Programma letteratura inglese quinto anno liceo scientifico, Dispense di Inglese

Scarica Programma letteratura inglese quinto anno liceo scientifico e più Dispense in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! SATIRE Satire has always been a powerful weapon of social comment from classical times to the present days. The definition of satire is: a literary device that uses irony, wit and sarcasm to expose humanity’s foibles giving impetus to change through ridicule. The origins of the name are classical, yet it comes from ancient Rome, that’s why satire is classified into Juvenalian and Horatian satire, which are two different styles. Although it seems a great way to express, it can have both advantages and disadvantages. For example it gives people the freedom to speech, meanwhile it could be misunderstood and could put you in danger.(pag. 156) As we read, in an article taken by The Guardian, Bassem Youssef, a political satirist working in Egypt, was misunderstood by the islamist president Morsi that was ruling in Egypt in 2011. In fact, Youssef was detained and questioned on charges of insulting the president and Islam in general. He never criticized Islam even though he did poke fun of Islamists but his experience led him to close his activities due to pressures and threats. A student’s satirical essay stokes racial tensions - pag. 145 The school’s students had the assignment to write a paper mimicking Jonathan Swift “ A Modest Proposal “; In particular they had to follow text in which Swift called for poor mothers of Ireland to sustain themselves during a famine by selling their babies to wealthier families. The problem that came out was that a student wrote a version of his modest proposal by suggesting the eradication of all but a few black Americans, causing racial tensions. The principal of the school sent a letter to the guy’s parents expressing worries about whether or not the student was just imitating Swift’s grotesque satire or he was racist. That’s another way of how powerful and perhaps dangerous the use of satire can be. The influence of Classical Satire - pag.147 Ludovico Ariosto, an Italian poet who is famous for his Orlando Furioso, is also known for the fact that he wrote some early verses strongly influenced by Latin poets such as Tibullus and Horace. Moreover, his first satire, which was given inspiration by the refusal to accompany Cardinal Ippolito to Hungary became important because there he asserts the right to self-determination. Satire in 18th century British Society - pag. 148 The 18th century was one in which exaltation of wit and reason came to the forefront of literature in the form of both Horatian and Juvenalian satires which exposed the superficial follies and moral corruption of society during the neoclassical period in Britain. Satires during this period aimed to point out the shortcomings of society through ridiculing accepted standards of thoughts exposing Britain’s flaws and chastising the hypocrisy of the time. Enlightenment writers where Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift whose main works are respectively The Rape of the Lock and A Modest Proposal . Both of them, well known for their sharply perceptive works use different types of satire. Pope is Horatian in his verses; he delicately chides society in a sly but polished voice by holding up a mirror to the follies and vanities of the upper class. Swift’s works meanwhile, uses Juvenalian style which is more realistic, harsh and acerbic. The Rape of the Lock - pag. 149/150 It was commissioned by John Caryl, a close friend of Pope, after one of his relatives, Lord Petre, caused a quarrel between families and friends by snipping off and stealing a lock of hair from Miss Arabella Fermor. The poem was to serve as a way to defuse tensions and turn the event into a laughing matter. The language of the poem is refined, cultivated, classical, elegant and complete which perfectly conveys the parody of the vanities of the upper classes. A Modest Proposal - pag. 153/154 It was an indictment of both English exploitation and Irish inaction Marriage A la Mode The basic story is of a marriage arranged by two self-seeking fathers – a spendthrift nobleman who needs cash and a wealthy City of London merchant who wants to buy into the aristocracy. It was Hogarth’s first moralising series satirising the upper classes,which exposed the shallowness and stupidity of people with more money than taste who are unable to distinguish good from bad. The engravings were instantly popular and gave Hogarth’s work a wide audience. THE ROMANTIC AGE AND THE 1° INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 1780 - 1837 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Rise to the industrial revolution; key moments: - Development of the modern factory system → water powered cotton spinning mills - Birth of the first locomotive 1804 - Steam engine applied to steamboats - Bobbies (Sir Robert Peel) → reform of the criminal law and creation of the Metropolitan Police 1770 - 1850 period characterised by contrasts; tradition and innovation, revolution and monarchy, idealism and conservatism. Main events: - American Revolution led to the American War of Independence - French Revolution: contrasting views by Thomas Paine(revolutionary, men should not petition for rights but take them) and Edmund Burke(conservative) - New Evolutionary Theory: Charles Darwin - Peterloo Massacre: Manchester 1819, people asking for a parliamentary reform on suffrage and representation - Women: Mary Wollstonecraft wrote a feminist essay, A Vindication of The Rights of Women in which she says that marriage is a legal prostitution - Slavery abolished in England ROMANTICISM IN EUROPE - end of 18th century until 19th century - developed in Germany,France,England at different times Novels: As well as being a nature poet, Shelley was a politically motivated writer who wanted to use his art and his pen to participate in "the war of the oppressed against the oppressors ". He openly referred to the sovereigns of his period as " murderers and swindlers" and aspired to true liberty and democracy in England and in Europe. In his poem Ozymandias, which is in the form of a Petrarchan sonnet, Shelley describes the arrogance of the Pharaoh Ramesses II as depicted by a skilful sculptor who used his art to subtly criticise the monarch. In the sonnet's sestet, Shelley then presents an ironic contrast between the king's expectations of the eternal nature of his power and the ruins which remain, half-buried in the sand. Shelley's message, though, goes beyond Ramesses and is aimed at all despotic leaders, especially his contemporaries such as Napoleon , who do not realise the true transient nature of power. The sculptor, too, becomes a symbol of all artists who are prepared to fight oppression through their art. A Song: "Men of England” is a much more outspoken criticism of the injustices of society as it clearly points the finger at the ruling and upper classes of Britain and their exploitation of the lower classes. It is an open invitation to rebellion and a criticism of those who are not willing to act. Here Shelley uses a simple form and a relatively simple language rich in questions and imperatives in order to address the people in a very direct and comprehensible way. Shelley's anger had been incited by recent events in Britain including the shocking Peterloo Massacre when a peaceful crowd of protesters had been charged by soldiers with bayonets drawn, resulting in many deaths and hundreds of injuries. ALLA LUNA VS Who is pleased to watch the moon on high Leopardi's poem is entitled Alla Luna but its main theme concerns the role of remembrance and how it can bring pleasure amid pain. Remembering recalls both past despair and past hope It also underlines the fact that nothing changes or ever will change - despair is a fundamental element of human existence. However, remembrance can tinge grief with a sense of comfort and solace, transforming despair into a kind of melancholy. Wordsworth's poem focuses on the relationship between man, human life and nature. Nature, here represented by the moon, can bring joy and inspiration to man through its awesome and majestic beauty . However, at times, nature can also mirror the sadness and gloom of man's existence when he seems to