AL20 ZHRNUTIE
13.2.
Social
and philosophical background
Britain
– a welfare state, a free multiracial (multiracional?)
Commonwealth
Philosophy:
Einstein
(relativity, moral relativism)
Kierkegaard
(1813-1855), existentialism: (deals with questions of life and
death), loss of spontaneity (we believe in truths of our teachers,
parents, social class,..., we don´t discovery the truth ourselves,
truth is subjective), passivity, individual lost in crowd, no
responsibility (you are free until you are aware of your
responsibility), he also invented the term – dread (we fear
something we don´t know, man took problems upon his shoulders from
God that´s how we are dreadful), invented expression - freedom
within (vnútorná sloboda). Work: Repetition, Choroba k smrti,
Either – Or – about our possibility, he introduced two voices
Mark A, Mark B, who exchanged letters and lived as aesthete, enjoy
the day- A, B is ethic. They are different and we don´t know who is
right and it´s up to the reader to find out. He didn´t preach in
his texts. He divided people into 3 categories: aesthetics, ethics,
religious men. But the way he understood the religion is different
from religious point of view, he was therefore excommunicated from
the church. He also invented special style of writing, very
difficult for reading. He was famous for his love with Regine
......., he didn´t deserve her and they lived separate lives, he
missed her very much, she married, they met once and stared at each
other, parted and wrote letter to her husband to exchange letters
with her, but he didn´t allow it. This love was written by Lodge –
Therapie.
Sigmund
Freud (1856-1939) Moravia, Vienna, London. Formative effect of
childhood experiences - he stressed child experiences upon
literature. Men write about what they wanted to experience but
failed. He also tried to interpret dreams. Id, Ego, Superego.
Oedipus complex. His famous student was Karl Gustav Jung, he was
very friendly with him but then he turned away from him and
invented: Persona
– Mask which we wear to hide our nature –
shadow. Animus are male qualities in
women, Anima –
female qualities in men.
Literature,
culture
1910 –
London exhibition of post-impressionalist (they could see modern art,
French impressionism)
Pictures:
Woolf – human character
Changed,
B. public introduced to modernism
It
coexisted with realism
Realism
– Wells, A. Bennett, J. Galsworthy
Modernism
– Joyce, Woolf, Forster, Conrad, Wagh, Lawrence
Pessimism
- Hardy
We can
also divide literature to: fiction and faction (fakty)
20.2.
James Joyce
(2.2.1882-13.1.1941 Dublin-Zurich)
Basically he is the
greatest fiction writer ever. Irishman. He and his family spent both
wars in Switzerland that´s why he died in Zurich. Born into catholic
family- catholics in Britain are minority- most of British people
still belong to the Church of England found by Henry VIII. One of 15
children, some of his siblings died young, favourite son of his
mother Molly. His father was lighthearted so family was growing
larger and poorer. (Catholics were usually poorer)
Education:
Jesuit schools (best for classical education)- boarding school
Clongowes Wood College outside Dublin, he later left the school
because they didn´t have money and went to cheeper school to center
of Dublin- Belvedere College (also jesuit college). Originally he
wanted to study medicine- he travelled to Paris but didn´t have
money for that university so he went back to University College of
Dublin.
16. june 1904-
his followers meet until this day in Dublin
This day he
started dating Nora Barmacle (1904, 1931) She became his life
companion, he married her after their first grandchild had been
born. They stayed together but not in Dublin
He left island
for continent and lived in various locations- Trieste (IT), Paris
(FR)- here he stayed for longest time, he found here group of
disciples (young artists- for ex. Samuel Beckett). In Paris were
born their two children- Giorgio and Lucia (she was schizofreniac-
died in England) He died in Zurich while being operated for
perforated ulcer (gastric).
When he was in
Paris he was called to his mother dying on cancer- she wanted him to
kneel in front of him and he refused. When she died it became his
nightmare and he couldn´t forgive himself for refusing to obey her
last wish.
Chamber
Music- short poems dedicated to Nora, they cover history of
a love. Poems Pennyeach- he started puning with words-
impressed by sounds of words. (Name- double coded- zemiačky za
korunku/ básničky za korunku)
Dubliners-
1914. He had to fight 14 years for it to be published. It´s
a mixture of naturalism and symbolism- first modern
collection of short stories. (he talked there about real
places, people- they were angry) 4 groups of stories- stories
covering childhood experiences, adolescence, adulthood/maturity and
public life
1st story-
Sisters – anonymous personal young narrator- boy records his
experiences and how he was impressed by three words- paralysis,
simony and gnomon. Double code- all the texts are about paralysis-
inability to act/move, in short stories are different types of
paralysis. In first story its about the disease...
