Scarica the modern age, LITERARY CONTEXT MODERNISM, modern fiction, writers of modern e più Slide in PDF di Letteratura Inglese solo su Docsity! THE MODERN AGE (1901-1950) THE DECLINE OF BRITISH POWER When Queen Victoria died, BRITAIN WAS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL NATIONS IN THE WORLD. But the 20th century saw the DECLINE of this POWERFUL COUNTRY. It was caused by: ● THE GROWTH OF GERMAN INDUSTRY ● NEW POWERS EMERGED: the USA and JAPAN The first decade of th 20th century is known as the EDWARDIAN PERIOD. In this period was persued a policy of peace and good relationship with foreign countries INDIA'S INDEPENDENCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE WALL STREET CRASH ● THE GREAT DEPRESSION → It was caused by the CRISIS IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE and the growth in industry in Asia bring a deterioration in the economy in Europe and USA ● THE WALL STREET CRASH (1929) → In the USA, ROOSEVELT won the Presidential Election and he promised the “NEW DEAL” is a series of measures for economic relief. These actions bring many benefits to Americans. In BRITAIN, MACDONALD introduced the “ DOLE” that it is a sum of money for unmployed workers TOWARDS WORLD WAR II World peace was threatened (intimidate) on various fronts: •1936 → march of Hitler into the Rhineland and Civil war in Spain; The British government persued a polity of non-intervention with Chamberlain. •1939 → Hitler invaded Poland and Britain and France declared war on Germany ● This climate was influenced by the thoughts of: - FREUD--> who investigated into the nature of the human psyche to interpret individual and social behaviour - EINSTEIN--> he introduced his theory of relativity that challenged some scientific traditional certains - BERGSON--> he introduced the concept of the time as “duration” MODERN FICTION The 20° century broungh a rapid expansion of the reading public as a result of INCREASE ELEMENTARY EDUCATION. Also the growth of other cultural forms like RADIO, the CINEMA and popular music. Some writers reacted to this situation and educated audience with the aim to raise awareness of their ALIENATION and ISOLATION. WRITERS OF MODERN The most important writers of this period were: •Kipling •Forster •Conrad •James Joyce •Virginia Woolf •Lawrence •Orwell JOYCE and WOOLF ● They ignored plot ● exploted the inner complexities of experience. Joyce,in particular, tried different language. LAWRENCE ● He reacted against Victorian conventions and analysed the emontions and feelings of his characters. ● His novels,for example “Woman in Love” and “Sons and Lovers”, are realistic. ORWELL ● His famous political allegory “Animal Farm” is one of the most important of the dystopian novel: a type of fiction which presents terrible elements, nightmarish visions of society. The most FAMOUS WRITERS of THE LOST GENERATION are: ● ERNEST HEMINGWAY (The sun also Rises), ● GERTRUDE STEIN; ● F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (The Great Gatsby); ● T. S. ELIOT ● Conrad was born in the Polish Ukraine in 1857 ● He had an hard childhood: his mother dead,his father sent him back to an uncle ● Joined a british ship and learnt the English language ● in 1886 obtained British nationality ● in 1890 Conrad worked for a Belgian company in Congo and it inspired him to write "Heart of Darkness" ● He died in 1924 JOSEPH CONRAD The most important works of Conrad are: ● Heart of darkness ● The Nigger of the Narcissus STRUCTURE: ● The novel is narrated by a first-person narrator (Marlow) ● The story doesn't follow a chronological order PLOT: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=mQ20l5HaWfc fe= P a
THE NIGGER OF Set ls NARCISSUS
—
ir aceon ee
OF THE
NARCISSUS
JOSEPH CONRAD
● NIGGER → refers to the hero of the novel,James Wait ● NARCISSUS→ is the name of the boat THEMES: ● solidarity ● isolation ● crew = human society