lose his way in a hopeless world. THE VICTORIAN AGE (1837 - 1901) Main changes: - important palaces,halls and stations were built in a style known as neo-Gothic, including the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Red brick was used in the housing boom associated with the development of industrial centers across the country, particularly in the construction of the miles of streets of factory terraces. Many Victorian-era buildings still stand today both in the UK and in the ex-colonies and are considered characteristically 'English'. - Britain's landscape changed dramatically during the 1800s.The great feats of engineering of Isambard Kingdom Brunel can still be seen spanning rivers or in the railway system - In 1845 a combination of crop failure and bad management by absentee landlords caused the beginning of a period of devastating famine in Ireland. The result was extreme poverty and starvation, the deaths of over a million people and mass emigration. Villages were abandoned and some areas of the country suffered a loss of up to 30% of the population. - Modern-day nursing practices worldwide owe much to Florence Nightingale, a young woman who travelled to Turkey in 1854 to help tend the wounded from the Crimean War which was then raging. When she arrived at the field hospital, the terrible conditions in which patients were being treated inspired her to delineate a series of good practices and procedures for which she is now famous. THE AGE OF INDUSTRIALISATION - advantages in transport and communications , engineering and industrial processes. General sense of optimism about the future - equality for women was still a long way in this period: women were supposed to create a home, be a pure, devoted and selfless wife and mother. Queen Victoria was thought to embody this ideal - Britain had a enormous economic and commercial power; they had the mission to civilize and control as much of the world map as possible. They were involved in power struggles including the Crimean War, the Boer War, unrest in Ireland - rise of revolutionary movements in Europe: Karl Marx settled in England in 1849 basing his theories on observations of the British economy. British socialism remained “evolutionary” rather than “revolutionary” EDUCATION IN THE VICTORIAN AGE Before 1870, education was largely unregulated and existed in various forms such as the dame schools, ragged schools and charity schools. Dame schools were run by women who had little to no educational training and where unsanitary. Here sometimes working-class children were taught basic literacy in overcrowded classes. Ragged schools were charitable organisations dedicated to the free education of destitute children. Charity schools ensured basic education for children of low income families. These schools were run and owned by private individuals and financed partly by students and partly by endowments. The curriculum was based on strict moral and religious discipline, lessons were taught from the Bible and students learned to be submissive and accept their lowly position in society. The upper middle classes sent their children to private boarding schools and to colleges The Education Act of 1870 was the first of a number of acts of parliament passed between 1870 and 1893 to create compulsory education in England and Wales for children aged between 5 and 13 (Foster Act) TWO SIDES OF INDUSTRIALISATION Victorian Age was called Age of Machinery because technological improvements accelerated the process of industrialization which started in the previous century. Textile industries, iron and steel. Cutting of new canals, building of new roads and railways. The transformation affected the population and resulted in the migration of people from the countryside to the industrial areas in search of jobs. Urbanisation increased. Great wealth for the ruling classes and Britain became a champion of free trade across her Empire and leading industrial power in the world. In the first half of the century the effects of industrialisation were very negative for the poorer classes: they worked in terrible living conditions(families cramped into dirty single-room dwellings, water was polluted with sewage, the poorest lived in cellar homes), there were high food prices and economic depression caused much discontent and labourers began to organise themselves into working-class movements. Their discontent was voiced in 1838 by the Chartists, a group of radicals and workers who presented to parliament a document called the People’s Charter advocating a radical reform of parliament. → conditions improved after the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. THE VICTORIAN WORKHOUSE The Poor Law Amendment Act (1834) stated that no able-bodied person could get assistance unless they went to live in a workhouse where they could work to support themselves rather than live on begging or charity. If a person was destitute, with no home or job, they were taken into the workhouse and they earned their keep by working. Workhouses also took in children who were orphans or abandoned, old people, the disabled and the physically or mentally sick if they had no-one to provide for them. They were usually very big institutions and they were asked to provide accommodation, food, clothing, doctors and medicine, work and wages, education and training. The ‘officials of the workhouse were the Master, and the Matron, who were assisted by the school teacher, the vicar, the doctor and a porter. Buildings were custom-made or adapted to include all the facilities within their walls. On paper the workhouse seemed like a good solution to the problem of the destitute but in practice they became known as places of abuse and misery. Families were split up and could be punished if they tried to make contact. Everybody was made to wear a uniform and to conform to regulations which were very strict and could include rules such as silence during mealtimes. Punishments for breaking rules were harsh and humiliating. The workday was long and the type of work was hard, repetitive and soul-destroying. Children were often sold to work as pauper apprentices in factories or mines which effectively made them the property of the owner. WOMEN IN THE VICTORIAN AGE Although Britain was extending civil liberties, none as yet extended to women. They could not vote and they could not hold political office. However, women’s position in society was undergoing very gradual change. In the early and mid-century women’s behaviour was judged according to a strict set of Victorian morals ( a morality which was less rigorously applied to men). Women were expected to be dedicated to the care of the family, as a daughter or a wife, and above all be of spotless virtue. By the end of Victoria’s reign, this severe judgement of female morals was beginning to be questioned, particularly in literature. Women had little control over their finances. Although a man could divorce a woman for adultery, a woman could not do the same unless the infidelity was also accompanied by cruelty, bigamy or incest. and his life begins to improve. He attends a good school and finds respectable work. He falls in love with Dora Spenlow who he then marries. She dies of an illness but he remarries finding true happiness with Agnes Wickfield, a friend and confinìdante that has become his soul-mate. Oliver Twist He is an orphan brought up in a workhouse until he runs away to London to escape from starvation and ill-treatment. Here he falls into the clutches of the villainous Fagin, a thief who trains boys like him to pick pockets. Although Oliver’s honesty remains uncorrupted, he is arrested on suspicion of stealing from an old gentleman. This man takes pity on Oliver and takes him to his house until he is kidnapped back into Fagin’s gang. One night he is forced to participate in a robbery and he is shot. Abandoned by the others he is found by an elderly lady, Mrs Maylie and her niece Rose. Meanwhile Fagin plots with a mysterious man called Monks to recapture Oliver. Nancy, another of Fagin’s gang, tries to warn Rose of the danger of Oliver but she is then murdered by Sikes. The gentleman is reunited with Oliver and they discover that Monks is Oliver's half-brother who is trying to deny him his inheritance. Monks is forced to do so, Sikes dies, Fagin is imprisoned and hanged for his crimes. Oliver goes to live happily ever after. 