have everything that money can give, a key to personal happiness =
relations between Jay Gatsby & Daisy whom he loves. In youth he suffered
feeling of inferiority, for she was the daughter of rich parents & he was a
poor soldier. He seeks to get money by bootlegging but it turned out that
happiness could not be achieved even with money because Daisy had changed,
she is very deaf & blind spiritually, feeling of all-permissiveness
increased in her. She doesn’t stop short in the fraud (car accident).
Gatsby was killed, Daisy departed, fled with her husband without any
remorse. Gatsby’s tragedy lies in the fact that he hoped to find happiness,
sympathy, love in the world where these feelings don’t exist. The tragedy
is that money changes people & money changed him & Daisy & he didn’t
understand this tragedy couldn’t foresee it.
Was he a positive or a negative character for the author? He possesses
good moral qualities but he is not the paragon of moral beauty, he obtained
his wealth by not clear ways. It’s clear that he is a tragic person. He
wastes his talent for money. Very often he is compared to Clyde Griffite
(Dreiser’s). But Gatsby is a personality.
Fitzgerald’s own story in a way repeats Gatsby’s story: he lived
bohemian life, gradually writing became an obligation. He appeared to be a
hostage of his own success. He also had drinking problems, & his wife whom
he loved very deeply had some mental problems.
The other works are “This Side of Paradise”, “Tender is the Night”, “The
Last Typcoon”, “The Beautiful & the Damned” where he developed the same
topic. Fitzgerald also had a dilemma & he had to choose to write for money
that ruined his health. He died in 1940.
William Faulkner (1897-1962)
A unique personality born in small town of Oxford (Mississippi) he grew
up in an impoverished southern aristocratic family & it had impact on him
(the spirit of the South). His education was not systematic. He inherited
the tragic confrontation of white & black. In 1925 he mat Sherwood
Anderson, dropped out of the university. He tried his hand in different
areas. After an unsuccessful attempt to become a pilot (was wounded in the
WWI), he did different odd jobs, worked in a bank, had a published
collection of poems. He wrote a couple of books imitating lost generation
novels. He produces novels “Soldier’s Pay”, “Mosquitoes”. Though published
they were not welcomed by critics. Their words were rather hush: “Faulkner
has no voice of his own, he has nothing to say.” So he decided to write in
a unique style, did not bother himself with any literary tradition. If you
don’t like it – it is your problem. All his life he lived in that small
town &it became a background for most of his books. It is known as
“Yoknapatawpha County”
But he found writing to be a pleasure for him. In 1929 he wrote “The
Sound & the Fury”, “Sartoris”. This year was a turning point for him. He
wrote as he pleased disregarding traditions. His perspective was to make
things clear to himself. He began to write about the things that he knew
firsthand. Both these novels look into the decay of south’s families.
Faulkner mercifully exposes the degradation of the South. There are moral
reasons for this: here the topic of slavery springs up, topic of incest,
moral impurity of people living there, their sins. At the same time one can
feel Faulkner’s anxiety even hatred about the civilization, contemporary
life. The civilization did only harm. The alternative is a patriarchal way
of living. Much as he scorned the past he still longed for those times.
He needn’t invent anything – “The Sound & the Fury” is taken from
Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”. He alluded to the words that Macbeth said before
his death:
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts & frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound & fury,
Signifying nothing.
It seems that the same feeling of confusion is familiar to Faulkner. The
story is about the decay of the Compson’s family. The novel consists of
four parts. The first is told by Benjamin Compson who is mentally
handicapped. He is that very idiot who tells the story of life’s confusion.
Events are given as fragments of his perception as if through the stain
glass. He doesn’t know what’s going on, he is subconsciously aware of the
conflict in the family. Everything is blurred, mixed, no chronology. We can
indicate time by the hints the characters drop now & then. He uses device
of interrelated temporal plains. The second part is told by Quentin. He is
a romantic type of a person who feels deeply & suffers deeply. He is too
fragile, too frail. He cannot cope with the harsh world (committed a
suicide). The third – by Jason Compson. He is practical, persistent,
knowing what he waits from life, a tenacious man. The fourth is told by
Faulkner himself. He tries to be objective, was to put everything their
places. Everything is centred round their sister Caddy. Use of subjective
viewpoint, inner monologue, stream of consciousness – achieved a striking
effect – highly individual characters become universal types: Bengy –
childish perception, Quentin – adolescent consciousness, Jason – pragmatic.
All of them are contrasted to authors representation of things – combining
particular & general. The degradation of one family is the symbol of the
decline of the South in general. He shows that the family gradually
collapses, people are driven to death & despair. Life is chaos of sound &
fury. Another message was that Faulkner himself didn’t put up with darkness
& gloom. Positive note is present in the book. His intentions are realized
in the fourth part.
The following works treated the same topic. In 1945 he produced the
chronological supplement to the work “Light in August”, “Absalom!
