Britain Between the Wars: A Time of Social and Literary Change, Sintesi del corso di Inglese

Scarica Britain Between the Wars: A Time of Social and Literary Change e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! "BRITAIN BETWEEN THE WARS" After WW1 the Labour Party grew in popularity and Trade Unions worked hard leading to the General Strike of 1926 lead by coal-miners, shipbuilders causing Northern England, South Wales, and Central Scotland to live a period of depression, alongside the Great Depression caused by 1929' Wall Street Crash. Nevertheless economy perked up slightly (si rianimò leggermente) during the second half of the century especially thanks to the rearmament for the impending war against Germany. The British Commonwealth was formalised ending the British Empire and granting equal Status for all members. Meanwhile the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936 and went on till 1939 and was won by the fascist General Francisco Franco aided by Hitler and Mussolini. Inspired by contemporary politics many writers would be influenced by the nationalism, dictators, especially in dystopian novel. “THE MODERN NOVEL” During the 18th and 19th century, novelists represented mediation between characters and reader and narrated their plots in an objective way, but by the end of the Victorian Age there was a shift in british society influenced the unrest (agitazione) of the inter-war year. Now the novelist mediated between historical past and present, and highlighted (evidenziare) the complexity of unconscious, importance was given to the individual and no longer (non più) to society. Two other factor played an important role: 1) the new concept of time; 2) the unconscious from Freud philosophy. So modern novelist rejected the omniscient narrator and shifted the view point to the characters mind convinced that past and present memories determined the character personality. Also narration could occur in all sorts of time-spars (verificarsi in tutti campi temporali) and character were revealed not troughtime but common actions or epiphany as in trivial events suddenly reveal an interior reality. So many writers began employing the Stream of Consciousness: a continuous flow of thoughts and sensation written as they come lacking in punctuation. “GEORGE ORWELL” Because of his upbringing ORWELL developed and independent mind, indifferent to moral codes, atheist and socialist. At first he entered the Indian Police but left because he wished to escape from "every form of man's dominion over man". He began a social experiment by living in LONDON and Paris in poor conditions learning how institutions for the poor worked, after which he published Down and Out in Paris and London under the name of George Orwell. Similarly he wrote Homage to Catalonia, about Spanish Civil War, making his own conversion to socialism. When WW2 broke out he was living in London working as editor for a socialist weekly. In 1949 he wrote 1984, his masterpiece. Because of his Young years he deeply understood the english character, and country but also in an objective way, he seems to identify with working-class although belonging to the middle class. He believed that writing served a useful function and therefore respected the writers of the 1930's as opposed to the ones of the 1920s, and although both him and the 30's writers were left-wing he believed writers should be independent from any party. From Dickens he took the use of realistic language and the use of social themes. He warned against urban civilization and criticised totalitarianism. All in all we could consider him Bohemien. “THE POST SECOND WAR YEARS” New elections were held in Britain and were won by Labour Party with Attlee as new Prime Minister. The new government passed the Welfare State in 1946 to tackle social issues, and ensuring the well-being of citizens: the NHS was established unemployment benefits, pensions, child allowances. Hospitals, gas, electricity, railways shares were bought by the government in exchange for government bonds thus nationalising the companies. Britain joined the United Nations UN and the military alliance North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO to prevent Soviet expansionism. Overall life standards were raised even for the lowest classes, the olympic Games started again in 1951. Queen Elizabeth was coronated and the ceremony was broadcast on live television. “THE WELFARE STATE” In Britain, After the war, there was a huge foreign Debt, exports had fallen dramatically and people were still subject to rationing. To overcome these problems, the Labour Party created the welfare state; It refers to the totality of schemes and services through which the Central government and the local authorities assumed the responsibility for dealing with the social problems of individual citizens. The First problem was that people could fail to have enough to live on because they were unemployed, too old, injured, pregnant. The second problem was the provision of medical services. Bad housing was the third problem. The fourth problem regarded decent education. The national health service act, declared that medical service was free. The National assistance act of 1948 provided an increase of benefits for the old , the ill and the poor. The Coronation of Elizabeth II was associated, with the idea of a new Elizabethan age in which Britain would still play a glorious role in the world “ULYSSES BY JOYCE” The novel takes place in a single day (16th June 1904) in Dublin. Three main characters: Mr Bloom, who represents Ulysses who's compared to Homer's Odyssey, a common man; Stephen, Dedalus, Telemachus, who becomes like an adopted son, and Mis Bloom, Penelope, Leopold's unfaithful wife. All 3 represent more than what meets the eye. Stephen embodies every young man, his stream of consciousness is linked trough resemblance; Mrs Bloom embodies flesh and lust, her stream is carried by her memories each one triggering another, lastly Leopold Bloom represents the whole of humankind his stream links things through cause/effect. In the novel the city of Dublin almost becomes a fourth character for it is described ever so precisely and realistically. Ulysses is related to Homer's Odyssey. Both are divided in 3 parts called 1)Telemachia; 2) Odyssey; 3) Nostos and whereas Odyssey is an epic poem with heroic themes, Joyce highlights how man doesn't always win, but struggles and needs to rise again, all this in the context of a common Dublin day. The novel is a "modern epic prose" and is based on the mythical method rather than the narrative method. Joyce uses both an external narrator and the character's interior monologue and uses a difficult style of language.