3. Thomas Hardy - Tess of the d'Urbervilles Tess is the oldest daughter in a ruined aristocratic family. To help her irresponsible parents she is sent to work for a wealthy young man, Alec d’Urberville, who cruelly seduces her. She leaves him and returns home before giving birth to a sickly child who does not survive long. Her family’s poverty drives Tess away again. This time she finds work on a dairy farm where she meets a clergyman’s son, Angel Clare, with whom she falls deeply in love; and he with her. It takes Tess a long time to acknowledge her love because of what has taken place between her and Alec d’Urberville. Eventually Angel proposes to Tess. She accepts but writes a letter to him in which she reveals her past. On their wedding day she accidentally discovers that Angel has never read the letter. The wedding takes place nonetheless. In the evening Angel confesses to having had a previous relationship and Tess, relieved, tells her new husband her story, too. Angel is unable to forgive Tess. He leaves her and travels overseas while Tess goes to work in a faraway part of the country. She meets her old seducer again. From that moment she becomes the constant object of his attentions. Finally her helplessness in face of the pressing demands of her family for money forces her back into his arms. It is with him that Angel finds her when he comes back, repenting of the way he treated her. Her distress at the thought of having to give up Angel forever makes Tess turn on her old seducer. She stabs him to death and runs after Angel. Tess and Angel spend a few days of happiness together before the police arrest her. She is found guilty of Alec d’Urberville’s murder and hanged. 4. Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray Dorian’s wish comes true — his portrait begins to show the signs of Dorian’s ageing and pleasure-seeking experiences while Dorian remains young, beautiful and pure. Dorian lives a life of dissipation, debauchery and crime. He kills the portrait painter, Basil Hallward, and is responsible for the suicides of two other characters whose lives he ruins. At the end of the story, he stands face to face with his portrait which is the mirror of his soul, thinking about Basil’s murder. The Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray The preface was not included in the first printings of the novel, but was added later by Wilde as a direct response to accusations of immorality and indecency. Several of the statements made in the preface are thus purely defensive. However, the preface also establishes many of the novel's major themes and provides the reader with a means of interpreting different aspects of the story. The preface makes us aware of the novel to follow as a work of art, so we enter the story unsure of whether to believe in it or see it as “useless.” THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20th CENTURY Main changes: - Two key advances in terms of transport in the US. In 1903 the Wright brothers made what is considered the first flight in the aircraft. This was also the year wich saw the Ford Motor Company produce its first car, the Model A, which was closely followed by its first mass-produced car, the Model T in 1908. - It was not after WWI when women proved themselves able to run homes, businesses, factories and agriculture in the absence of their menfolk, that the percentage of women in the UK were granted the right to vote through the Representation of the People Act - Alan Turing: father of the computer → he designed for an Automatic Computing Engine at Manchester University. - The Chartists started to finance campaigns of politicians willing to speak up for their rights. They began to exercise their power by calling strikes while the new Labour Party gradually increased its membership - WWI saw the deaths of almost one in three men aged between 18 and 25 years. - In Dublin the Easter Rising turned rebels into heroes of a nation longing for self-rule and self-determination. - Rise of Art Deco (development of Art Nouveau) Main events: - Abdication of Edward VIII, a Nazi and Fascist sympathiser (1901) - The suffragettes movement was founded in the UK (1903) - Theory of special relativity was formulated by Albert Einstein (1905) - WWI: in England there was a rush to recruit as patriotic feeling ran high. The reality was an horrific trench war. (1914-1918) - The Treaty of Versailles redrew European borders (1919) - Great Depression; in the 1920s England was already facing mass unemployment and a drop in the production levels. In 1929 the New York Stock Exchange crashed sending world trade into crisis. - Hitler came to power in Germany with his political ideology (Nazism, 1933) - WWII, Winston Churchill: when war broke out in 1939 this man was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. He then became Prime Minister and was the ideal leader during the war. (finished 1945) WORLD WAR I RECRUITMENT August 1914 • Lord kitchener Secretary of State for War; realised Britain needed a bigger army • created a volunteer army - Kitchener's army to do so, posters were printed showing him pointing his finger at passersby with the phrase " The country needs you" in the 1' weekend of the war omen had to be at least 18 years old to join it 3,000 men a day signed up and 19 to be sent abroad to fight to join the army • lots of younger men tried to join it: how? - who could enlist?(people between 18 and 41) younger boys tried enjoying the army lying about their age, hoping the recruiter would believe them. excluded ones were priests and ministers people who failed medical tests, who had reserved occupations - work in coal mines/shipyards, work in munition factories in Britain, farmers The Government wanted as many men as possible to join the forces. In 1916 a law was passed to say men had to join the war whether they wanted or not → conscription LIFE IN THE TRENCHES DURING WWI Living conditions - cramped and filthy - rats everywhere/spreading disease - soldiers were infested with lice (chats); it caused trench fever - Trenches were filled with mud and water - Newspapers were used to fight cold - In summer there was the stench from the latrines Types of trenches 1. front-line trenches : distance of a few hundred yards from the enemies front line 2. support and reserve trenches: provided back-upduring 3. communications trenches connected the three other types of trenches Daily routine - Tedious and time dragged - before dawn all soldiers had to "stand to" (stepping on to the firestep in preparation for an enemy attack - breakfast rations while 1 soldier remained on sentry duty; - the officer checked equipment and organised duties and chores for the day - "stand to" repeated at nightfall during the war - Rum issue - Men moved along the trenches at night Siw and suicide - Self inflicted wounds to be sent home; the punishment was death by the firing squad - Suicide by shooting themselves or standing up allowing the enemies’ snipers to kill them ECONOMICS The term “liberalism” fractures into a variety of types and competing visions. a beloved land worth dying for. The style of the poem is characterised by its lyrical beauty and emotional resonance. Brooke's use of metre and rhyme scheme (Petrarchan style) lends the poem a musical quality, enhancing its impact on the reader. 3. Features Alliteration, consonance, assonance 3. Wilfred Owen - Exposure 1. Introduction "Exposure" is a poem written by Wilfred Oxven, a British poet who served as a soldier during WII. It is regarded as one of his most powerful works, capturing the narrowing experiences of soldiers enduring the brutal conditions of trench warfare. 2. Genre and content It is war poetry with focus on themes such as suffering, disillusionment, hallucination, human cost of conflict. Unlike"The Soldier", which glorified heroism and patriotism , Owen's work often presents starkly realistic portrayals of the horrors of war. The poem depicts a group of Soldiers in the trenches during the war, enduring the harsh winter and the constant threat of enemy fire ; it also portrays the soldiers' sense of fear, despair and hopelessness as they face the elements and the uncertainty of survival. 