INGLESE: PROGRAMMA COMPLETO 5° SUPERIORE, Dispense di Inglese

Scarica INGLESE: PROGRAMMA COMPLETO 5° SUPERIORE e più Dispense in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! ROMANTIC POETS: THE 2° GENERATION ● The second generation of Romantic poets: BYRON, SHELLEY and KEATS were all quite different from each other (in their aesthetic style and in their preoccupations) But One thing that they all have in common was a SENSE OF THE FAILURE OF ART to capture the idea they tried to express ⇒ So they were more conscious of the real distance that separates art from life. ● The poet's consciousness (coscienza) expressed in their poems is more complex than authors such as Wordsworth and Coleridge (authors of 1° generation). ● Their poems often reflect on the LIMITS OF LANGUAGE. 1) GEORGE BYRON → George Byron during the 19th century was considered as the perfect example of a Romantic poet, even if many of Byron's contemporaries considered his poems immoral. [ LIFE ] ● 1788 George Byron was born in London from an aristocratic family ● His poems were criticized for his taste for satire. ● He left Britain for the Grand Tour of Europe. ● His marriage collapsed because of his incestuous relationship with his half-sister, a scandal → so he left Britain and never returned. ● He became a friend of the poet Shelley ● (in Venice) he started hismasterpiece, the mock-epic Don Juan (epica satirica), which was a kind of autobiography, because it projects his life inside Don Juan ● (1824) he died in Greece. Byron became a legendary figure, more known for his life than his poetry. During his life he was a libertine, but at the same time a champion of liberty, the example of the a "Byronic hero". [ LITERARY PRODUCTION ] Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Don Juan, and Darkness are the most important Byron's poems: - Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is a semi-autobiographical poem about the wanderings (peripezie) of a young man. - Don Juan is his masterpiece; a mock-epic poem. - Darkness is influenced by a phenomenon of mass hysteria. [ STYLE ] Byron doesn't completely reject Neoclassicism. Byron's verse tends to oscillate between lyrical expansion (l'espansione lirica) and COMIC IRONY. ⇒ The theory of romantic irony developed by the German philosopher Schlegel, is present in the works of all the second-generation Romantics, but only in Byron it becomes COMIC. The SENSE OF THE FAILURE OF ART TO CAPTURE THE IDEA HE TRIED TO EXPRESS is evident in all of his poems and shows the real distance that separates art from life. BYRONIC HERO : es Jane Eyre, Harold ● The Byronic hero, protagonist of Byron's poems, was generally a young man,moody (lunatico), restless and inclined to melancholy. ● He was solitary and handsome → an outsider, at the same time isolated and attractive; ● He was a REBEL, rejected the conventional moral rules of society, went against convention and fought for lost causes. ● He wasmysterious and often hid some secrets in his past. Thanks to its beauty, women couldn't resist him, but often he refused their love. He also had a great sensibility to nature and beauty, and even if hismanners were a bit wild, he was attractive. → [BYRON’S INDIVIDUALISM] This Romantic hero was of noble birth and characterized by proud individualism: Byron in fact hated any sort of contrast, firmly believed in individual liberty and denounced the evils (mali) of society by using satire; ● Shelley's favorite element is AIR: He identifies himself with natural elements, in particular with wind and birds, because he wants to be free and has the desire to transcend human limits. Shelley said that " Poetry is something divine. It’s the center of knowledge (awareness) ". a] OZYMANDIAS (poem in the form of a sonnet) ● Ozymandias is the Greek name of the Egyptian king Ramses II (Egyptian themes were popular at the time among the cultured public). ● The poem, written in the form of a sonnet, describes a supposedmeeting with a "traveler from an antique land" (Egypt), who has seen in the desert the ruins of a statue of Ozymandias. ⇒ but all that remains are two legs without a body ● The poem is a warning about the fate of all empires and about the terrible arrogance of those who built them. ⬇ ⇒ indeed around the statue the desert is empty : NOTHING OF THE EMPIRE REMAINS ● So the poem clearly alludes to the DEVASTATION caused by IMPERIAL AMBITIONS. Other important themes are: → the insignificance of human beings to the passage of time; → and the indiscriminate and often destructive power of nature. [ STYLE ]  The poem's structure reflects its subject: the natural rhythm of the lines constantly interrupts, giving an impression of fragmentation and discontinuity. b] ENGLAND IN 1819 (poem in the form of a sonnet) ● Written in the form of a sonnet, this poem is a valuation of the state of England in 1819, the year when the Peterloo massacre took place (rivolta interna repressa nel sangue dall'esercito); ● Shelley, inspired also by this event, wrote this poem, in which he makes a list of the evils that he believes afflict England, condemning firstly the king, the royal family and the corrupt political leaders of England, (described as “parasites that suck/sucking the country's blood”). ● He describes the people as “hungry and knifed”, so killed twice, first by the poverty and the hunger, then for the repression by the army (who should instead defend them ) ● Shelley also reflect about the role of the army: He observes how the army, itself composed of England people, is a TWO-EDGED SWORD, used both : → to fight against Britain's enemies → and to kill its own citizens. In this sense the soldiers, fighting against their brothers, are killing their own freedom too. [ The poem ends with an intimation of future revolution: In the ending Shelley describes the spirit of revolution and freedom as a "glorious👻 ghost". The "Phantom" of freedom can’t be killed, because he is already dead. More the powerful try to kill their desire for freedom, more it returns, as a ghost that can’t be controlled. ] [ STYLE ] ● The style of this poem is unpoetic. ● The rhythm of the sentences is often short and brutal. ● The poet uses words as weapons (armi) ● The form of the sonnet, normally used for praise (lodare), is reversed: Shelley lists the "bad qualities" of the king, changing the traditional role of the sonnet (of exalting noble figures). [ King George → is painted as insane and hated ; George III’s sons → // stupid and decadent Current laws → // unjust and repressive The politicians → // cynical, greedy and power-hungry The army → // used to kill or destroy