Simony- from
Bible- sacred things being sold and bought- sin. For him was most
important love, friendship and art- about ppl selling love,
friendship- that was big sin for him.
Gnomon- when something is
not complete and something is missing (in stories- mother dies,
somethings missing in relationship of father and children...)
A portrait
of the Artist as a Young Man- novel
Stephen
Dedalus- strange double coded name (svätý Štefan- Stephen,
Dedalus- mythologic inventor of labyrinth and first pair of wings-
wings connote freedom=Stephen Dedalus= Martyr of liberty) ,,I will
not serve to stomething I don´t believe longer. ´´ (he
doesn´t want to serve his family, society and church) Stephen went
through something similar like author (death of his mother)
Stephen
Dedalus- his strategy- silence, exile, cunning.
Novel begins
with typical english discourse about Parnell- (Parnell trusted in
catholics and protestants when irish ppl were divided, but when he
fell in love with married woman and he lost his public spot, they
stopped to support him (most of his supporters) and the nation was
split again. He was founder of Irish National Party- leader, when
he lost his leadership he also lost his position in parliament and
he died as a young and broken man.)
Ema. Dante.
Uncle Charles
Protagonist-
personal narrator. In spite of this fact he uses 3rd person past
tense.
Textbook of
aesthetics.
Every chapter
ends in an epiphany: a sudden spiritual manifestation of a new
truth. One of Joyce´s devices- that´s why he´s so famous- he has
changed the world of prose
Complex web of
motifs, images, symbols, a psychological lyric.
Exiles-
drama
Ulysses-
novel- his masterpiece
Finnegans
Wake- novel - ,,unreadable novel´´ - he invented here his own
language. (Joyce was a singer and musicians- took part in
singing competitions- after failing to win a competition he
decided to be a writer)
27.2.
ULYSSES 1922 february
1st
publication- prohibited by judges- 1st didn´t understand art and
literature and believed that it was obscene.
10 years later-
other judge- more educated and declared Ulysses not obscene, only
sincere- allowed to be published, it was still on black list of
Church for many years. (na cirkevnom indexe)
Setting of the
novel- 16.6.1904, Bloomsday. It ´s being celebrated by Joyces fans
who come to Dublin and follow route of protagonist Leopold Bloom,
there are golden bricks in pavement saying ,,this is where Leopold
Bloom came´´ all places mentioned in the novel.
Novel is set
during one day (Thursday) in Dublin and yet has around 700 pages.
This novel shows stream of consciousness of three characters:
Leopold
Bloom – hungarian jewish origin, but he feels himself to be
a Dubliner in spite of his origin but by his citizens he is
treated as a stranger. He is a cuckhold (jealous, cuz
molly had lots of lovers) , advertisement canvasser (employed as
a fine artist), he is kind hearted, mildly sensual. There are
some broken phrases in his register. (nedokončené vety/myšlienky.)
Married to Molly Bloom.
Molly Bloom-
opera/concert singer, vulgar, her stream of consciousness is
literal, no metaphers, beautiful, earthly, tempting, selfish. She
has a daughter, teenager Milly practising to become
a photographer.
The couple had
also baby son born 11 years ago- he lived only 11 days, then he
died- great shock for family, after this event they couldn´t behave
like husband and wife anymore.
Stephen
Dedalus- young teacher who decides on this day to give up his
teaching job, because the pupils were not afraid of him (that meant
that he was a bad teacher), he also gave up his room at
Marteloow Tower. He is intellectual, poet, his stream of
consciousness is metaphorical, it´s most sophisticated, there are
many references on other works from world literature.
Diferent points
of view, many styles, the novel is a complete system of parallelisms
and correspondence (sometimes positive paralells- Odyseuss and
Leopold are looking for their way home. negative paralell- odyseuss
had son and dog, leopold had daughter and cat....) - it´s kind of
a remake of Homer´s Odysseus- it had 18 parts and chapters in
Ulysess are called the same.
It´s in three
books- 1st- Stephen dedalus - 3 chapters
2nd- 12 chapt.
Leopold Bloom-
3rd- all three
protagonists and last chapters belong to Molly Bloom
the last
sentence is on 70 pages- chaotic stream of consciousness of Molly
who´s trying to fall asleep and she thinks of all her lovers and of
Leopold as the best one(wtihout commas or stops). (another
paralellism- Molly is negative parallel to Odyseuss´s wife,
faithful Penelope)
It has a very
strange ending- (no commas, stops= no chapters..) the rhytm of text
is provided by the repetition of the word ,,yes´´. Yes is last
word and it can belong to life... and the last ,,yes´´ might be
her ,,yes´´ to Leopold.