3. Structure Stanza I: The predominant feelings are those of tiredness and nervous tension.The night is silent but the threat of death is everywhere.The soldiers are freezing cold and are disorientated and frightened. Stanza II: continues to depict the soldiers' sense of isolation and vulnerability. ↳ constantly watching and listening for signs of danger. The imaginary wind tugging on the wire evokes a sense of tension as if the elements themselves are hostile to the soldiers. • Stanza III: Omen uses the imaginary of the dawn to convey the soldiers' sense of despair and resignation. MODERNISM Modernism was a revolutionary artistic, cultural, and intellectual movement that arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It encompassed a wide range of fields, including literature, visual arts, music, architecture, and design. Modernists sought to break away from traditional forms and styles, and to create new ways of expressing themselves in a rapidly changing world Rejection of Tradition A central feature of Modernism was the rejection of traditional forms and styles. Modernists rejected the established norms and conventions that had dominated art and culture for centuries. They questioned the traditional values of the past and sought to create new forms of expression that spoke to the realities of the modern world. This rejection of tradition manifested in various ways, from the experimentation with new forms in painting and sculpture to the exploration of unconventional narrative techniques in literature. Experimentation with form Modernist were highly experimental in their approach to form. They explored new ways of using materials,techniques, structures to create art. This experimentation led to the development of a wide range of artistic movement (Cubism, Fauvism, Surrealism) Focus on individuality Modernism placed a strong emphasis on individuality and subjectivity. Modernists believed that art should not simply reflect the external world but also the inner world of the artist. This led to a focus on the individual experience and the exploration of personal consciousness. Embrace of the new Modernists were not afraid to embrace the new and the modern. They were inspired by the rapid advancements in science, technology and society that were taking place during their time. They incorporated these new elements into their art, creating works that reflected the dynamism and complexity of the modern world. Lasting Impact Modernism was a revolutionary movement that left an indelible mark on the world. It challenged the status quo and paved the way for new forms of expression. THE INTER-WAR YEARS The inter-war years in Europe were marked by significant social and political turmoil. The losses incurred during World War I, both in terms of human life and the destruction and devastation of property and land, led to a situation of widespread poverty and high unemployment as the European powers struggled to recover. This was further compounded by the Great Depression of 1929-1933, an economic crisis that began in the US and had a profound impact on the European nations. These conditions give rise to two ideologies: socialism and Fascism, both revolutionary in nature but opposed in their outlooks, the former preaching world revolution and international socialism and the latter was more military nationalistic. In Spain in 1936, after the win of the Popular Font (an alliance of republicans, socialists, communists and anarchists) in the elections, a military coup took place led by General Francisco Franco marked the beginning of the Civil War. Fearing the spread of Soviet-style communism throughout in Europe, the British government was reluctant to oppose the military uprising in Spain (Non-Intervention Agreement was signed in September 1936 by 27 countries) but volunteers from Europe and US began to enlist in the International Brigades to fight on the side of the left in Spain. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, he began to openly express his anti-Semitic views and his aim to force Jews to leave the country by making their life in Germany as unpleasant as possible. In 1933 40,000 Jews left Germany but many remained in the hope that the Nazi regime would be short-lived. In September 1935 a new set of laws, known as the Nuremberg Laws, passed to institutionalise discrimination, exclude Jews from German society an deprive them of all rights as human beings. The anti-jewish sentiment culminated in the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht) in 1938 where shops and synagogues were destroyed and burned and many Jews were killed and sent to the concentration camps. In 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany and in 1940 Italy, Germany’s ally, joined the war. In 1940 Germany invaded the Netherlands and France and launched an attack on Britain from the air ( “The Battle of Britain” was Germany’s first military failure). In 1940 Germany invaded the Soviet Union but this campaign was a failure as Russian determination and the extreme cold defeated German efforts. In 1943, after the battles of Staligrand and Kursk, Germany made a full-scale retreat. In 1941 Japan attacked US forces at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and then began to expand their territories throughout the Pacific and so the US declared war on Japan. In 1943 the landing of British and American troops in Sicily caused the collapse of the Italian Fascist State and in 1944 the Allied Forces launched the D-day in Normandy, gradually forcing German forces to retreat. Germany surrendered in 1945 and in August 1945 the US dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered a few days later. AUTHORS AND TEXTS 1. James Joyce Joyce was born in Dublin and his life was changed by the downfall of the political Parnell which led to Joyce's father being dismissed from his job because of his political allegiance. The collapse of nationalistic aspirations and the effect this period had on the family's stability was to influence him for life. Joyce was sympathetic to nationalist movements but found their aims narrow minded as he believed that Ireland should permit artists their freedom and reduce the power of the church over its people. He decided to leave Ireland because he did not feel accepted by literary circles and saw exile as a way of freeing himself from Dublin which he considered a place of paralysis and repression. Joyce made friends with Italo Svevo and helped his novel to reach public notice. Joyce was asked to write a short story for the “Irish Homestead" but then decided to write a series of epicleti called The Dubliners (1914) to betray the soul of that hemiplegia or paralysis that many considered as a city. - epicleti= stories about everyday life whose conversion into art would allow them to uplift their readers - hemiplegia= paralysis of will that according to Joyce afflicted the people of Dublin - epiphany= a brief moment of insight and sudden realisation that the central characters experienced in the story The Dubliners is divided in 4 parts: childhood, adolescence, mature life and public life plus the longest and most admired story which is outside the structure, the Dead. The Dubliners represent the paralysis of will which afflicted the inhabitants of Dublin. The Waste Land It is a poem about loss and brokenness and it represents the terror, futility and alienation of modern life in the wake of World War I. It is a long poem divided into five parts. The Part I is called the The Burial of the Dead and begins with “Unreal CIty” where the landscape is urban, squalid and populated with crowds of desolate commuters on their way to work, who become those whose soul has died and the waste and dross of the universe through allusions to Baudelaire and Dante. The poem also alludes to ancient fertility rites and links the wasteland of the poem to that of the mythical Fisher King. The poem underlines Eliot’s belief that man and his world was in the state of cultural and intellectual decay. The 20th century- urban landscape which is desolate and in need of regeneration is similar to the myth of the one of Fisher King (symbiosis between land and its inhabitants). The use of the myth as an underlying framework allows the author to give shape and significance to the work (similar to James Joyce’s Ulysses and Odyssey). The “Waste Land” can be thought of as a poem about the alienation and brokenness of modern life. Written shortly after World War I, the poem reflects the generational trauma caused by the war, both on the battlefield and the home front. The “waste land” the poem portrays represents modern society itself, which Eliot depicts as shallow and isolating, lacking both the spiritual guidance and the cultural abundance of the past.Though the people of “The Waste Land” are simply going about their ordinary lives, their inability to connect or communicate is indicative of the broken society in which they all live. 3. William Butler Yeats His production stands astride the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s. He was the leading literary figure in Ireland in his time and one of the greatest Modernist poets of the 20th century. His poems range in style from Romantic, through Modernist to Symbolist. .He was interested in Irish folklore, myths and legends and greatly concerned with promoting Irish culture. In the 1920s Yeats served as a Senator in the parliament of the newly formed Irish Free State. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923 Sailing to Byzantium Sailing to Byzantium is from the collection The Tower and it sets a tone of political pessimism and bitterness. The poem reflects on the difficulty of keeping one's soul alive in a fragile human body. The speaker is an old man that leaves behind the country of the young for a visionary quest to Byzantium where he hopes to move past his mortality and become something more like an immortal work of art. The poem presents old age as an opportunity for a kind of spiritual transcendence. In the poem’s first line “That is no country for old men” Yeats expresses all his sadness and isolation as an Irishman reaching an old age in a country which has no time for things eternal. Yeats represents the eternal as art and Byzantium as the highest kingdom of art. Byzantium is the place out of time and nature, an utopian world of art, philosophy, intellect and spirit, a retreat from ageing and decay. Yeats wishes to transform himself into a mechanical golden bird in a golden tree, which is the symbol of purest aesthetic beauty and is the culminating image in a series of bird-references throughout the poem. The poem is written in response to the political situation, a rebellion of an ageing poet warning himself back to life after illness (Yeats was 61 and recovering from a serious illness when he wrote the poem) and a celebration of the purest forms of Art for Art's sake and of art as the treasures of antiquity. 4. Virginia Woolf Born in London in 1882 in an upper -middle class intellectual environment. She was educated at home alongside her sister, using his father's extensive library. However, she had a really tough life and was full of tragedies, starting with the sudden death of the mother, resulting in various breakdowns. She suffered periods of serious depression and was also sexually abused by her step brother. Unfortunately, all these traumas caused her to commit suicide later on. She is best known for using in her works the technique of stream of consciousness which consists in writing down the character’s thoughts process. It’s an inner monologue and tries to mimic the nonlinear way our brains work. This technique makes us understand more and on a deeper level the character and their psychology. She is also known for her technique related to memory and it’s referred to as “ moments of being”.She thinks that human existence can be divided into “moments of being”,so all the moments that we live and recall intensely and with great depth of awareness, and the “moments of non-being”. She was also known to be a feminist. Her most important feminist works are A Room of one’s Own where she examines the obstacles hindering female writers, and Three Guineas where she argues for women’s education and equal employment opportunities. One of the most significant lectures is Shakespear’s sister will be born some day, which is part of her work A Room of One's Own.In this passage Woolf’s talks about how people assumed that most of the recognized “great” writers were men because men were more intelligent and creative than women. Woolf argues that in order to create great art, an artist needs material conditions (such as a private room and free time) that were not available to women. In this section, Woolf speculates what would have become of a woman with Shakespeare’s genius in Shakespeare’s time. Mrs. Dalloway The novel has no storyline. It opens with Clarissa Dalloway, the central character, going out to buy flowers for the party she is going to give in the evening and closes with the end of the party. Events are seen through the point of view of the various characters. The novel is not divided into chapters, though there are spaces between paragraphs at certain points in the book. The striking of time, however, serves as a sort of framework, as does the setting. The reader mainly follows Mrs Dalloway’s consciousness and through her consciousness is introduced to the other characters in the novel whose point of view is then taken up to give a multifaceted version of the same event through different perspectives. We get to know Mrs Dalloway’s family: her husband, a Conservative Member of Parliament, Elizabeth, their daughter who is under the influence of Miss Kilman, her tutor whom Clarissa hates deeply for her religious fanaticism. Among the various characters related to Clarissa’s present or past life, of particular importance is Peter Walsh, who was in love with Clarissa when young and probably still is. He unexpectedly returns to London on the day of Clarissa’s party. The reader also follows the story of a character not directly related to Clarissa, Septimus Warren Smith, a man mentally disturbed as a consequence of World War I. He will commit suicide after the visit to an eminent physician, Lord Bradshaw, one of Physical Control In addition to manipulating their minds, the Party also controls the bodies of its subjects. The Party constantly watches for any sign of disloyalty, to the point that, as Winston observes, even a tiny facial twitch could lead to an arrest. A person’s own nervous system becomes his greatest enemy. The Party forces its members to undergo mass morning exercises called the Physical Jerks, and then to work long, grueling days at government agencies, keeping people in a general state of exhaustion. Anyone who does manage to defy the Party is punished and “reeducated” through systematic and brutal torture. After being subjected to weeks of this intense treatment, Winston himself comes to the conclusion that nothing is more powerful than physical pain—no emotional loyalty or moral conviction can overcome it. By conditioning the minds of their victims with physical torture, the Party is able to control reality, convincing its subjects that 2 + 2 = 5. Control of Information and History The Party controls every source of information, managing and rewriting the content of all newspapers and histories for its own ends. The Party does not allow individuals to keep records of their past, such as photographs or documents. As a result, memories become fuzzy and unreliable, and citizens become perfectly willing to believe whatever the Party tells them. By controlling the present, the Party is able to manipulate the past. And in controlling the past, the Party can justify all of its actions in the present. Technology By means of telescreens and hidden microphones across the city, the Party is able to monitor its members almost all of the time. Additionally, the Party employs complicated mechanisms (1984 was written in the era before computers) to exert large-scale control on economic production and sources of information, and fearsome machinery to inflict torture upon those it deems enemies. 