all forms of freedom ] We found many enjambments and personifications; Shelley notes that the liberty was already dead, having been killed many times over by successive kings and governments. c] ODE TO THEWESTWIND (elizabethan sonnet + Dante's terza rima) ● Ode to the West Wind is an Elizabethan sonnet which contains a PROPHECY. ● Like England in 1819, the subject is the need for revolution; a revolution that has to renew (rinnovare) a dead and corrupt world full of suffering and injustice. ⇒ The need for revolution, evoked as a "glorious ghost" in the sonnet “England in 1819”, now takes the form of theWest Wind: So, in this sonnet,WIND is the main element. The wind is an element that is beyond human control: Shelley sees the wind as "destroyer and preserver" at the same time and considers destruction ↔ and ↔ creation inseparable. One gives birth to the other. ● The forces of change remain abstract: the wind is invisible and intangible: indeed, the revolution, just like the wind, is a force in perpetual movement, which never stops. ● The desire of the poet is to go beyond the limits of his mortal human body, to become like the wind, a pure and eternal spirit . [ STYLE ]  ❖ Ode to the West Wind presents elements of the Elizabethan sonnet and of Dante's terza rima, that gives the idea of perpetualmovement that Shelley associates with the wind. ❖ About the language, Shelley uses different sense and sound associations to express the qualities of the wind. ❖ There are also frequent exclamations where he asks for the wind to listen to him, but he doesn't have the linguistic instruments to do it. ⇒ so Shelley tries to break the limits of language that separate him from the wind, but it seems difficult. ❖ ⇒ There is a sense of constant restlessness (irrequietezza). ❖ There are many personifications, with which the poet tries to identify himself with wind. A wind that is also a wind of revolution and became a symbol of human spirit that overcomes the limits and the present situation. Indeed at the end he alludes to a renewal of society. 3) JOHN KEATS : ● He was born in London (in 1795); he became passionate about poetry from an early age ● he suffered FAMILY DEATHS: he lost his mother and brother for tuberculosis ● He suffered from tuberculosis too and died. KEATS’ IMAGINATION + THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY: ➢ Keats discovers that beauty isn't an escape from the suffering, caused by the death of the family, but it is a TRAP, a form of death in life (and in his work, 'la belle dame sans merci', is evident in the figure of the femme fatal) ↕ Keats believes in the supreme value of IMAGINATION , and this made him a Romantic poet !!!⇒ A beauty that allows him to reach the truth. The contemplation of beauty is the central theme of Keats’ poetry; in particular he was inspired by the Classical Greek world that lives again in his verses, interpreted with the eyes of a Romantic poet. All the senses are involved in this process. Physical beauty is caught in all the forms: from a flower, to the curves of a woman; but beauty can also produce a sort of spiritual beauty of love, friendship and poetry. ➢ The physical beauty is mutable and is linked to life, while the spiritual beauty is immortal. So through his poetries Keats is able to reach something that he believes unchanging (irraggiungibile) in a world characterized by mortality and sadness. THE POET’S TASKS : ➢ Keats has NOmoral and political AIM … he is interested in the fantastic and supernatural; he is more interested in the qualities of the poetry than in what it transmits. ➢ so the poet has what he called “negative capability”, a new view of the poet’s task. 2) JANE AUSTEN : [ LIFE ] ● Jane Austen was born (in 1775) in Hampshire, in England. ● She spent her short life around her lovely family, and in particular with her sister. ● She was educated at home by her father who loves the classics, and showed an interest in literature and writing at an early age. ● She produced a lot of work of prose, like “First Impressions”, which later became “Pride and Prejudice” (published in 1813). ● When her father died, Jane, her sister and her mother settled away in a small country village near her birthplace. ● She died at age of 41 (in 1817) A VERY IMPORTANT THING IS THAT ALL HER NOVELS WERE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ANONYMOUSLY : Indeed her identity was only later revealed by her brother. [ STYLE ] ● In her novels there is a psychological comprehension of all the characters, indeed her novels are famous for the psychological and social analyses of the provincial English society in which she lived. ● She chose to describe the world of themiddle class and country gentry, and she does that with a very scientific eye ● Jane is not interested in history (no historical novels) ● She uses the omniscient narrator. ● She prefers the dialogue: she let her characters present themselves by the dialogues. ( = the dialogue reveals her characters ). ● Her style was also characterized by the use of irony. ● She was a really revolutionary figure, especially in her use of caricature, but she doesn’t empathize with the characters and she doesn't make judgments; ⇒ so she is alwaysNEUTRAL and remains external to the story. ● She used the free indirect speech (discorso indiretto libero). [ LIMITS AND QUALITIES ] She was a great novelist but she also had some LIMITS: ● All of her novels have the same plot and the same themes, so in her novels there is a limit in set, in plot and in characters. ● She has never traveled, so she hadn't a complete vision of the whole English society and of the historical events of her era. ● So her world is limited to what she sees in her village ⇒ She was interested in characters typical of her reality and her small world.  ● A LIMITATION BUT ALSO A QUALITY, because she can better concentrate on their particular psychological analysis. ● SheWASN'T a MORALIST, she didn't give us morals ⇒ NOMORAL [ THE NOVEL OF MANNERS ] (romanzo di costume): Jane Austen certainly was the master of the novel of manners. (società contem) She talked about the different social classes in everyday situations, in particular she focused on the relationship between manners, social behavior and character. [ THEMES ] ⇒ VALUES OF THE OLDEST ENGLAND The plots and settings of her novels had their basis in the traditional values of property, money and marriage. Austen writes about the oldest England, linked to the old values of the possession of land and country houses. ⇒ SOCIAL MOBILITY + MARRIAGE: In her stories people from different countries get married, because marriage is a way of social mobility for the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen is interested in the search for a balance between the need of social and economic stability in the institution of marriage, and the desire to follow one's ambitions and feelings. ⇒ THEME OF LOVE: She was rational, not rebellious; She was NOT romantic. She didn't appreciate the romantic sense of nature and life, even if her novels spoke about love stories; ⇒ preferred reality. IN HER NOVELS THERE IS ALWAYS A HAPPY ENDING: the romantic marriage of the hero and heroine. This repetitive happy ending with marriages shows the fact that she is not rebellious and that she follows morals and customs. ⇒ THE IMPORTANCE OF BE ABLE TO REFLECT: In Austen opinion strong impulses and emotional states should be regulated, controlled through private reflection. The protagonist's reflection after a crisis is a common feature of her novels. a] PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Novel - 1813) [ PLOT ] Mr and Mrs Bennet have 5 daughters, but no direct son to give their property; FOR THIS REASON it's indeed very important to Mrs Bennet to marry her daughters with wealthy men. An opportunity shows up when Bingley and his friend Darcy take a property near their house. Bingley and Jane, the prettiest sister, meet and fall in love. There is also an attraction between Darcy and Elizabeth, even if she is offended by his arrogant behavior ; then he proposes to her but she refuses for her pride and for the social superiority that Darcy shows. Darcy responds by writing her a letter justifying his actions. At the end Elizabeth and Darcy make peace and they realize their mistake: HE CONSIDERS HER INFERIOR, SHE JUDGES HIM TOO QUICKLY. ↕ The novel ends with themarriages of both Elizabeth and Jane. [ STYLE and THEMES ] : ● The IRONIC TONE is evident just from the opening sentence: “ it is true that a single girl with a small fortune needs a rich husband ”. ● At the beginning Austen's original title for the novel was “First Impressions”, because the theme of appearances and impressions is central in the novel : ⇒ The novel shows how things and people are never as simple as they seem: central is the theme of the superficial appearances. Austen presents 2 parallel love stories : 1. The 1st between Jane and Bingley, which remains at the level of superficial attraction. 2. The second between Elizabeth and Darcy, who have grown and matured ⇒ and at the end appears much stronger than that of one of Jane and Bingley. ● The novel IS NOT SIMPLY A LOVE STORY because Austen, through the irony, develops economic, sociological and philosophical themes. - Austen is interested in the search for a balance between the need of social and economic stability in the institution of marriage, and the desire to follow one's ambitions and feelings: The marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth is an example of a successful marriage. THE MESSAGE of the novel is the SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS through the gradual changes (in the main characters). [ MAIN CHARACTERS ] : ⇒ Elizabeth Bennet : She has a lively mind (mente vivace); She has a strong independent spirit; She refuses to take the roles that her family or socially superiors try to impose on her ; At the beginning SHE IS very PROUD, but at the end she understands her mistakes ⇒ Mr Darcy : He is selfish and unsociable (egoista e poco socievole). At the beginning he accuses Elizabeth of prejudice. ROLE OF SCIENCE : The new scientific theories of chemistry and electricity influenced Mary Shelley: indeed Victor Frankestain creates a creature through the use of electricity and chemistry. THE VICTORIAN AGE VICTORIAN BRITAIN AND THE GROWTH OF INDUSTRIAL CITIES : The Victorian age took its name from the long reign of Queen Victoria (1819-1901): Victoria came to the throne at the end of the 1° Industrial Revolution, characterized by a period of rapid expansion. The urban economy of manufacturing industry and international trade has taken the place of the old agricultural economy, and people were attracted to cities by the promise of work in the new factories. Britain had become the most powerful nation in the world, as the result of the growing exploitation of its colonies. The Victorian period can be considered the golden age of the novel. The novel became themain source of entertainment for the middle classes. The society is in rapid transition ⇒ the novelists had the responsibility to described the society in a realistic way, denouncing its injustice. (Dickens +Orwell) The narrator of the Victorian novel is typically omniscient and has the role of a moral guide. The Victorian Age is usually divided into three periods: 1. the Early Victorian period, from 1837 to 1851, 2. the Mid-Victorian period, from 1851 to 1870; 3. and the late Victorian period, from 1870 to 1900. ⬇⬇⬇⬇ The Victorian novel can be divided in 3 groups: 1. Early Victorian novel (Charles dickens) dealt with social themes; 2. Mid-Victorian novel (Bronte sisters, Stevenson) dealt with psychological themes; 3. Late-Victorian novel (Wilde) was nearer to European Naturalism LIFE IN THE CITY : While the upper and the middle classes made large profits from the expansion of industry, workers found themselves in less favorable circumstances. A large number of people live in small spaces, in very badly conditions. 1 - 2) BRONTË’s SISTERS [ LIFE ] ● Charlotte (1816-1855) and Emily (1818-1848) (daughters of a clergyman) spent most of their lives in isolation, on the Yorkshire moors, in northern England. ● Their mother died early and their aunt took care of their family. ● They were self-educated; and they read a lot of book from their father's library. ● They began to write fantasy stories about imaginary countries. ● They work as governesses, but when their aunt died she left them enough money to stop working. ● (Like many female writers of the period ) they decided to use PSEUDONYMUS, because the public would not take them seriously if they knew they were women: each of the sisters published a novel in 1847: - Charlotte published Jane Eyre - Emily publishedWuthering Heights. ● First Emily died of tuberculosis, later Charlotte. —-------- JANE EYRE by Charlotte –—-------- ➔ Jane is an orphan without money, who lived with her hostile aunt. ➔ Jane is then sent to a very strict school where she is treated badly. ➔ Later she started working as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she soon falls in love with its owner, Mr Rochester. ➔ After some time Rochester proposes to her and she agrees to marry him, but before the wedding she sees a mysterious figure (running around the house): during the celebration of their wedding she discovered that this figure is Rochester’s wife: Bertha Mason, a crazy woman🤪 who lives on the upper floor of the house. Mr Rochester is already married !!!