VICTORIAN AGE - Charles dickens, Bronte Sisters, Carrol, Stevenson, Wilde, Hardy, Kipling, Sintesi del corso di Inglese

Scarica VICTORIAN AGE - Charles dickens, Bronte Sisters, Carrol, Stevenson, Wilde, Hardy, Kipling e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! In the Victorian age the main genre was the novel, the literary production was represented by two main trends:  • VICTORIAN COMPROMISE : instruct and entertain the readers without criticising the world they belonged to. • ANTI-VICTORIAN REACTION : criticised the values of their era and exposed all of its contradictions, it was also influenced by the birth of Realism, that gave importance to the realistic representation of the world. Reasons of the triumph of the novels: • the increase of people who were able to read and people who could afford to buy them • the birth of circulating libraries  • the research for entertaining and realistic plots • the publication of the novels in installments in newspapers  Common features of Victorian novels: • satisfy the needs of their readers  • people reflect on the complexity of the world in which they live • have a clear moral aim  • represent human condition in a realistic way • plots are complex • stories are told by a third person omniscient narrator • are usually structured into three volumes EARLY VICTORIAN NOVELISTS In the first phase writers used prose to make a realistic portrait of the society without criticising it, they preferred to use it to instruct their readers. The most famous writers of this phase were: Charles Dickens and the Brontë sisters. CHARLES DICKENS  He was born in Portsmouth in 7 February 1812, he was forced to work in a blacking factory, suffered loneliness and hardships but all the experiences he went through served as material for his works. In 1833 he started his career as a journalist with the pseudonym “Boz” and in 1836 he published his first novel “Pickwick papers”. His novels were initially published as installments in newspapers and then as complete books. He also wrote for the theatre and performed in front of queen Victoria in 1851. He had ten children and died on 9 June 1870 in Westminster Abbey.  His novels are characterized by a lot of inventiveness and humor but he was also characterized by indignation against social injustices.  DICKEN’S PLOT He wrote very copiously and quickly, the episodic nature of novels guaranteed a succession of moment of great tension, he needed to maintain interest from on a episode to another and he did so by ending each episode with a dramatic turn of events that provoked suspense. DICKEN’S CHARACTER Dicken’s character are often portrayed as caricatures embodying particular vices or virtues and are the most memorable in English literature. Some of these characters’ name have become part of the English language, such as “Fagin”, form Oliver Twist, now synonym with “thief”. THE CONDITION OF ENGLAND NOVEL Dickens’ novels focused on social criticism, his purpose was to denounce the social evils of the time and make his readers aware of them. He was also fascinated by urban life and many of his novels are set in London. PICKWICK PAPERS  It was a big success, it was initially published in installments from 1836 to 1837. It is a series of tales connected by the same character, Mr Pickwick. It talks about the adventures of Mr. Pickwick and his three friends who formed the pickwick club and accompanied their leader in a scientific tour through England. This is a typical example of Dickens’ humour, based on the creation of characters with distinctive peculiarities and of comic situations. OLIVER TWIST (1837-1839) It is the most famous novel and marks the beginning of social criticism. It talks about the story of an orphaned boy and touch themes like exploitation of children and the cruelty of workhouses. PLOT Oliver Twist was born in a workhouse where conditions were terrible. When he asks for more food he provokes a furious reaction from the officials who send him away to work.Oliver runs away to London, where he becomes involved with a gang of thieves, led by Fagin. On his first mission as a pickpocket, Oliver is arrested but then rescued by Mr Brownlow, the victim of the theft. Fagin's gang of criminals capture Oliver and return him to Fagin. Oliver is forced to take part in a burglary with Sikes, Fagin's accomplice. Oliver is shot at and abandoned by the gang. He is rescued by Mrs Maylie, who nurses Oliver back to health. Oliver spends the summer with Mrs Maylie and her adopted niece, Rose. Nancy, a prostitute who is part of Fagin's gang, discovers why Fagin and his gang are so determined to recapture Oliver. Monks, one of Fagin's accomplices, is in reality Oliver's half- brother. Both are sons of a wealthy father, who left most of his fortune to Oliver's mother. Monks plotted to kill Oliver to get the entire inheritance. It also emerges that Rose is Oliver's aunt. Nancy is brutally murdered by Sikes for revealing this information to Rose and Mr Brownlow. Sikes dies trying to escape arrest. Fagin is caught and Monks dies in prison. Oliver, who receives his share of his father's inheritance, is adopted by Mr Brownlow. Oliver (whose name '"twist' recalls how he is all the time 'twisted' around by the people he comes into contact with) can finally enjoy a peaceful life. CHRISTMAS CAROL It is a ghosts story that talks about the conversion of a miser to the spirit of christmas. DOMBEY AND SON  It attacks the greed for money and power BLEAK HOUSE It is a satire on english administration of justice HARD TIMES  It talks about education and hardships of the working class during industrial revolution  GREAT EXPECTATIONS  It talks about the influence on a young man’s moral growth. BRONTË SISTERS They were three women who didn’t follow the traditional victorian literature. Emily and Charlotte were the most talented and published two of the most famous english novels: “Wuthering Heights” and “Jane Eyre”. The works of the Brontë sisters explored the world of passion and feelings. EMILY BRONTË  Emily Bronté was born on 30 July 1818 in Bradford, Yorkshire, and was the fourth of six children. After the death of her mother, she and her siblings were brought up by their aunt. She studied in a school with four of her sisters but when two of them died she returned to the family home, where she would spend most of the rest of her life. She spent a year studying in Brussels with her two sisters and returned to Yorkshire when her aunt died. After an unsuccessful attempt at setting up a school with her sisters, the three of them spent their time at home, writing poems. In 1846 Charlotte included some of them in a collection called Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. These were pseudonyms used by the sisters to disguise their feminine identity. Two years later, Emily's only novel Wuthering Heights (1847) was published. Soon after the publication she died of tuberculosis on 19 December 1848, at the age of 30. Emily was a very reclusive, retiring person. She lived most of her life in her small village on the wild and desolate Yorkshire moors. As a novelist and poet she is recognised as the most talented of the three sisters. WUTHERING HEIGHTS  It was a narrative experiment whose plot centered the impossible love between Heathcliff and Catherine and explored universal themes such as love, death, immortality and passion. The novel was famous for its complex structure, infact it is characterized by the use of flashbacks and personal recollections, idiomatic language, the presence of two narrators and the descriptions of the natural environment which represents the symbol of the protagonists nature. PLOT Wuthering Heights is the narration of a visitor in Yorkshire telling the story of two households: Wuthering Heights, the home of the Earnshaws, and Thrushcross Grange, the home of the Lintons. The story begins 30 years earlier, when Mr Earnshaw finds a homeless boy and adopts him as his son. The boy's name is Heathcliff. The arrival of the wild orphan boy has a deep impact