Irish Drama: George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde , Apuntes de Literatura

¡Descarga Irish Drama: George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde y más Apuntes en PDF de Literatura solo en Docsity! TOPIC 3 Irish Drama George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde were born in Ireland, both are extraordinary witty, very famous and they also share that they are Anglo-Irish, so they could easily fix in English society for this reason. One of them, Bernard Shaw, was specially a dramatist, who considers literature a means for an end. George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) born in Dublin. He is a writer of 19th and 20th century. His family belongs to Anglo-Irish ascendancy but there were not a successful life (they had economic difficulties). The musical education was received by her mother but he was self-educated. He arrived to London as novelist in 1876, and it is interesting in his Drama. He wrote musical, theatrical reviews for several years. Moreover, he also joins a society called “The Fabian Society” in which belong people with a socialist opinion. His career begins in 1892. He came in contact with Henrik Isben’s plays, a Norwegian dramatist author of plays such as “Doll House”. These plays influenced George Bernard Shaw’s plays. He wrote an essay entitle “The Quintessence of Ibsenism” (1891). One year later, he wrote: “Arms and the Man” (1894) F 0E 0 It is an anti-military approach. “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” (1894). F 0E 0 It deals with Victorian society and Bernard Shaw describes this hypocrisy society. It is about a mother who brings up a daughter as a very refined, elegant lady. Mrs Warren was a prostitute and she wants to teach her daughter her job. “Candida” (1894) F 0E 0 It is a conflict between different conflicts of life (naïve conception of life). “Man and superman” (1903). F 0E 0 It is about the genius, the life-force and the roles of men and female. Here Bernard Shaw came to save unlike accepted or believe that women decide over men and not the opposite, the Role-inversion. “John Bull’s Other Island” (1907) F 0E 0 It is a play which deals this question. It highlights the national stereotypes and commonplace ideas of Irish people (very emotional, very drunks, very temperamental, fighters, etc). Bernard Shaw tries to change these ideas and he creates a new English population as more romantic and emotional and a new Irish population as more sceptical, ironic and lucid. “Pigmalion” (1912) is a classical myth about human psycho in which a woman is sculptured beautifully. He falls in love of his own creation. He seems God because he gives the life to his creature. In Bernard Shaw “Pigmalion” is a professor of linguistic (professor Higgins) and the lady is a flower saleswoman Cockney. Her name is Eliza Doolittle and the professor tries to model her according to his resemblance. Eliza Doolittle falls in love for the professor but he does not. General characteristics of George Bernard Shaw’s Plays His works was called “Drama of Ideas”. F 0E 0 It was a didactic element in his plays. First it appears the ideas and then the rest. Drama is considered necessary as a means of an end. It deals political, social questions, etc. It is very interesting. His characters are not totally round people in the sense that they, instead of changing opinions, they gives long speeches and then the other answer with very long speeches also. In contrast, Henrik Ibsen’s characters express only one fixed idea. He has an extraordinary paradox, he wants audience reacts to questions they never do before. There was a kind of natural born narrator in Bernard Shaw and this can be seen in his stage directions. He appears as a good narrator and he gives total information in his prologues about characters, what kind of gestures characters do, the way of walking, thinking, etc. *INCISO: “Art for Art’s sake” had a French origin “L’Art pour l’art”. The person who imports this idea was Walter Pater. Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde was born in 1854 and he died in 1900 in Paris. He was only a writer of 19th century but he was more modern that Bernard Shaw (he anticipates modernism). Unlike Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde belongs to a very fashionable family. He was an aristocrat. He was born in Dublin. His own parents were very peculiar. His father was named Sir William Wilde. He was a doctor specialized in eyes and ears. Some of his humble patients told him stories abut his country and he completed his cultural background. He was made a member of royal family because he was named Sir. His mother was a poet with a pseudonym “Speranza” (her real name was Jane Francesca Elgee). She wrote poems to the newspaper The Nation (an independent newspaper) and once she was the director because the other director was in prison. Also she wrote the book “Ancient legends, mystic charms and superstitions of Ireland” (1887). It is believed that she made her sons Catholic. Her sons were William Charles Kingsbury, Oscar and her daughter Isola. Oscar Wilde followed the general pattern to go to a Protestant school, he went to the University and he won a prize (the Newdigate Prize of Poetry for his poem “Ravenna”). Two professors were very