👰 ➔ Rochester asks Jane to still stay with him, but Jane leaves Thornfield and goes to live at Moor House; There she meets John Rivers, a religious man who proposes to her. ➔ Jane refuses him and one night she hears Rochester's voice calling her. 🔥🔥🔥 So she returns to Thornfield Hall only to find that the house has been destroyed by a fire caused by Bertha, in which she died.🔥🔥🔥 ➔ Rochester goes blind👀 and loses a hand in his attempt to save his wife from the fire.🔥 ➔ At the end Jane visits him and agrees to marry him, and later they have a child. [ SETTINGS ] The novel takes place in 5 different locations, probably in northern England, in the 19th century. Each setting represents a new phase ofJane's life: 1. her aunt's home, where Jane grows up. 2. A strict school is the place of Jane's education. A sad period of her life. 3. THORNFIELD is Mr Rochester's house, where Jane finds love and independence. 4. Moor House 5. Mr. Rochester new house is the place for a new start, where Jane finds her happiness. [ THE CHARACTERS ] ➢ JANE: - is a heroine who tries to find her own identity. She is the victim of many struggles such as the conflicts between duty and desire. - Jane falls in love with a man who is rich and married with a mad wife ⇒ So she is an UNCONVENTIONAL CHARACTER, imaginative, passionate, rebellious and independent but always looking for affection. - She often rebels against convention, doesn't do what she's told to do, and doesn't hide her opinion. - She refuses the marriage for convenience, because she wants an EQUAL RELATIONSHIP, with the same rights, and with love. (indeed she refuses two marriage proposal) ➢ Mr Rochester: has the qualities of a Byronic hero. A nobleman who is attracted to Jane's soul and personality. ➢ Bertha Mason: is a dangerous presence; she is described as amonster. She is marginalized by society. She represents what Jane is afraid of: psychological instability, insecurity inside the home and a desperate need of freedom from domestic routine. [ THE THEMES ] ● The theme of childhood and education are central in the novel; ● Is also central the question of the role of women⇒ - At the beginning the only chance that Jane has is to work as a governess but - At the end she obtains autonomy and economic independence ● Jane refuses a proposal twice becausemarriage is presented as a relationship between equals, NOT AS A SOCIAL COMPROMISE! ⇒ she only wanted to be loved for her values ● Charlotte criticizes the strict Victorian social class system ● The novel describes passionate love from a woman's point of view. [ STYLE ] : The story is told in the first person Is a visitor from the city ⇒ He is external from the events. He narrates what he sees👀, and writes what Nelly tells him in the form of a diary. ● Nelly: the female and the insider Is the 2° narrator and involved in the story. BEGIN IN MEDIAS RES + use of flashbacks ⇒ Implications of multiple narrators: there are multiple interpretations, no single 'truth', the unique interpretation of the novel becomes impossible. (relativismo conoscitivo di Pirandello = NON esiste una sola verità, ma molteplici) GOTHIC ELEMENTS: - Heathcliff as a Gothic villain in his inhuman treatment of his wife and his son. - The atmosphere of Wuthering Heights surrounded by the wilderness (natura selvaggia). - Catherine's ghost. [ THEMES ] ● The Gothic elements in the novel are used by the author to describe the STRUGGLE between the two opposing principles of LOVE and HATE, of ORDER and CHAOS. ● Romanticism is evident in the relation between the violent passions of the characters and the wild natural landscapes. ● Death ☠ is an important theme. It is a liberation of the spirit. 3) CHARLES DICKENS (is the most important English novelist) [ LIFE ] ● Charles Dickens was born in England (in 1812). ● He had an unhappy childhood: his father was imprisoned for debt and he was sent to work in a blacking factory🏭. ● His first story, Sketches by ‘Boz’, was a collection of tales that describe London people and scenes. ● Dickens started a career as a novelist : - He managed to live thanks to what he earned from his works and produced a lot of works in a short time; - He also was one of the first to do paid conferences. - (in 1837) He wrote Oliver Twist in monthly rates, in 3 years. ● He visited the United States🌎 speaking in favor of the ABOLITION of SLAVERY and these themes are central in A Christmas Carol. ● Dicken used HIS GREATMEMORY of people and events in his childhood to write his autobiographical novels: Oliver Twist (1838) ● The protagonists of his novels became the symbols of an exploited childhood, and the social issues, such as the conditions of the poor and the working class, in general. ● Dickens died in 1870. [ LONDON - THE MAIN SETTING ] London was the setting of a lot of Dickens's novels ⇒ Dickens always had something new to say about the city. He knew well the spiritual andmaterial corruption of everyday reality because of the impact of industrialization. The result was an increasingly critical attitude towards his society, indeed in his mature works attracted popular attention to public abuses, evils and wrongs by mixing (descriptions of London misery and crime) with (sketches). He doesn't believe in violence but in peace. [ STYLE] In his aim of describing the life of his characters, Dickens used powerful and effective language, and he did so with his adjectives, repetitions of words and structures, contrapositions of images and ideas, hyperbolic and ironic remarks. style: very rich and effective. The main stylistic features of his novels are: ● long lists of objects and people; ● adjectives used in pairs or in groups of three and four; ● several details, not strictly necessary; ● repetitions of the same words and sentence structures. [ CHARACTERS ] + [ DIDACTIC AIM ] ➔ Dickens CHANGED THE SOCIAL FRONTIERS of the novel: the middle-class world was replaced; ➔ he FOCUSED ON the lower orders. ➔ He was the creator of characters and caricatures. ➔ Dickens' characters give voice to the whole social classes that were emerging in the modern city, of which London is the first example. ➔ HIS AIMWAS TO CAPTURE THE READER'S INTEREST by exaggerating the habits of his characters and the language of the lower and middle classes of London, ridiculing vanity and ambition. ~ He was always on the side of the poor, the outcast