Absalom!”, “The Sanctuary”, “ As I Lay Dying”.
The decline of the South, race conflict & the constant overlap of the
past & the present, loss of human values are the themes of his works. A
line of descendants of formerly rich South families. The values of the past
generation became corrupted in the modern world. Atmosphere of doomed
despair. He got a Nobel prize in 1950. The values for him are courage,
honour, pride, hope, sympathy, self-sacrifice, compassion.
In 30’s his style changed. These works are easy to read. He turns to
another topic – the trilogy “The Hamlet”, “The Town”, “The Mansion”. He
thought he had spotted a disease in American society called “snopecism”
(from Flem Snopes – the main character of one of the parts of the trilogy).
Snopecism is evil, the product of capitalist civilization, lust for money,
put on the pedestal of American society. Money dominates American life. It
is people’s God. The trilogy is written in a realistic key. It deals with
the snopes – former poor white people. Flem is the first in the rank who by
cunning, corruption, bribe, general unscrupulousness elevated himself to a
ruling financial class. It is shown how this lust for money leads Flem to
come over his friends, family to power. Faulkner shows that a collision
with Snopes ruins people, especially if they are not of his kind. He is to
blame for many deaths. He didn’t do it with his own hands but he drove them
to such circumstances. He is not human. Makes him socially dangerous.
People fall victims of his thirst for money. The character who opposes Flem
is his stepdaughter Linda. Faulkner makes her a communist (probably he saw
no other force in the society that could oppose snopecism as a social
phenomenon).
The change in Faulkner’s outlook resulted in the structure of the novel.
Chain of associations is not so unruly as previously.
Faulkner is also famous for his short stories collected into two
volumes:
“Knight’s Gambit”
“Collected Stories”
Their theme is decline & deterioration o South. Here we meet the same
heroes or allusions to the characters & events of earlier novels. Every
book is interrelated. “The Bear” is a perfect example of Faulkner’s style.
It illustrates his concerns. Faulkner had a reputation of a writer for
intellectuals.
Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953)
He laid the foundation forAmerican drama. He comes form actor’s family,
education was not systematic, he did different odd jobs – gold digger in
Gonduras, sailor, journalist, etc. This enriched him with knowledge of life
firsthand. He developed interest for drama when he treated his tuberculosis
in sanatorium. He read Ibsen. Then after he took a course in theory of
drama in Harvard. 1914 is his literary debut “Thirst & Other One-Act
Plays”. From 1919 O’Neill collaborated with Provincetown players company.
They staged his first works, & with this company his success is associated.
He worked with them up to 1924. The plays of this period:
“The Emperor Jones”
“The Hairy Ape”
“All God’s Chillun Got Wings” (chillun = children)
These plays voiced his protest against racism & exploitation. His plays
differed from typical Broadway production. They are very experimental. On
the one hand, they are realistic dramas, showing the life of people who
never before were the subject of writers’ interest. On the other hand, his
plays exhibit his search for the adequate form to treat this topic.
Traditional realism is combined with the elements of expressionist drama,
touch of Ibsen’s influence; innovative approach to the use of the elements
of classical drama & biblical motives. [Ibsen introduced the drama of
ideas, where not the events were important but ideas that were discussed &
disclosed by these events. He is very close to Chekhov]
“The Hairy Ape” is a story of a young proletariat Robert Smith whom
everybody calls Jank. He was offended by a daughter of a certain man of
property & so he is expressed his …to such a degree that he was put to jail
where he absorbed certain socialistic ideas. But when he is released he
tries to find his “áðàòüåâ ïî äóõó” he is taken for provocateur. He is very
much shocked and baffled so he goes to the zoo where he lets an ape out of
the cage. Eventually this ape kills him & he dies in the ape’s cage.
His remarks to the play are very important & he pays great attention to
the setting. First scene shows the worker’s dwelling. It must remind a cage
by O’Neill. Then the scene shifts to a stove-hall is shown. There must be a
flame: the fire symbolizes the hell of capitalists exploitation. The next
scene shows the fashionable hotel – the paradise of the rich. The last
scene is also an ape cage. It finishes the cycle.
The naturalistic symbolism conveys the idea of inhumanity of exploiters,
shifts the accents from the conditions, turning man to a beast to the
biological characteristics.
In his work of 30-40’s experiment takes to realism.
“The Great God Brown”
“Lazarus Laughed”
“Strange Interlude”
He resorted to various techniques of modern theatre – psychoanalysis,
inner monologue, mask theatre.
His masterpiece is trilogy “Mourning Becomes Electra”. Here he develops
classical notion of the tragic & transfers it to American soil of the civil
war period. He takes an eternal conflict & puts it to America. Histories of
O’Neill’s characters are compared to the lives of Electra, Orestas,
Clitemnestra. But the environment is different.
Later he intended to write a saga about wealthy people. It materialized
in two plays:
“A Touch of the Poet”
“More Stately Mansions”
O’Neill showed how several generations of American families gradually
lose their values, their destines mingle. Individual lives become part of
national history.