FINNEGANS WAKE
Finnigans Wake-
,,wake´´= kar. In England- wake is before the funeral-people sit
joke dance eat and drink around open coffin, old traditional balad
about some ,,Finnigan´´ who was brick clayer who fell from high
ladder and died and who´s wake is being held. They are drinkning
whisky and corpse smells it and ,,wakes up´´. Roman ends with
,,The´´ and nothing else follows- to finish it we have to go to
beginning, because first sentence starts with word with little
consonant – finn. Finish of novel is a circle and this shape
is very frequent in modern fiction. Modern prose is based on Joyce´s
style of a circle.
Last Joyce´s
Novell- writing it for 17 years and he was careful and responsible
while writing it
Chapelizod
(Chapel of Iseult)
Setting of this
last novel- One night: Saturday-Sunday, represent one night´s dream
Protagonist-
Mr. Porter- scandinavian origin, he is often reffered as HCE-
,,here comes everybody´´- every reader can find himself in his
stream of consciousness
Mrs. Porter-
Anna Livia Pluravel- ALP- žena mnohých krás
Kevin&Jerry-
Sham/artist, stem, living mercy Shaun- lacks creative spark, stone,
stands for dead justice
Isobel
Tom Finnegan-
ressurection myth
6.3.
JOYCEANISM
Joyce- changed face
of modern fiction- every other author somehow imitated him by
employing some of his devices, which are very influential.
Paralax-
term from astronomy – one star is being watched through two or
more telescopes at the same time, but pictures are different
Its
meaning in literature- when same event is presented from two/more
points of view- happens in reality that different people look at
things in different ways. – perspektivism. Typical example-
Fowles- Collector- first half from HER point of view, second from
HIS point of view.
In literature we have 2 diff. kinds of
paralax:
a) modernist paralax- two minds, one object
(phenomenon) – two worlds, ways, pictures (Ullyses 2nd chapt.-
steven watches cloud and starts thinking of his mothers death- cloud
is dark, grey, low. Ch.4- Leopold Bloom- same time (8o´clock) –
he watches same cloud from diff part (steven-shore, leopold- Dublin
streets)- Leopold starts thinking of diaspora- persecution of Jews
throughout the history.
b) postmodern paralax- one mind
attacked at the same time by two worlds (registers, styles,
languages)- Ullyses, (1st half ist modernist, second postmodern,
last chapter again modernist) 2nd half of novel chapter called Oxen
of the sun. (Odysseus: his ppl killed sacred oxens- then strucked by
lightning as a punishment) In Ullyses- same tite of chapter as
in Odyseus, but place- maternity ward. Steven and his friends
(medicine students) stop there, and in spite of being in ,,sacred
place´´- they started drinking and singing obscene songs and
telling obscene jokes- they also commited sacrilege. Because of
gravidity this chapter has very special style/form, because it´s
parody of 9 different (famous) writers- 1 mind of reader is attacked
by 9 different styles and 9 different development stages of english
language.
Similar example-chapter Wondering Rocks- set in
streeets of Dublin- all the characters somehow meet there- Leopold
Bloom walking the streets, while walking the streets he can overhear
fragments of conversations of different Dubliners- mind of Leopold
(and of Leopold) is attacked by different fragments of discourses.
Paralipsis-
special technique that Joyce used- its a figurative device-
strategy of leaving out the words in order to atract readers
attraction to them
Giovanni Battista
Vico (1668-1744)
History is
a circular process of recurrences (story creates a circle)
( veľký pokrok neexistuje, len nepodstatné drobné pokroky- nová
chladnička napr., ale ľudia sa VŽDY budú čohosi báť, v tom
napr. pokrok nikdy nebude)
theocratic
stage- reign of gods who are worshiped Finnigan
aristocratic –
great men rule on their own iniciative- reign of heroes HCE- Mr.
Potter
democratic-
reign of anarchy, chaos and false prophets twins who quarreled
ricorso- the
divine speaks in a clap of thunder, we come to out senses and
resume worship of gods- the cycle starts all over again last
chapter ends in The, first chapt. starts with small letter
This circularity is
typical for many new novels (Finnigan´s Wake)...
Punning-
instead of Sunday-sinday
double
coding- Finnigan´s wake
remythologization-
Introibo at altare Dei (pristúp k božiemu oltáru)- about 1st
chapter of novel set outside Martelow Tower (military construction
to protect Dublin) – akoby bol román tak posvätný ako omša pre
autora, že ho zmenil na mýtus.
fragmentation-
two narrative techniques
stream of
concsiousness- comes from psychology, introduced to literature
by Henry James.