and the working class. ~ ➔ DICKENS'S TASK was tomake the ruling classes aware of the social problems without offending his middle-class readers. Through his novels, the wealthier classes got to know the reality of their poorer neighbors about whom they knew nothing before. ( Il suo compito era quello di far sì che le classi dominanti si rendessero conto dei problemi sociali senza che si offendessero (erano il suo pubblico)). [ THEMES ] ➔ The Victorian middle class, composed of respectable people believing in human dignity. ➔ Moral examples: good versus evil. ➔ Family, childhood and poverty are very important themes ➔ Children are fundamental in Dickens's novels: ➔ They represent purity, and innocence, but sometimes they are corrupted by adults ➔ In many tales children were used as servants ⇒ most important example is Oliver Twist. ➔ The novelist's ability was to present his children asmodels, showing how people should behave towards each other. ➔ Most of these children grow up in negative circumstances, but they manage to improve (riescono a migliorare) their own social condition until happy endings. a] OLIVER TWIST ( novel ) Oliver Twist is set during the Industrial Revolution in Victorian England. ⇰ Oliver Twist was a poor boy of unknown parents, an orphan: - so he grew up in a workhouse in inhuman conditions. - Later, he was sold to an undertaker (impresario di pompe funebri), but he escaped from the cruelty and the unhappiness of these places and ran away to London searching for a better life. ⇰ But when he finally arrived there a gang of young pickpockets, led by Dodger and trained by the older Fagin, who tried to turn him into a thief. ⇰ One day the gang unfortunately failed a robbery (rapina) and the victim, the gentleman Mr. Brownlow, saw in Oliver only an innocent and pure child and he decided to take him into his home. ⇰ Therefore, Oliver was kidnapped, from his new house, by the gang and forced to commit a theft there, at the gentleman who had hosted him. ⇰ Unfortunately, during the robbery, he was shot. ⇰ At the end, Oliver was definitely adopted by Mr. Brownlow, and lived in a house where he received the affection that he needed, and was discovered that he had noble origins. ⇰ The gang leaders were arrested. The protagonist, Oliver Twist, was always innocent and pure and remained incorruptible [ LONDON LIFE ] The most important setting is LONDON, which is shown on 3 different social levels: 1) ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850): [ LIFE ] ● Was born in Edinburgh (in 1850). ● Because of tuberculosis, he spent most of his childhood at HOME in BED. ● He was educated in the Calvinist ambient of the family. ● He graduated in Law to satisfy his father desire, but soon he decided to write. ● He traveled a lot (in search of a friendlier climate) and his travels inspired his writing. ● He became one of the first example of the bohemian (libertino) in Britain. ● He moved to Australia, where he died in (1894). Stevenson became popular as a novelist thanks to his masterpiece, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. a] "THE STRANGE CASE of DR JEKYLL and MR HYDE" [ PLOT ] (psyco analytic novel - 1886) Mr Utterson, a London lawyer and a friend of the scientist Dr Henry Jekyll, is walking with Mr Enfield (a relative), who started to narrate a scary story. __________________________( STORY )_____________________________ ● A man, identified asMr Hyde, trampled over a little girl and paid her family with the money of Henry Jekyll. ● The situation becomes stranger when Utterson, who is the executor of Jekyll's testament, explains that it has recently changed: “ If Jekyll dies or disappears, all his possessions will go to a "Mr Hyde" ". ……🕐 a year later🕐…… ● Mr Hyde trampled over someone else and Mr Utterson conducted the investigations. ● One day Utterson found: - Hyde dead☠ in his laboratory in Jekyll's cloth - and a letter where Jekyll explained the mystery of his DOUBLE IDENTITY: He had created a potion that was able to free his evil side, Mr Hyde, but he had gradually started to dominate him: and Jekyll's ability to change back into himself slowly vanished ⇒ so ⇒ he killed himself. [ A CRIME STORY ] ● The novel has all the features of the crime fiction Novel (detective fiction): - victims, mystery, person who has to solve the mystery; - Most scenes of the novel take place at night. ● Stevenson creates the character of the DETECTIVE Mr. Utterson, the only one able to resolve the mystery of this story. ● the mysterious relationship between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is known as a "STRANGE CASE" in a medical sense. [ SETTING ] ● The novel takes place in the London of the LATE VICTORIAN AGE. ● Stevenson uses London's "double" nature to show the hypocrisy of Victorian society: - On one side, there is Jekyll that represent respectable rich world; - On the other side, Hyde represents poverty and bad conditions of the slums and workers. ↕↕↕↕↕ This ambivalence is reinforced by Jekyll's house🏠, that has 2 facades: - the front, used by the doctor, - and the other side, used by Mr Hyde. ↕↕↕↕↕ This is ametaphor for the evil of society, which emphasizes the fact that there is no escape. ⇒ nobody could improve (migliorare) his own condition, - Jekyll has lived a virtuous life: VS Hyde is pure hate and evil: • his face is handsome; • his face is pale (pallida); • his hands are white; • his hands are dark; • his body is large and harmonious. • his body is small and deformed. (minuscolo e deforme) GOOD VS EVIL: - The main theme of the novel is the DUALITY of human nature. Stevenson uses the 2 characters of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to express his idea that every human being is composed of 2 opposite sides, the "good" and "evil", which are in perpetual struggle. - The 2 characters embody the 2 parts of society. NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE: The language of the novel is simple and clear and there is the use of puns (giochi di parole). The novel has amultiple-narrative structure with 4 narrators: • Utterson: the story is told in the 3rd person from his point of view. • Enfield: a distant relative of Utterson's. He tells Utterson a terrible story • Dr Lanyon: a friend and colleague of Jekyll's. • Dr Jekyll: his narrative and final confession take up the last chapter. 