English Literature
English Literature in the 20-30’s of the XX c.
The century is characterized by great diversity of artistic values &
methods. This age had a great impact on the literary process. Variety of
social, ethic & aesthetic attitudes. New achievements in science have their
impact on literature. Literature absorbs & transforms the material of their
influences:
V The First World War
V Russian Revolution
V Freud’s psychoanalysis
V Bergson’s philosophy of subjective idealism
V Einstein’s theory of relativity
V Existentialists thought
V Economic crises 1919-1921 & consequent upheaval of social movement
V Marxist ideology
V Strike 1926
All these factors lead to literature of social problematics. There
existed three trends: critical realism, beginning of social realism,
modernism. The writers revolutionized, changed literary form, as well as
continued the traditional forms. This inter… is a distinctive feature of
the XX c. English literature reflected Britain’s new position in the world
affairs. By the end of the XIX Victorian tradition began to deteriorate.
The desire to liberate art & literature from the contents of the Victorian
society. Thus, criticism is the dominant mood in the beginning of the XX c.
Criticism took different forms. Some of them – modernist, others –
spiritual exploiters. Artist’s duty was to reflect truly thoughts of
people. Realists in the beginning of the XX – Hardy, Galsworthy, Shaw,
Wells, Conrad, Mansfield, Bennett, etc.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
He introduced intellectual play in the English theatre. He was much
influenced by Ibsen. “In 1889 British stage came into collision with
Norwegian giant Ibsen. He passed as a tornado & left nothing but ruin.”
Everybody wanted to create something like Ibsen. Shaw also experienced
Marx’s influence especially “Das Kapital”. The society was in crisis. The
article “The Quintessence of Ibsentism”. Here he underlines his belief that
the real slavery of today is the slavery to ideas of goodness. Ibsen was
accused of being immoral. But it implies the conduct that doesn’t conform
to current ideals. The spirit of is constantly outgrowing his moral ideals
& that is why conformity to those ideals produces results not less tragic
than thoughtless violation of them. The main effect of Ibsen’s plays on
public is that his plays stress the importance of being always prepared to
act immorally. He insists that living will, humanistic choice are more
important than abstract law, abstract moral norms. Ibsen: “The Doll’s
House” let everybody refuse to sacrifice. There is no formula how to
behave.
English drama of the passed years was centered on some imaginary event.
Ibsen did not write about accidents, he wrote about “slice of life”(life
experience). He introduced open play – a play that has no end (if you show
a slice of life you obviously have open play). Shaw objected “art for art’s
sake”. It means only money’s sake. Every great artist has a message to
communicate. His role is to interpret life, to create mind. All art is
didactic. “Heartbreak House” reflects the state of Europe before the war.
George Herbert Wells (1866-1946)
A novel was also developing. In the beginning – a time of crisis for
English novel. The XIX model was not acceptable any more. The novel of the
past years developed to describe a social hierarchy. In the beginning of
the century the dominant belief was that the Victorian society fell apart.
Wells was attempting to escape the traditional novel forms. The novel was
seen as a means to create future.
His lecture – “The Contemporary Novel”.
Wells was a very prolific writer. He wrote more than 100 books, he is
best known for his science fiction. He had a very definite aim – political
& social. He was trying to combine critical analysis of present
civilization to the picture what it might be in future. He believed in
science. But he understood that it can be dangerous because the power for
destruction is huge.
“The War of the Worlds”. He was considered utopiographer. To build
utopic they needed to destroy the relics of the past – class distinction
(unenlightenment). He analyzed the feelings of the present in the life of
nation’s future.
“Ann Veronica: A Modern Love Story” depicts the problem of emancipation.
The novel was written as a reaction to eugenics movement. He affirmed the
need of gifted individuals to find the appropriate patterns & the choice
must not be constrained by any social restrictions.
“Tono-Bungay” is a novel about the life of gentry in the rural England.
It combines science fiction & realistic novel. Bladesover – a place, where
George Pondervo (the main character) grew up. It becomes a symbol of
dominant influence of the past models of life. The novel is episodic in
form, doesn’t have classical structure. Wells was the first person who
ushered in English literature the theme of lost generation.
“Mr. Britling Sees It Through”(1916) was called by him “the history of
his own concern”. The responsibility of everyone for the war. It is
autobiographical. Tried to write about the evolution of consciousness of
his contemporaries. Concentrates on the inner life of his heroes. Fantasy &
reality mingles here. As to the reasons of the war – he brings his heroes
to the conclusion that wars are inherited in human nature. He started as an
optimistic liberalist but as he lived on he was very much disappointed.
“You Fools” is his last word to humanity.
* * *
There are many novels & poetry about war. These writers are known as
“lost generation” writers. The term was introduced by Gertrude Stein. She
uses it metaphorically: old values & beliefs were lost in the war but
unfortunately new moral values were not formed yet. Majority of these
writers went through the war themselves.
This was a certain tendency in poetry – Trench poetry. They wrote about
war. Young people who served as soldiers expressed their outcry: Wilfred
Owen ”Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”, Siegfried Sassoon, Isaac
Rosenberg. Many of the poems have pacifist character. They were among the
first to create the true picture of trench life. They gave rather
naturalistic pictures, the imagery was very vivid & appalling, scenes of
massacre, they wrote about the smell of the corpses, heavy job, gas
attacks, deaths of young & promising people. They created the image of war
as very ugly & senseless deed. Other writers responded to that huge
catastrophe.
The classical example of novel about lost generation is “The Death of a
Hero” by R. Aldington.
Richard Aldington (1892-1962)
He started as a poet close to decadence, aestheticism, he belonged to
imagist poets (formalism). He published “Old & New Images”- his first
collection of poems. He propagated the doctrine escapism – movement to
escape in to the world of beauty (in Ellinism) from the ugliness of the
world. This ideal world was shattered by the WWI. He came from it another
man, he broke with imagists & continued to work in realistic trend.
In 1929 “The Death of a Hero” was published. The novel was started after
the war but had not been completed until 15 years later. It’s a social
novel disclosing tragic consequence & reasons of war. He made readers see
that the war was inevitable. But the protagonist tries to find the answer
for the question – who is responsible for that? Everybody was! Everybody is
guilty for the rivers of spilt human blood. This book is a cry for
redemption for the writer.
It is a novel of big generalization. There are many autobiographical
touches in the book. He starts farther in the war to unmask the hypocrisy
of the English society, respected English families. Aldington wants to show
that this is a pack of lies that the war is a noble deed, a salvation. He
tries to show that lies started much earlier. His ideals are truth &
beauty. Aldington says that this generation was lost before the war
started. War was not the source of the tragedy but rather result of it.
The life story of George Winterborne is given in a reverse order. We see
Winterborne family in which all relations are based on deceit & lies. Later
we see George at school where he is supposed to develop into a strong &
aggressive individual, the defender of imperialism. He tries to escape from
the influence of society & turns to art in search of his place under the
sun. He moves to London but among “intellectual” people he found only
hypocrisy. He is inherently lonely, his ideas of truth & beauty are
frustrated by snobs, who pretended to be leaders of artistic movement. He
sees all their cynicism. In that period of his London life he still shows
his early tendency to resist to circumstances. He expresses his
disillusionment in angry talks but he cannot achieve peace. He remains
passive.
Much is said about his love because love was the only harbour for other
“lost generation” heroes. It is not so for G.Winterborne. These relations
are coloured with cynicism (realization of Freud’s ideas of free love
between George’s wife & her lover). When he tried to put these ideas into
practice, he faced with constant quarrels & was eventually turned down by
both his women. Then the war starts. He volunteers to the front. War