The plays crowning his career are “A Moon for the Misbegotten”, “Long
Day’s Journey into Night”. The latter is the most autobiographical.
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983)
He is a southerner born in Columbus, Missouri, where his grandfather was
the Episcopal clergyman. When he was 12 his father who was a travelling
salesman moved with his family to St. Louis, & both he & his sister found
it impossible to settle down to the city life. He entered college during
the Depression & left after a couple of years to take a clerical job in a
shoe company. He stayed there for two years, spending the evenings writing.
He entered the University of Iowa in 1938 & completed his course, at the
same time holding a large number of part-time jobs of great diversity. He
received a Rockefeller Fellowship in 1940 for his play “Battle of Angels” &
he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 & 1955.
In 1940 he started journey around the country & ended it up in New York.
There he wrote poetry & short stories. 1945 – his first success “The Glass
Menagerie”. Autobiographical elements are very strong in the play. Williams
managed to create a special lyrical atmosphere of the Wickfield family. It
consists of three people – mother, crippled daughter & son. Each of them
lives in his or her own glass menagerie i.e. imaginary world which has
nothing to do with reality. They fear the reality, its hoarse & repulsive
jungle for they cannot adjust to the law of these jungles. Main idea is
that kindness & good feelings are doomed in clash with reality. These
people are too fragile, too sensitive.
The play introduced features of new plastic theatre. The principles of
this theatre Williams formulated in the afterward to the play “Note for
Reproduction”. It is characterized by tense emotional atmosphere, certain
romanticism, masterly music & light effects, attention is given to
cinography & attraction of expressive means of other arts. In stage remarks
Williams is scrupulous about details for they bear important meaning. he
calculated to produce certain effect on the audience.
His second play “A Streetcar Named Desire” gained him a reputation of
leading stage writer & Pulitzer Prize. In this play there is a clash
between realism & imagination; physical forces, brutishness & helplessness;
sexual drive &thirst for poetic love; naked ugly truth & illusion, world of
fantasy. The main character is Blanche du Beau. The action takes place in
New Orleans in French quarters (it is often compared to the “Cherry
Orchard” by Chekhov). Blanche visits her sister’s family after their
parents died & the family estate is sold. Blanche wears old ridiculously
looking dresses as a symbol of the world she lives in. Blanche meets her
sister’s brute of a husband Stan. Her sister gets out of the way to the
hospital to give birth to a baby. Blanche and Stan detest each other. He
hates a woman who lives in Ivory tower & she hates his brutishness. She
denies & longs for him at the same time. In the end he is taken into
lunatic asylum.
Williams plays with human subconsciuosness. But he finds that the core
of the conflict is not inherent in the struggle between masculine &
feminine but a complex interrelation of personal circumstances: social &
others.
Tennessee Williams’ human type is an outcast, lonely, constantly in
search of a relative soul with whom to share a burden of loneliness. But
life is such that the outsider is doomed to defeat. The only salvation is
love (but even this is questionable). Broken & lost people who are not able
to defend themselves & their dreams can find love that will help them to
sustain.
Williams is a prolific writer, he also wrote 2 collections of poems. He
combined poetry & realism & this unique combination singles him out from
other writers.
“Camino Real” is an allegoric drama, very experimental. “This is my
conception of contemporary world in which I live,” he said. The scene is
divided into two parts:
V fashionable hotel in which people are bored & degraded
V slums in which people are weak, humiliated, apathetic
The town is in terror, free thoughts are persecuted, people are killed
in the streets, brainwashing is actively underway. All problems are solved
by an old gypsy woman who provides a certain entertainment. The city is
called Camino Real[re’a:l], that is the way of hope & dream. It ends to
sound real[ri:al], that is the way of reality, dead end of civilization.
Killroy is an ordinary American who feels that atmosphere of social
hysteria & he tries to make sense in life. Old literary characters (Don
Quixote, Byron) come to rescue him. The play has an optimistic ending:
Killroy finally finds the way out of the city to terra incognita. Williams
idealized past, his future is uncertain. His past is good but dead, & the
present is abhorrent.
His other plays “Baby Doll”, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, “Something
Unspoken”, “Suddenly Last Summer”, “Sweet Bird of Youth”, “The Milk Train
Doesn’t Stop Here Any More”, “The Night of the Iguana”, etc.
Post Modernism.
Post modernism can be regarded in two aspects:
V as a literary trend
V as a phenomenon which doesn’t belong exclusively to literature – a
certain mentality of post industrial age.
Post modernism appeared after the second WW. In 50’s, especially 60’s
new type of fiction, new writing emerged, drastically different from
previous writers. The idea that permeated this works: there is need to
reevaluate old values, the values that lead Western civilization (idea of
emancipation, enlightenment). But the WWII showed that the belief that a
human is a reasonable creature who can build a reasonable society is
inconsistent.