2 - 3) ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE + EDGAR ALLAN POE : THE CHARACTER OFSHERLOCK HOLMES: Doyle used his university professor as amodel for the detective of his stories, SHERLOCK HOLMES. However, there was also a lot of Doyle himself in the character of Sherlock Holmes: he was analytical, detail-obsessed, methodical and imaginative; all qualities that can be attributed to both. SHERLOCK HOLMES and DR JEKYLL are SIMILAR: 1) Both characters are victims of their obsessions. Holmes is obsessed with solving crimes, while Jekyll was obsessed with creating a potion that will separate his personality into two distinct parts. 2) Both have a dark side to their personalities: Holmes was dependent to opium, while Jekyll transformed into an evil character, Mr. Hyde. 3) Both struggle to control these aspects. This story is profoundly ALLEGORICAL ⇒ It's a 19th century version of the legend of Faust, the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil👿 to make all his wishes come true. In the novel this soul is the picture, signs of time, corruption, and of the sins (peccati) hidden under the mask of Dorian's timeless beauty. The picture represents the dark side of Dorian's personality, his DOUBLE, which he tries to forget by locking it in a room. [ THE MORAL ] The moral of this novel is that every excess must be punished and there is no escape from reality, and his punishment for all his sins is death. Finally, the picture, restored to its original beauty, illustrates Wilde's theory of art : art survives people, ART IS ETERNAL. [ NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE ] ● This story is told by a third person narrator. ● All the characters reveal themselves through what they say ● The perspective adopted is internal. Oscar Wilde draws inspiration from Huysman's work “controcorrente”, in french “ À rebours” to write his work 'The Picture of Dorian Grey' (fisica - induz elettromagnetica e alternatore/ generatore) (against nature) ↕ THE THEATER IN THE VICTORIAN AGE [ WILDE ] ○ Oscar Wilde became one of London'smost popular playwrights (drammaturgo) in the 1890s. ○ His plays criticized Victorian values and the hypocrisy of the upper-classes, but in a comic way which did not offend his audiences. ○ His social comedies were successful, thanks to their comic characters. ○ But in the end Wilde's private life, and especially his homosexuality, offended the Victorians, who turned against him. ○ Wilde's best-known play is The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). [ BERNARD SHAW ] (1856 - 1950) ○ Shaw considered himself a realist with a mission, a prophet: He didn't want to write for entertainment, but at the same time he was not an enemy of entertainment and fun. ○ Shaw saw theater as a strument for social and political change because plays explored the psychological conflicts that drove middle-class people to take radical, often destructive action. ○ The drama was his way to present his ideas and criticize Victorian institutions. ⇒ Shaw's aim was the improvement (miglioramento) of society. Shaw was disgusted by the contemporary drama, in particular by its tendency for the sentimentalism and the adulation of Shakespeare. so He preferred to replace “sentimentalism” by “realism” and Shakespeare by real life on the stage. ○ THE PLAYS OF IDEA ○ Shaw invented the “drama of ideas”, where he treats contemporary moral problems with the use of comic and ironic tones. ○ His characters give voice to different ideas and social institutions; ○ THEY ARE BRILLANT SPEAKERS (OGNUNO SOSTIENE UN'IDEA DIVERSA = ORATORIA di Quintiliano) ○ The dialogue is one of the most representative elements of Bernard Shaw's dramas, because it always deals with contemporary problems, such as the equality of women, the relationship between husband and wife and religion. Shaw was also a prominent anti-censorship campaigner. ⇒ STORIA FASCISMO NAZISMO TEATRO di Pirandello (relativismo conoscitivo ⇒ Popper e l’avvicinamento continuo alla verità) THE AGE OF MODERNISM THE 20TH CENTURY (1900 IN POI) The term "Modernism" refers to an international movement which involved literature, music and arts in the 20th century. Modernism is a literary movement, associated with the period after the first World War. Modernist authors have expressed a desire to break with the past and find new themes, such as technology and war. [ FEATURES of MODERNISM ] Modernism had some common features: ● (NO linear and logical narration) ; the radical disruption of the linear flow of narrative and the conventional verse. ● ( NO use of an omniscient narrator NO third-person narrator) they were abandoned in favor of new techniques such as the stream of consciousness; ● the emphasis of subjectivity ● the use of allusive language ● the importance of unconscious life. [ COSMOPOLITAN LITERATURE ] Novelists and poets got inspired from classical to create a new subjectivemythology, and they often reshape those themes in a personal original way. Is thanks to Freud and Bergson that Joyce uses the stream of consciousness technique. So English modern literature became a cosmopolitan literature and moved away from the Victorian upper-middle-class. [ WAR POETS ] In this context a new generation of young poets, the so-calledWar Poets, emerged : they wrote the horrors of the war they had lived, using a violent and everyday language. [ FACTORS THAT CREATE THE MODERN NOVEL + NEW ROLE OF THE NOVELISTS ] There are many factors that contributed to produce THE MODERN NOVEL : - The gradual transformation of British society due to the 2 global wars - the new concept of TIME (conrad) - the new theory of the unconscious which derived from the Freudian influence. All these factors caused a transition from the Victorian novel to the modern. ⇒ The novelist now had a new role which consisted in mediating between the past and the present. [ THE STREAM of CONSCIOUSNESS TECHNIQUE ] The so-called “stream of consciousness” is the narrative techniquemainly used by modern novelists. ⇒ This expression defines the continuous flow (flusso) of thoughts and sensations that characterize the human mind. [ 3 GROUPS of NOVELISTS ] There are 3 groups of innovative novelists in the 20th century: 1. In the first group there are the psychological novelists, who focus on the development of the character's mind and on human relationships. The most important are: Joseph Conrad and Forster, who analyzes the themes of the complexity of human relationships and the contrast between different cultures. 2. The second group includes the novelists who experimented with the subjective narrative techniques (solo io), exploring the mind of one or more characters, giving voice to their thoughts. James Joyce and Virginia Woolf belong to this group. 