the suffering into a universal condition summary: Anthem for Doomed Youth is a poem by Wilfred Owen, written during World War I. The poem is a lament for the young soldiers who died in the war, and is a critique of the glorification of war. The poem begins with a description of the battlefield, with the sounds of the war compared to the choirs and bells which usually sound at funerals. It also compares familiar funeral practices to the bleak farewells of young men who should have their whole lives in front of them. In doing so, Wilfred Owen seems to show the futility of religion at this time while also demonstrating the brutality of war. ISAAC ROSENBERG (1890-1918) -War poet -his masterpiece "August 1914" (1916) -a detached unsentimental view -Differs from the other war poets because of his poor background but also for his modernist technique -Had an unsentimental vision of the war -Less concerned with pity, he presented realistic and shocking details sometimes with a touch of irony through paradox and contrast -Elemental use of language summary: This poem reflects on the beginning of the First World War. Rosenberg asks what is destroyed in the fire of war from our lives. He describes life as having three aspects, represented by iron, honey and gold. When the gold and the honey have disappeared or run out, what is left is the iron, which is hard and cold. Our lives are iron and when we are young it is molten and can be shaped. Yet, now it is a negative aspect, a hole in a field which is ripe, and a broken tooth in another wise adequate mouth. JAMES JOYCE (1882-1941) -Modernist writer -born in Dublin -he went to Trieste. There he met Svevo, who influenced Joyce's style and themes -2 phases →naturalistic technique, linear plot, logical syntax and a everyday language ("The Dubliners") →experimentation stream of consciousness ("Ulysses") -The stream of consciousness and the interior monologue: a new technique of narration. Using symbolism, allegory, a new language and rejecting logical sequences and conventional syntax, he tried to reproduce the ordinary working of the mind. He was a master in using this technique even if it's wrong to sustain that he had invented it. -The epiphany: Joyce developed his idea on the epiphany from Freud's psychoanalytic theories: there are always hidden motivations in man's behavior. In Joyce the moment of the epiphany is a central lightning moment of an action he describes in a page or novel; it's an instant of self-realization, of insight, of recognition given by an incident or an object, in itself unimportant, through which the protagonist understands that he isn't behaving in a right way; it's the discovery of intuitive truths in casual moments of people's lives. The epiphany represents the climax of the novel and the turning point in the character's life. -Ireland and Dublin are his preferred settings: all his works are set in Dublin. "Dubliners" (1914) analysis: It's a collection of 15 short stories. It deals with Dublin seen as the prototype of a modern city. Even if each story is complete in itself, they are all linked by the common theme of the decay and stagnation of the city life and by the unifying theme of the Irish Paralyses. In one of his letters, Joyce said that his aim was to present the story of Dublin through four aspects: childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life. Paralysis is one of the key-words of the book; it means intellectual, moral and physical paralyses which affects most of the characters who are unable to move out of their social milieu. Each story has got its climax, its epiphany. A second theme is "escape". It's related to the theme of paralyses, even though apparently opposed: almost all the Dubliners aspire to escape but no one of them is destined to succeed setting: The Dublin that Joyce portrays is static and provincial town, a place which doesn't have the cosmopolitan atmosphere of many other European capitals of that time. This inevitably affects the lives of its inhabitants, who are represented as being imprisoned in a city that doesn't give them the chance to grow and to develop their full potential as human being narrative technique: Dubliners is only apparently traditional. He used the free direct speech and free direct thought, which anticipate some of Joyce's later experimental works characters: all the characters have a desire; they try to fulfill their lives by overcoming all the obstacles to this ambition. They are unable, they all failure. This condition of universal inaction is defined by Joyce as paralysis. Paralysis= spiritual and physical death. The only way to escape is through epiphany masterpiece setting narrative technique main theme James Joyce (1882) Ulysses (1922) Dublin stream of consciousness no a linear plot: mix of past/present events illness of man: paralyzed man. Conscious of his situation but incapable to react, to overcome the limits and to escape Italo Svevo (1861) La Coscienza di Zeno, 1923 Trieste autobiography + stream of consciousness tempo misto illness of man: inetto. Conscious of his situation but incapable to react, to overcome the limits and to escape summary: The short story "Eveline" is taken from the collection "Dubliners", the second group, adolescence. It tells the story of Eveline, a young woman living in Dublin who is torn between her desire to escape her oppressive home life and her fear of the unknown. The story follows Eveline as she contemplates leaving her home and family to start a new life with her lover, Frank, in Buenos Aires. However, in the end, she's unable to leave and seems paralyzed by her condition and incapable of acting to improve it. GEORGE ORWELL (1903-1950) -novelist of the 20th century -his works have a strong political purpose -he joined the Republican Brigade fighting against the Fascists. -his masterpiece is "Nineteen Eighty-four" (1949), "Animal Farm" (1945) political ideas: Orwell's political formation was influenced by 3 main factors: his school years, his decision to resign from the Imperial Police and his experience in Spain. At school he began to be aware of the differences among the social classes; he was the poorest among his schoolmates and began to identify himself with the working class and to develop hate towards any form of authoritarianism. He was against imperialism and this led him to leave the Imperial Police. Then he went to live with the poor and the outcast and embraced anarchism. After the already mentioned episode in Spain he developed a lifelong dread of communism and moved closer to socialism. He was against all sorts of dictatorship both coming from the left and from the right. art: Art is an instrument to achieve democracy and freedom. The artist's task is to aim at the remaking of the society. He has to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose together. He has to use a simple, clear and direct language. plot: Orwell imagines that in 1984 the world is divided into three great powers: Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia. Oceania is ruled as a totalitarian state which combines elements