influent in Wilde’s life: John Ruskin and Walter Pater. He had an idealistic moral-romantic approach and he made students not only study but also he wants his students to sit on the Oxford campus. Wilde was dressing on a very surprising way (flowers on his chest, breeches). He was very witty and an extraordinary conversationalist. He wanted to scandalize his audience. He also boasted (presumir) that he never studied. When he studied the Classics in Oxford, they appeared in all Wilde’s works. He applies for a job as a teacher, but he did not get in. This was not a reason to he was named himself “Professor of Aesthetics in London”. He was also very generous (he spent a lot of money in dinners with his friends). He was famous since he was before a writer (social star), He became director of the magazine “Woman’s Own”. His wife was Constance Lloyd, an Anglo-Irish woman, and they had 2 sons. Oscar Wilde started soon in literature. His first book was of poems and was entitled “Poems” (1881), the Classics are there and he wrote some hints about homosexuality. He became famous during his Drama plays. But he was a very good novelist. One of his novels was entitled “Lord Arthur Saville’s Crime”. It is a parody about the Oracle. The chiromantist (a man who tells somebody’s fortune) told Lord Saville that he will commit a crime. He was very shocked about that and he tries to escape. This is his first piece of narrative but he writes also “The Ghost of Canterville”. There are 2 volumes of stories entitled “The Happy Prince and Other Tales” and “House of Pomegranates”. Wilde invented those stories to tell their children (the males Cyril and Vyvyan, who edited his works). Oscar Wilde had a very Celtic characteristic: he was a storyteller and he had a very facility to tell stories. He uses personification (a characteristic of fairytales in general). Wilde exposes the goods and the bads of human nature and he was sad because they are cruel to others. There is a sad feeling throughout the story. He was an author of psychological insight. The Happy Prince and Other Tales (sometimes called The Happy Prince and Other Stories) is a collection of stories for children by Oscar Wilde first published in May 1888. It contains five stories, “The Happy Prince”, “The Nightingale and the Rose”, “The Selfish Giant”, “The Devoted Friend” (or “The ideal friend”), and “The Remarkable Rocket”. It is most famous for its title story, "The Happy Prince". - “Vera or the Nihilists” (1883) F 0E 0 It deals rational revolution, questions with very serious elements. - “Salomé” (1893) F 0E 0 It is an erotic tragedy with a Biblical subject. The play tells in one act the Biblical story of Salome, stepdaughter of the tetrarch Herod Antipas, who, to her stepfather's dismay but to the delight of her mother Herodias, requests the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter as a reward for dancing the dance of the seven veils. Salome dances for the king with a lot of eroticism. It deals questions of good, evil, etc. *Comedies (but also with serious topics). - “A woman of no importance”, staged in 1893, and published in 1894 - “Lady Windermere’s fan” (1892) - “An ideal husband” (1895) - “The importance of being Earnest” (1895) Wilde was so acclaimed by the audience because his protagonists are of the highest classes (at the same at his audience) and he offers a kind of mirror in which he criticised them. He enjoyed being in the limelight. Charles II came to the Crown and theatres were opened again. The main plays were comedies with a lot of scenes and in some of them a man and a woman interchange dialogues about (FALTA). When Wilde was an admired figure, he was very popular. He was a kind of social outcast (a kind of “Semi-God”). Lord Alfred Douglas “Basive” was one of his students. Wilde was 16 years older. He was talent and ambitious. They feel attractive and they started a relationship. His father, the Marquis of Queensberry put the city full pamphlets against Wilde. Y luego lo de Valls… Richard Ellman wrote the autobiography of Wilde. In prison, he wrote: “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” (1898) and “De Profundis” (From the inside) (1905, it was published 5 years after his died). The second book is a part of a long letter that Wilde wrote to Lord Alfred Douglas from prison (his lover) because there was a lot of personal things and rancour to his father Bossy. The question of the novel is love suffering, human vices, death, etc. When Wilde left (in prison he suffers a lot of things in 2 years he was there, his mother died and his wife died also). When his wife died, Wilde could not see his sons and he suffered a depression. He realised about who his friends were because they stayed with him. Finally, he named in the last years of his live as Sebastian Melmoth because some critics said that the writer of “Melmoth the Wanderer” (Charles Robert Maturin) was his great-uncle. He died in Paris in 1900. OSCAR WILDE (1854 –1900) Nació en Dublín, Irlanda. Segundo de 3 hermanos, estudió en el Trinity College. Se dedicó a todas las artes literarias. Gracias a una beca de 95 £ anuales, el 17 de octubre de 1874 ingresó en el Magdalen College, de Oxford, donde continuó sus estudios hasta 1878, y donde conoció la obra de una de sus grandes influencias Walter Pater. En 