3. The third group concentrated on the social and political problems of the 1930s. The attention of the writers was focused on the society around them. George ● One of hismost important themes is the Language: it is an instrument of information + communication, but ● ⇒ Through the language people can be controlled and manipulated. b] ANIMAL FARM by GEORGE ORWELL This novel was written by Arthur Blair aka George Orwell, a British political novelist. George Orwell is indeed the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, a choice that he adopted as a way to escape from his middle-class social class. ● The novel is an allegory of all the revolutions which fail the basic ideals that generated them. In particular, George Orwell traces the events that led from the Russian Revolution to the Stalinist era: it is therefore a denunciation of the corruption of the Stalinist regime which ended up betraying the original socialist ideals. so , "Animal Farm" is certainly one of the most famous works of denunciation of totalitarianisms of the 20th century. The whole story takes place inside the manor farm owned by Mr. Jones. The animals, abused and exploited by their master, learn of the dream of a old farm pig, called Old Major. In this dream, the animals are free from humans! - Old Major (he is the oldest pig on the farm) ⇒ represents Lenin who, dying, will not see the end of his revolution that he had started. - Snowball (pig leading the revolt together with Napoleon) ⇒ Represents Trotsky being sent away by Stalin. - Napoleon (he has a very despotic character and above all uses violence) ⇒ represents Stalin. The ideals of equality and fraternity proclaimed at the time of the revolution have been betrayed and a new principle now applies: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others". One day pigs will learn to walk on two legs and the old slogan "four legs good, two legs bad" will turn into "four legs good, two legs better". Orwell is also close to the realistic tradition of Charles Dickens in the use of direct language and in the choice of social themes. 1) JOSEPH CONRAD [ HIS LIFE ] ● Joseph Conrad was born (in 1857) in Poland. ● He was forced to go into exile in Russia with his parents. ● After his parents died, Conrad stayed with his uncle. ● He went to England and worked on an English ship as a seamen (marinaio). ● (In 1890) he traveled to the CONGO, where he saw the brutalities of colonial exploitation. ● When he received the heredity of his uncle, he started to write. ● (Conrad's 1° and 2° languages were Polish and French, but) he used his third language, English, to write his most important works. ● He died (in 1924). [ HIS TASK ] ● For Conrad, theWRITER'S AIM is to explore the HUMAN CONDITIONS ● His main characters are solitary honest, brave and compassionate figures that had to go against a sense of evil; they are also often isolated and distant from their usual habitat. ● They are usually presented indirectly SETTING : Conrad's novels are often set at sea / or in the jungle / or in ships (because these are the places that he knew well). [ NEW NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE ] He used various narrative techniques: - first-person narration (for ex Marlow); - an invisible narrator. ● This absence of an omniscient narrator and themultiplicity of points of view leave the reader free to decide for himself ⇒ Conrad introduced a NEWCONCEPT OF TIME: He broke the chronological time-sequence, creating the effect of a story narrated from different points of view !!!! ● ( Used time shifts ) a] HEART OF DARKNESS [ PLOT ] The story is setted in the 19th century in London. ● Marlow (the narrator) told the story of the journey he made: He had to find an ivory trader of a company who had disappeared ⇒ so Marlow went to the Congo. ● When he arrived in Africa he was horrified by the way ivory traders exploited the indigenous peoples. ● There he heard something aboutMr. Kurtz, the company's best agent, who was in a camp in the heart of the country. ● Marlow discovered that Kurtz felt bad and that the other ivory agents, jealous of his success, hope he does not recover. ● so Marlow decided to go to Kutz’s station, but his ship was attacked by natives, and he was overcome by a feeling of fear, intensified by the forest. ● Marlow discovered how Kurtz was seen like a god to the natives😇 : he has gone BEYOND the limits of civilization and he has lost his mind. ● Marlow managed to take Kurtz, but he died on the return journey ⇒ and His last words are "the horror, the horror" : Kurtz saw into man's heart of darkness and the experience had destroyed him. [THE FEATURES] "Heart of Darkness" is a semi-autobiographical novel (because Marlow represented Conrad himself) in which Conrad makes observations about the evils of colonialism. He describes the physical horrors of colonialism and the exploitation of the natives by the whites. Colonialism is a consequence of man's fame of power, of greed for lands. Heart of Darkness explored the complexity of human nature and the true nature of colonialism through Marlow's journey into the heart of darkness. [ HISTORICAL SETTING ] ● The novel described the colonial imperialism of King Leopold in the Congo. ● His empire was characterized by violence and brutality. ● Colonial officials mutilated Congolese men, women and children as punishment when they didn't work enough. ● Conrad was writing in a moment of growing doubt about imperialist politics, and he ACCUSED all forms of IMPERIALISM !!!! [ CHARACTERS ] 1. MARLOW: is a determined young seaman. He observed the savage exploitation of the natives of the Congo and is impressed by that cruel reality. (represented Conrad himself) ⇒ He represented amoral guide for the reader and a mediator between the 2 opposite worlds: colonizing Europe and exploiting Africa. MARLOW always had self-control and didn't go beyond his limits. 2. KURTZ: is an ivory trader who went to the Congo full of good ideals and became like a god for the natives, who then collected large quantities of ivory for him. ⇒ However, Kurtz didn't contain himself, so he is crushed by the darkness of imperialism. His character ismysterious. Marlow: good side, double of Conrad Kurtz: evil side [ STRUCTURE AND STYLE ] ● The novel had different narrators: an anonymous narrator Marlow, an observer-narrator. Minor characters also tell their own stories and their points of views of Kurtz. ● Conrad uses flashbacks and flashforwards, to creates suspense. 2) EDWARDMORGAN FORSTER (1879-1970) [ LIFE: ] ● He was born in London (in 1879) (His father died soon, leaving his wife and son enough money to live comfortably all their lives).   ● Forster was educated by his mother until the age of 11 Kipling feels he has the task to be the PROPHET of the British and thought that the "strong race" had a responsibility towards African, South America and India populations; ⇒ They had themoral obligation to give them civility and rights. This was the "white man's burden" and it is for this reason that Kipling exalts the greatness of the Empire. 4. The SENSE OF LONELINESS and THE NEED FOR ACTION: He has never been able to free himself from the feeling thatman remains alone, a feeling that derived from his experience when he was a child far from his native country. But there is a remedy for loneliness: action. (This sense of loneliness is evident in most of Conrad's characters). 5. PROGRESS AND CHANGE: Kipling lived in a period of progress and changes. He accepted new inventions and was the first writer to write poems about locomotives, cars and airplanes. 6. The NECESSITY OF LAW : Kipling thought that every man should obey the "Law", under which men had to live. 7. CURIOSITY ABOUT THE terrors and obsessions☠: Some stories are considered a sort of psychoanalytic research into the mysteries of the human mind, the terrors and obsessions of humans. [ LANGUAGE + STYLE ] ● As a poet : Kipling used all kinds of metres, about themes unusual in English literature. Conrad experimented a lot. He knows the LANGUAGE very well: he uses technical terms, military slang and words from various Indian languages, using them all with great intensity and variety. ● As a prose writer: He wrote some short stories, in which the essential is dealt with immediately. The STYLE is concise and the natural descriptions are made without minute analysis. His prose is vigorous, often colloquial and always vivid with a strong sense of humor. IMPERIALISM ANDCOLONIALISM IN TOTAL Conrad, Forster and Kipling are three British writers who have explored the theme of imperialism in their works. Their views of imperialism are not the same, but in general it can be said that they have analyzed the British colonial system with critical eyes. ➽ Joseph Conrad, author of "Heart of Darkness," described imperialism as a destructive system that has corrupted the individuals and societies ⇒ His personal experience as a sailor allowed him to see the damage caused by British colonialism in first person. In his works Conrad often emphasized the brutal violence used by European powers against colonized peoples, to reveal and show to everybody the real exploitation that happened in those countries. + He wanted to travel to the heart of Black Africa so he reached Congo, the setting used in his masterpiece. ➽ Forster had a critical approach to British imperialism, and his masterpiece "A passage to India" is a critique of imperialism and British rule of India. Forster described the colonial system as a form of oppression and emphasized the importance of empathy towards colonized peoples. Forster, who traveled a lot, drew inspiration from his personal experiences; In his works he respected cultural diversity and rejected the idea of imperialism as a form of cultural superiority: - In his novel he explored the values of tolerance, attention for the different people and a reconciliation of humanity to the earth. - Central is the question of the difficult relationship between the British and the Indians and the complexity of relationships: He had the desire to overcome the social and racial differences and wanted a complete social equality between the English and the Indian society. (Pascoli: eliminare I conflitti tra le classi) He didn't believe that imperialism was a good thing. Forster used irony to show other different views or opinions of British people about race and Empire. ➽ Rudyard Kipling, author of "The Jungle Book", has an AMBIVALENT view of imperialism: - Kipling wrote many works celebrating British imperialism, but he also explored the dark side of the colonies: Kipling believed that imperialism was a necessary system to guarantee British prosperity, but he was also aware of the negative consequences of colonial rule. ⇒ He wanted to describe life in the colonies. ⇒ Kipling exalted European and American imperialism because he believed that white men had superior culture and civilization and wanted to spread it (diffonderle) to the populations of Africa, South America and India; so a sort of way to help them!! Kipling wrote some short stories like "The Jungle Book" and "Kim" and a famous poem, "The White Man's Burden", in which Kipling exalted European imperialism. In general, these three British writers' works reflect the ideas towards the colonialism and values of British society at the time. WAR POETS DIFFERENT VIEWS OFWAR When the 1° World War broke out, thousands of young men volunteered for military service. Most of them saw the conflict as an adventure with noble ends. This feeling changed after the massacre of thousands of British soldiers and has been replaced by doubt and disillusionment. For soldiers, life in the trenches was hell. There was a GROUP of POETS who lived the fighting and who wrote their experience to represent the war in a realistic and unconventional way, showing to the readers the horrors of war. ⬇ These poets became known as theWAR POETS. The most influential wasWilfred Owen. These poets went away from the conventions of the 19th century and found a new way to transmit their emotions proved during war. WILFRED OWEN ● Wilfred Owen was born in 1893. ● He visited a hospital for soldiers🪖🎖 and decided to join the British army. ● He was hit by a shell💣 (granata), and spent many days in the same place near the corpse of an officer. ● He was diagnosed with shock shortly after. ● He was sent to a War Hospital to recover. There he met a poet, a patient too, who read Owen's poems, encouraged him to continue writing and introduced him to other literary figures. ● He returned to the front 7 days before the armistice, he was killed in an attack. All of his poems were published posthumously. [ STYLE ] Owen's poems are shockingly accurate descriptions of soldiers who have lost their minds, and men without body pieces. He used assonance, which gave his works a haunting quality and moral force. So his works are characterized by discordance and disharmony. [ THE PITY OFWAR (PIETÀ) ] Owen wrote Disabled and Other Poems. He wanted to warning the next generations of the destruction of war: His books are not about heroes. His subject is War, and War's pity. His works can help the future generation. His aim as a poet is to warn and must be sincere. VIRGINIAWOOLF (1882-1941) [ LIFE ] ● Born in London (in 1882) ● She grew up in a literary and intellectual atmosphere ● She had free access to her father's library.