1984 reveals that technology, which is generally perceived as working toward moral good, can also facilitate the most diabolical evil. Language as Mind Control One of Orwell’s most important messages in 1984 is that language is of central importance to human thought because it structures and limits the ideas that individuals are capable of formulating and expressing. If control of language were centralized in a political agency, Orwell proposes, such an agency could possibly alter the very structure of language to make it impossible to even conceive of disobedient or rebellious thoughts, because there would be no words with which to think them. This idea manifests itself in the language of Newspeak, which the Party has introduced to replace English. The Party is constantly refining and perfecting Newspeak, with the ultimate goal that no one will be capable of conceptualizing anything that might question the Party’s absolute power. Interestingly, many of Orwell’s ideas about language as a controlling force have been modified by writers and critics seeking to deal with the legacy of colonialism. During colonial times, foreign powers took political and military control of distant regions and, as a part of their occupation, instituted their own language as the language of government and business. Postcolonial writers often analyze or redress the damage done to local populations by the loss of language and the attendant loss of culture and historical connection. Loyalty In 1984, the Party seeks to ensure that the only kind of loyalty possible is loyalty to the Party. The reader sees examples of virtually every kind of loyalty, from the most fundamental to the most trivial, being destroyed by the Party. Neighbors and coworkers inform on one another, and Mr. Parson’s own child reports him to the Thought Police. Winston’s half-remembered marriage to his wife fell apart with no sense of loyalty. Even the relationship between customer and merchant is perverted as Winston learns that the man who has sold him the very tools of his resistance and independence was a member of the Thought Police. Winston’s relationship with Julia is the ultimate loyalty that is tested by the events of the book. In Book Two: Chapter VII, Winston tells Julia, “if they could make me stop loving you—that would be the real betrayal.” In the end, the Party does make Winston stop loving Julia and love Big Brother instead, the only form of loyalty allowed. Resistance and Revolution In 1984, Winston explores increasingly risky and significant acts of resistance against the Party. In Book One: Chapter VII, Winston observes that “rebellion meant a look in the eyes, an inflection of the voice; at the most, an occasional whispered word.” Winston builds up these minor rebellions by committing personal acts of disobedience such as keeping a journal and buying a decorative paperweight. Eventually he escalates his rebellion through his sexual relationship with Julia. The relationship is a double rebellion, as it includes the thoughtcrime of desire. Winston doesn’t believe his actions or the actions of others will lead to the destruction of the Party within his lifetime, but before he is caught by the Thought Police he holds out hope that in the future someone will be able to look back at Winston’s time from a world that is free. Winston’s most concrete hope for actual revolution against the Party lies with the social underclass of the city, called the proles. He observes that the proles already have far greater numbers than the Party and that the proles have the strength to carry out a revolution if they could ever organize themselves. The problem is that the proles have been subject to such serious poverty for so long that they are unable to see past the goal of survival. The very notion of trying to build a better world is too much for them to contemplate. All of these observations are set against the backdrop of the Party’s own identity as the product of revolution. According to Winston, the Party was created during the mid-1960s during a revolution that overthrew the existing British social order. The Party claims that the Revolution has not yet ended and that it will be fulfilled once they have complete control. Independence and Identity While the Party’s primary tool for manipulating the populace is the control of history, they also control independence and identity. For example, the basic traits of establishing one’s identity are unavailable to Winston and the other citizens of Oceania. Winston does not know how old he is. He does not know whether he is married or not. He does not know whether his mother is alive or dead. None of his childhood memories are reliable, because he has no photos or documents to help him sort real memories from imagined ones. Instead of being unique individuals with specific, identifying details, every member of the Outer Party is identical. All Party members wear the same clothing, smoke the same brand of cigarettes, drink the same brand of gin, and so forth. As such, forming a sense of individual identity is not only psychologically challenging, but logistically difficult. Most of Winston’s significant decisions can be interpreted as attempts to build a sense of identity. His decision to purchase a diary and begin recording his thoughts is an attempt to create memory and history. His decision to purchase the paperweight is driven by a desire to have something of his own that represents a time before the Party. Winston’s sexual relationship with Julia and their decision to rent an apartment where they can spend time together represent dangerous crimes in the world of 1984. In deciding to pursue a relationship with Julia, Winston asserts his independence and further establishes his identity as an individual who resists the Party’s control. Ultimately, though, Winston’s attempts to maintain his independence and create a unique identity are no match for the Party. Winston’s experiences in the Ministry of Love represent the complete disassembly and destruction of all aspects of his individuality. When he is returned to society he has lost all independence and uniqueness, and has become part of the Party’s faceless collective. Animal Farm The Corruption of Socialist Ideals in the Soviet Union Animal Farm is most famous in the West as a stinging critique of the history and rhetoric of the Russian Revolution. Retelling the story of the emergence and development of Soviet communism in the form of an animal fable, Animal Farm allegorizes the rise to power of the dictator Joseph Stalin. In the novella, the overthrow of the human oppressor Mr. Jones by a democratic coalition of animals quickly gives way to the consolidation of power among the pigs. Much like the Soviet intelligentsia, the pigs establish themselves as the ruling class in the new society. The struggle for preeminence between Leon Trotsky and Stalin emerges in the rivalry between the pigs Snowball and Napoleon. In both the historical and fictional cases, the idealistic but politically less powerful figure (Trotsky and Snowball) is expelled from the revolutionary state by the malicious and violent usurper of power (Stalin and Napoleon). The purges and show trials with which Stalin eliminated his enemies and solidified his political base find expression in Animal Farm as the false confessions and executions of animals whom Napoleon distrusts following the collapse of the windmill. Stalin’s tyrannical rule and eventual abandonment of the founding principles of the Russian Revolution are represented by the pigs’ turn to violent government and the adoption of human traits and behaviors, the trappings of their original oppressors. Although Orwell believed strongly in socialist ideals, he felt that the Soviet Union realized these ideals in a terribly perverse form. His novella creates its most powerful ironies in the moments in which Orwell depicts the corruption of Animalist ideals by those in power. For Animal Farm serves not so much to condemn tyranny or despotism as to indict the horrifying hypocrisy of tyrannies that base themselves on, and owe their initial power to, ideologies of liberation and equality. The gradual disintegration and perversion of the Seven Commandments illustrates this hypocrisy with vivid force, as do Squealer’s elaborate philosophical justifications for the pigs’ blatantly unprincipled actions. Thus, the novella critiques the violence of the Stalinist regime against the human beings it ruled, and also points to Soviet communism’s violence against human logic, language, and ideals. MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY TIMES Main changes - during WWII carpet bombing was a tactic used to destroy strategic locations. Ex: London lost more than 1 million houses, 80% of Berlin’s city centre was destroyed, 90% of Dresden’s city centre was destroyed. All of these cities have been renovated or remodeled and today there remains little to no evidence of war damage - rapid advances in technology - 1950-60s: introduction of colour TV - 1989: birth of the World Wide Web - 2004: launch of Facebook - 2016: first autonomous drone delivery by Amazon - Berlin Wall erected in 1961 at the height of the Cold War, it divided the city and the population in half. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 became a symbol of hope and democracy. - 9/11 and Terrorism: In September 2001 the Twin Towers in New York collapsed under the attack of the Muslim group of al Qaeda (conflict inside the US for the first time). The Taliban government in Afghanistan announced that the attacks on the Twin Towers and on the Pentagon were a consequence of the “US crimes against humanity” and called for a jihad against America. In the following years many important European cities will become a target of terrorist attacks (2004: Madrid, 2005: London, France and Germany in 2015 and 2016 LITERATURE British literature is characterized mainly by the merging of genres and forms of hybridisation and pastiche under the influence of Post-Modernism. Writers excel in more than one genre; although the novel is still the most popular there’s been an increase in the interest in poetry. The idea of the English novel has been replaced by the idea of the international novel in English (accommodating various nationalities and new feminist energies). Fiction more sombre tone and voiced the need to find new meaning in a shattered world or warned against further social disruption. In works such as A Clockwork Orange and The Lord of the Flies (Golding) we see experimentation with modernist narrative techniques. Post-Modernists don’t put any art forms on a pedestal and combine everyday aspects of popular culture with “high art” . A postmodernist trend was fantasy (ex: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien). In the late 70s fantasy developed into “Magic Realism”, this trend was exemplified by Italo Calvino and Angela Carter in England. Another type of novel, displaying a self-conscious preoccupation with their own construction, is the “reflexive novel”. Post-modernist attention is also given to post-colonial themes. Distinctive Irish themes are voiced in the novels of Roddy Doyle. Doris Lessing is a leading exponent of the “feminist novel”. Contemporary British fiction has been described as a fiction of “Nation, Race and Place”. A considerable amount of international novelists based in England have emerged, such as Kazuo Ishiguro who revisits Japan and Japanese codes of behaviors in his writings, Okri and Adichie explore the identity of Nigeria, Arundhati Roy wrote a novel set in India Poetry In the post-war years, a number of poets, including Philip Larkin (1922-1985), became known as the “Movement” . They rejected modernist obscure experimentalism and wrote poems which were rational, comprehensible and presented contemporary life in intelligible language and traditional verse forms. In the 70s the most important voice was Seamus Heaney. Women poets have begun to establish themselves. Drama: Theatre of the Absurd: the term refers to the works of a group of dramatists in the 1950s and 1960s in various countries. It was probably coined by Martin Esslin in 1961 on the publication of his work The Theatre of the Absurd. They are dramatic works without a conventional structure and lacking in logic. Important themes: - solitude and isolation - the futility of man’s effort to make sense of of the world Influences: (both in poetry and art) - the nonsense verse of the late Victorian age (ex: Alice in Wonderland) - painting of the Surrealist and Dadaist movements Main exponents: - Ionesco, Adamov, Genet (France) - Beckett (Ireland) - Pinter (England) - Edward Albee (America) Another play that was extremely revolutionary was Look Back in Anger (1956) whose author is John Osborne, aka the leading figure of the group “Angry Young Men”: writers who expressed the disillusionment of young graduates from the working class or the lower middle class, unable to identify with the values of the new social class they had entered. 1. Samuel Beckett Samuel Beckett is considered a major figure in the development of the 20th century drama and is acknowledged as the leading playwright of the Theatre of the Absurd. Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1906 Beckett moved to Paris where he worked as a teacher. He struck up a friendship with James Joyce, but then moved back to Ireland and on to London where he underwent psychotherapy for depression. He returned to Paris in 1937. During the war he joined the French Resistance and was forced to go into hiding in Provence. After the war he began to write in French and produced his best works in the style of the Theatre of the Absurd. In 1969 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and he continued to write until his death in 1989. Waiting for Godot (1952-54) Two men, Vladimir and Estragon, meet near a tree. They converse on various topics and reveal that they are waiting there for a man named Godot. While they wait, two other men enter. Pozzo is on his way to the market to sell his slave, Lucky. He pauses for a while to converse with Vladimir and Estragon. Lucky entertains them by dancing and thinking, and Pozzo and Lucky leave. After Pozzo and Lucky leave, a boy enters and tells Vladimir that he is a messenger from Godot. He tells Vladimir that Godot will not be coming tonight, but that he will surely come tomorrow. Vladimir asks him some questions about Godot and the boy departs. After his departure, Vladimir and Estragon decide to leave, but they do not move as the curtain falls. The next night, Vladimir and Estragon again meet near the tree to wait for Godot. Lucky and Pozzo enter again, but this time Pozzo is blind and Lucky is dumb. Pozzo does not remember meeting the two men the night before. They leave and Vladimir and Estragon continue to wait. Shortly after, the boy enters and once again tells Vladimir that Godot will not be coming. He insists that he did not speak to Vladimir yesterday. After he leaves, Estragon and Vladimir decide to leave, but again they do not move as the curtain falls, ending the play. - theatre of the absurd: Beckett’s style is described as absurdist, which means ridiculous, irrational or unreasonable - first published in French in 1952, then in English in 1954 - nothing much happens during the performance: a play in which nothing happens, twice - there is little to no plot, no progression or resolution - the setting is symbolic: there’s a road and a single tree which the main characters contemplate using to commit suicide - the characters enact ritualistic and repetitive gestures without actually doing anything - the dialogue between them and their behavior evoke both a sense of despair and of mild amusement - sense of meaningless of existence and the impossibility of escape from its inevitable routines through which nothing is resolved - language: concise, sometimes profound, simple, mainly illogical and incoherent, lack of communication, pauses and silences are frequent Vladimir’s monologue: he feels like he’s in a loop of meaningless events (ex: he doesn’t know if he’s asleep or awake), he’s also worried about the future, and about the fact that he has no real purpose or meaningful contact with others. In the end he cannot recall what he said Dialogue between Estragon and Vladimir: they both agree that they will go away, saying they will go far but Vladimir says they must come back the next day as they are must wait for Godot, Estragon suggests dropping Godot, however Vladimir says that’s not possible because Godot will punish them. Finally Estragon suggests suicide, this time Vladimir finds a series of problems (all practical reasons): - they have no rope - the belt is too short - the belt is not strong enough - there’s nowhere to hang it to Interpretations of the work: Beckett was satisfied that his works could be given different readings by different people and preferred to avoid prescribing interpretations of the symbolism and messages they contain. He insisted they were not representations of reality but rather posed questions concerning existence and non-existence, the self within and without, mind and body. The questions are