1891 publica The Soul of Man under Socialism, un ensayo politico. Anteriormente viaja a los Estados Unidos, donde escribe The Happy Prince and Other Stories (1888) y House of Pomegranates (1891), que son cuentos de hadas. Su única novela es The Picture of Dorian Gray (“El retrato de Dorian Gray”) (1891), El retrato de Dorian Gray es considerada una de las últimas obras clásicas de la novela de terror gótica con una fuerte temática faustiana, además muestra un pintor con afecto íntimo y directo con el personaje principal. El libro causó controversia cuando fue publicado por primera vez; sin embargo, es considerado en la actualidad como «uno de los clásicos modernos de la literatura occidental.». En 1884 se casa con Constance Lloyd y tienen dos hijos. Mantiene una doble vida, es un Dandi. F 0E 0 su vida pública se recerca como si fuera una obra de teatro. El Oscar Wilde público es un personaje, siempre ingenioso, etc. Fomentaba él mismo la doble vida. En su vida privada fomentaba el hedonismo. Mantenía relaciones con hombres y mujeres. Todas sus obras siguen una línea evolutiva del patrón del Commedy of manners hasta una obra que es más supersiva por vivir la vida de Wagner y Cloto. Obras: Lady Windermere's Fan (El abanico de Lady Windermere (1892)) Salomé (1894). Obra escrita en francés, se traduce en 1902. Pensada para ser leída. De inspiración simbolista donde la trama principal es el ascenso de poder. Cuando se rompe el orden social, el mundo se desmorona. A Woman of No Importance (Una mujer sin importancia (1893)) An Ideal Husband (Un marido ideal (1895) F 0E 0 Incorpora un texto ibseriano. The Importance of Being Earnest (La importancia de llamarse Ernesto (1895)) Él fue el primer gran postmoderno de la historia. En 1895 ha de ir a la cárcel hasta 1899 porque hay un juicio en el que es el demandante (acusador). En esta época mantenía Wilde relaciones con un hombre hijo del Marqués de Queensberry. Este señor llenó la ciudad de panfletos y Wilde le denuncia. Gana Wilde y por tanto el marqués ingresa en prisión. A su salida, se dedica a inculparle, el estado acusa a Wilde por sodomía y por tanto, el que va a la cárcel en esta ocasión es el escritor. Al salir de la cárcel se puso a viajar y se fija en el lado estético de la religión cristiana. Un día antes de morir se convierte al cristianismo. George Bernard Shaw (1856 –1950) fue un escritor irlandés, ganador del Premio Nobel de literatura en 1925 y del Óscar en 1938. Hijo de tratante de cereales y alcohólico y madre cantante en fiestas privadas. Vivió con el tío por parte de madre durante su juventud porque no soportaba al padre. El primer trauma que sufrió fue al morirse su tío al intentar suicidarse. Su otro trauma fue que el padre pegaba a la madre y la madre se fue con un amante y una de sus 2 hijas a Londres. Más tarde se va él a Londres y pierde todas las oportunidades de ir a la Universidad. Entonces pasa sus días en la London Library (donde pasa 10 horas diarias). Crítico musical, de teatro, escribe reseñas de autores famosos. En 1882 se interesa por el socialismo. Lee “El Capital”, le fascina y le lleva a escribir ensayos. Se adhiere a la socialdemocracia inglesa por medio del grupo “Fabian Society” F 0 E 0 Quiere instaurar el orden social de forma gradualista e impermeabealista. De esta sociedad eran miembros el primer gobernador laborista, el matrimonio Webb, Wells (autor de El hombre invisible). Hubo una reeducación de la sociedad a partir de sus escritos. Al principio era poeta pero terminó siendo narrador. Entre 1879 y 1883 escribió Cashel Byron's Profession y An Unsocial Socialist. La carga política de estas obras era evidente y sin tener mucho éxito. Desde 1885 escribe teatro que le lleva a la fama. · Plays Unpleasant F 0E 0 Casa de viudas (Widowers' Houses)(1892), La profesión de la señora Warren (Mrs Warren's Profession)(1898), esta última habla sobre la prostitución. · Plays Pleasant F 0E 0 El hombre y las armas (Arms and the Man)(1898), Candida (1898) Todas las obras están inspiradas en Ibsner. Después de estas obras tenemos obras más revolucionarioas como Quintessence of Ibsenism (1891) o The Perfect Wagnerite, Commentary on the Ring (1898). Otras obras más ideológicas desde su punto de vista personal. César y Cleopatra (Caesar and Cleopatra)(1901) Hombre y super hombre (Man and Superman)(1902–1903) El comandante Bárbara (Major Barbara)(1905) El dilema del doctor (The Doctor's Dilemma)(1906) En la primera y la segunda Guerras Mundiales, sus ideas a la socialdemocracia empiezan a evadirse y finalmente se arrepiente de sus ideas. Lo peor que se le echó en cara fue que en uno de sus “discursos” dijo cosas relacionadas con cámaras de gas. Otras obras Pigmelion (1912) F 0E 0 Adaptación del musical “My fair Lady”, que fue adaptada al cine. St Joan (Santa Juana) (1923). Muestra la vida de Juana de Arco. Volviendo a Matusalén (Back to Methuselah)(1921) Usa diferentes elementos esceneográficos (iluminación, escenografía). Sus textos (teatros de ideas) son muy buenos para ser leídos. Muchas obras tenían un largo prólogo más veces incluso mayores que la obra (como ocurre en Santa Juana). Su obra completa (publicada completamente en 1999) es de las más extensas. Se llevaba mal con personajes coetáneos suyos. Odiaba a todo el que le criticaba. Se llevaba mal con Joseph Conrad.