belonging to both fascism and communism. The ruler is known as Big Brother. Actually nobody meets him and that makes him more threatening: he's the symbol of both power and authoritarianism. The citizens are always spied on and there is no privacy at home, too. There's a telescreen in every house which can't be switched off and through which the Thought Police can plug-in at all times of the day. The children are educated by the Party to control their parents and to denounce them if they do some actions or even speak against the Party. The Thought Police is the most feared branch of the police and had the task to punish the adversaries of the System. The main character is Winston Smith, who lives and works in London, one of the city in Oceania. He works at the Ministry of Truth and his job is to rewrite history books changing continually the events to fit them with the current policy of the Party. He isn't satisfied with the Regime and violates some important rules such as to keep a secret diary, which is considered a thought crime, or to make love in secret with Julia, which is considered. When discovered, he's brainwashed and tortured. They make him confess his crimes and give him back the previous job. The result of the treatment is that Winston becomes a new man; he becomes one of the Masses who thinks that everything is right, that Big Brother is right and that he has to love him. Room 101: It's the place where the torture and the horror are individual. In this room every person finds what he fears more. Winston finds his own personal nightmare and to stop the nightmare he is ready to reject and to denounce everything. Winston's nightmare are the mice. He's frightened by them and when he finds them in room 101, to stop the nightmare. themes: in a totalitarian dictatorship the individual is destroyed physically, annihilated and degraded into an asserting automaton. Winston can't avoid it and can't do anything to oppose the Party. The monotony of a world in which love is deprived of feelings and pleasure and Art are controlled by the State. In such context life becomes meaningless, grey and hopeless. setting: in Britain, 40 years in the future instruments of power: "doublethink" this new term was introduced by Orwell in 1984. It helps the totalitarian State to control the thoughts of its citizens: through the manipulation of the mind the "persona" is no long saying the opposite of what he thinks, but he really thinks the opposite of what is true; so white is black, slavery is freedom, war is peace. "Newspeak" consists in removing words which could express democracy or freedom. genre: -dystopian novel-Dystopian Novels are usually set in the future; they warn man to change his attitude to society. In particular, this one warns about the dangers of totalitarianism -science-fiction novel-set in the future, brainwash SECOND HALF 20TH CENTURY historical background: After the horrors of the Second World War: a sense of disorientation, confusion and pessimism were widespread On the economic field, things went well because after the difficult post-war years, Western economies, led by that of the USA, began to expand again. The working class and the lower-middle class, which had suffered a lot during the Great depression, gradually began to achieve a higher standard of living and so they were able to buy more consumer goods than before. The New shopping Centres and Supermakets changed their shopping habits. They could now afford a car, a radio, a television, a holiday abroad, all luxuries which had once been reserved for the upper-middle and upper classes (American Boom). Consequently, there was an increase in demand and in production which paved the way to the so-called Consumer Society (consumerism). However, many English people who benefited from these new opportunities were disappointed. They were dissatisfied with the disintegration of their Empire and had to accept the new reality of Britain being no more a powerful country but a second-class power. (By the mid-1960s Britain's colonial power and the imperial idea of unity had collapsed. Post-war reconstruction led to a need for immigrant labor. Workers and their families flocked to Britain from the West Indies, India and Pakistan. Britain, especially the industrial towns of the Midlands and the North, rapidly became a multi-cultural country). creation of the National Health Service in 1948, which guaranteed free health care for all. feminism-it became a more influential ideology as more jobs were available to young women, allowing them to become independent. The Women's Liberation Movement emerged in the late 1960s challenging discrimination in the workplace (Equal Pay Act of 1970). culture: UK→British counter-culture was expressed by provocative music (the Beatles and the Rolling Stones) and fashion (miniskirts). Young people were the first generation to be free from conscription, they felt significantly different from their parents' generation and they often challenged established authority. Young people were encouraged to consume, spending money on music and fashion, but they were also interested in more serious matters like supporting Civil Rights Movement and protesting against the Vietnam War. USA→counter-culture was expressed by a group of intellectuals called 'The Beat Generation', whose one of the most notable members was Jack Kerouac. The name of the group was coined by Kerouac, who used the word 'beat' to refer to a group of writers who rejected the materialistic values of middle-class America and advocated freedom, social rebellion and anarchism. The 'Beatniks' looked for personal release and illumination through jazz, drugs and in some cases, Zen Buddhism. They created free unstructured forms of prose and poetry, seeking to express emotions directly and to render the natural sounds and rhythms of speech. To their minds spontaneous emotions and natural expression were seen as superior to traditional literary forms. JACK KEROUAC (1922-1969) -American author -his masterpiece is "On the Road" published in 1957 73 258 22 summary: it's an autobiographical novel focused on the adventures of two main characters. The narrator, Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty. Sal and Dean decide to 'go West'. At first they travel on their own, but then they decide to travel together. Their adventures include partying, listening to jazz music, drinking, taking drugs and being free from social norms. During their journey they meet people who share their feeling of unrest such as the poets Carlo Marx and "Old Bull Lee". In the end Sal realizes that his friendship with Dean has come to an end. Sal comes back to New York. setting: at the end of the 1940s characters: Sal-Kerouac's alter ego, young intellectual and writer Dean=rebellious young man, full of energy and reckless (a beat) Carlo Marx-pensive poet, good friend of Sal and Dean's Old Bull Lee-drug addict SCHEMI: https://rosariomariocapalbo.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/the-1910s 1920s-spirit-of-the-age-and-literary- background-early-20th-century-novel-and-poetry/