certainly not answered. THE SWINGING SIXTIES The 60s were labeled as “swinging” for the sense of freedom young people felt to have sex, wear unusual clothing and discuss new ideas. Centre in “Swinging London”: designer Mary Quant, new music (the Beatles, the Rolling Stones), new British cinema, drug culture, the appearance of youth groups. Split between generations that became more marked as time went on. Permissiveness in sexual behaviors made possible by the contraceptive pill, illegal drugs, abortion law was reformed, homosexual relations between consenting adults were legalized. THE IRISH QUESTION AND THE TROUBLES 1949: declaration of the Republic of Ireland —> the Irish Question moved to Northern Ireland where the Protestant Unionists wanted Ulster to remain part of the UK, while Catholic Nationalists (supported by the IRA) wanted to reunite Ulster with the Republic of Ireland. his native language and uses a foreign language - he believes that the aftermath of colonization has brought a remaking of the English language by postcolonial authors who go beyond the “Englishness” of English - he creates different voices using different language varieties Midnight Children: he deals with political and historical issues the specially endowed children are all born on the date coinciding with India’s independence not only historical fiction: the novel’s focus is the difficulty of recreating a reliable image of the past but it also makes detailed references to verifiable historical events, the narrator is unreliable as he gets some historical events wrong Magic Realism: emphasis on the fantastic elements mixed with realism, it gives the story a mysterious dimension, this mix also shows how strange and unstable the political reality of time was. 9/11 AND TERRORISM Out of the Blue by Simon Armitage - the line lengths are irregular - enjambment is frequent obliging the reading voice to to continually “fall” onto the next line, like the people who fall from the building - The stanzas stand as a block on the left hand side of the page with longer lines extending out of the block in order to reflect the shape of the tower and the people leaning out of the windows - Lots of repetition LITERARY MANIFESTOS PREFACE TO THE LYRICAL BALLADS The "Preface to Lyrical Ballads," written by William Wordsworth in 1800, serves as a manifesto for the Romantic movement in English literature. In it, Wordsworth outlines his poetic principles and the reasons behind his and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's departure from the neoclassical traditions that dominated 18th-century English poetry. Proposals in the Preface 1. Use of Common Language: Wordsworth argues for the use of everyday language in poetry, eschewing the elevated and ornate diction typical of earlier poetic traditions. He writes, "The principal object, then, proposed in these Poems was to choose incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as was possible in a selection of language really used by men" (Wordsworth, Preface). 2. Emphasis on Emotion and Imagination: He emphasises the importance of emotion and imagination over reason and formality, suggesting that poetry should arise from "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity" (Wordsworth, Preface). 3. Focus on Nature and the Ordinary: Wordsworth believes that poetry should capture the beauty and profundity of the natural world and ordinary experiences. He contends that "low and rustic life was generally chosen, because in that condition, the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity" (Wordsworth, Preface). Social and Cultural Changes of the Period The preface and the Lyrical Ballads were produced during a time of significant social and cultural transformation, primarily influenced by the following factors: 1. The Industrial Revolution: The Industrial Revolution brought about immense social and economic changes, disrupting traditional agrarian lifestyles and prompting urbanisation. This shift is reflected in the Romantic emphasis on nature and the pastoral, as poets like Wordsworth sought to preserve the simplicity and beauty of rural life in the face of industrial encroachment. 2. The French Revolution: The French Revolution (1789-1799) had a profound impact on contemporary thought, inspiring ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Wordsworth and Coleridge were initially sympathetic to the revolutionary cause, and these ideals influenced their desire to democratize poetry by using accessible language and focusing on common people. 3. Reaction against Neoclassicism: The late 18th century was marked by a reaction against the rigid conventions of neoclassicism, which valued reason, formality, and the imitation of classical models. Romantics rejected these constraints, advocating for greater creative freedom and the expression of individual emotion. Influential Texts and Authors 1. Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Rousseau's ideas about the natural goodness of man and the corrupting influence of society resonated with Romantic poets. His works, such as "Confessions," influenced their emphasis on personal experience and emotion. 2. William Blake: Blake, a contemporary of Wordsworth, shared the Romantic focus on imagination and the sublime. His works, including "Songs of Innocence and of Experience," explore the contrasts between the innocence of childhood and the corruption of society. 3. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Coleridge, who co-authored the Lyrical Ballads, also contributed significantly to Romantic theory and practice. His poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" exemplifies the use of supernatural elements and profound emotional experiences, key aspects of Romantic literature. PREFACE TO THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY The preface to "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde serves as a manifesto of Wilde's aesthetic philosophy and his views on art. It proposes that art should be appreciated for its beauty alone, without any attempt to search for deeper moral or social meanings. Wilde asserts, "All art is quite useless," suggesting that art's purpose is not to serve practical functions but to exist as an object of beauty and contemplation. This idea is encapsulated in his famous lines: "The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim." Wilde's preface comes at a time of significant social and cultural changes in late Victorian England. This period was marked by a shift towards modernism and a growing interest in aestheticism, which emphasised the importance of beauty and the visual and sensual qualities of art. This was a reaction against the previous Victorian emphasis on morality, industry, and utilitarianism. Wilde and other aesthetes,promoted the idea that art should be appreciated for its own sake. Moreover, the period was also marked by significant social and political changes, such as the rise of the middle class, increased urbanization, and shifts in gender roles and expectations. modernity. In summary, the preface to "The Picture of Dorian Gray" proposes that art's highest value lies in its beauty, free from moral or social didacticism. This proposal reflects broader cultural shifts of the late Victorian period towards aestheticism and modernism, emphasising individual experience and the intrinsic value of art. Authors like Wilde, Pater, and Baudelaire, as well as the broader cultural movements of the time, illustrate the complex interplay of these ideas. distinguishing between factual information and misinformation. 3. Globalisation: The late 20th and early 21st centuries have also been defined by globalisation, which has led to increased interconnectedness and cultural exchange but has also brought about challenges such as cultural homogenization and economic disparities. Maurizio Ferraris' "Manifesto del nuovo realismo" calls for a reinvigoration of realist philosophy in the face of postmodern relativism. By affirming the existence of an objective reality, Ferraris seeks to restore confidence in the pursuit of truth and knowledge. His manifesto responds to the social and cultural shifts of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, advocating for a philosophical stance that can address the challenges of a rapidly changing world.