(Ullyses- last
chapt.- molly´s stream of conciousness (nie metaforický, ale
obyčajný doslovný), 2 – 3 sentences on 70 pages – rhytm made
by word ,,yes´´
David Herbert
Lawrence (1885-1930)
Eastwood in
Nottinghamshire, mother teacher/father miner
his mother
wanted him to become teacher, so he studied and got his teacher´s
certificate
was also gifted
as a painter
Frieda Weekley-
wife of his German profesor, she had a family but she run away
with D.H. Lawrence. They traveled together: Ceylon, Australia,
America, Italy, Germany, France... ( he also wrote travel books)
he wasn´t
great stylist, but he talked with immediacy, vividness and he was
a moralist (moralist- that´s a sign of realism (?)- only
one truth- truth of narrator
died of
consumption (TBC)
He
wrote:
Poetry:
Love poems, Collected poems, Beasts and Flowers
Short
stories: England, My England, The
Woman Who Rode Away,..
Books
of travel: Morning in Mexico,
Twighlight in Italy
Novels:
Sons and
Lovers- set in Bestwood, protagonists- Morels/Paul, about sexual
and emotional self discovery, we can feel here Freudian impact, part
about relationship of Miriam and Clara is also a bit about his
relationship to his mother.
The Rainbow:
introduces protagonists from Women in Love, like Ursula for ex.,
a family chronicle, ugly industrial background: Anton
Skrebenski, Ursula
Women in
Love: about philosophy and love, mainly between the Brangwen
sisters Gudrun and Ursula- Ursula teacher, Rupert Birkin is a school
inspector, Gerald Crich is rich proprietor of ____, strong man
involved with Gudrun- she is fine artist. Gudrun& Gerald=
equally strong, keep on quarelling and fighting. At end of novel-
trip in the Alps- she flirts with another young man, Gerald is
jealous and he commited ,,suicide´´-- fell to the snow and froze
Lady
Chatterly´s Lover- about Constance, married to sir Clifford,
who is crippled from war, on a wheelchair, she becomes
unfaithfull with Oliver Mellors- gamekeeper. román napadnutý na
súde ako nemorálny- dvakrát, druhý súd po smrti, a vyhral-
Obscene Publication Act- zákon- famous trial.
13.3.
THOMAS HARDY
representant of
pesimism(Naturalism- found by french writer Emil Zoa)
Tess- his
masterpiece
Darwins
teaching had a great impact on pesimism- nature is the
strongest, who wins. When we aply this on society- that leads to
pesimism- only stronger ones win, not the clever or good ones
another sign of
pesimism- the role of human will is underestimated- everything
happens by an accident
characters are
victims of mysterious forces of nature outside and within
TESS OF THE
D´URBERVILLES
subtitle-
,,story of a pure woman´´ - caused a scandal (because in
the end she killed someone)
Tess- a poor
farmer´s daughter /Durberfield/- he believes to be a descendant
from once rich family
her dad sends
her to claim money from them but its not truth- they only bought
their title
Alec- a young
man of means believed to be a distant relative, poultry farm-
seduces and rapes her
Tess- pregnant,
she leaves with child. Alec didn´t know about the child- she tried
to earn money on a dairy farm
Angel Clare-
clergyman´s son, met Tess on a dairy farm, falls in love with Tess
and marries her in spite of will of his parents. Tess didn´t tell
him about Alec, she tries it during honey moon night, Angel also
tells her story of his one night stand. Tess can forgive him but
Angel cannot forgive her. He is angry, telling her ,,you are not the
woman that I fell in love, you´re just another woman in her
shape´´ and he decides to leave for Brazil
she tries to
write him letters, he doesn´t reply back to him
she goes back
to her father- getting poorer, he dies- Alec helps them and he wants
Tess to live with him. While she stays with him, Angel comes back.
1st she sends him away and then she stabs Alec to death, Angel and
Tess run away, stop at Sonehenge, they are found there by police-
Tess imprisoned and executed.
Tess- typical
heroine of pesimism because she seems to be a victim. (Ideal
woman for Hardy)
Joseph Conrad
Korzeniowski (1857-1924)
Polish writer.
Poland was that time divided
he lived in
Ukraine- his father was polish nationalist, that´s why he was
imprisoned- fought for polish independence- he died in prison. His
mother soon followed him
Uncle Tadeus
Bobrowski raised him and wanted him to study- Conrad wanted to
become sailor so he left house for Marseilles- 1874
he studied hard
and became master mariner in 1886, later he also became british
subject (britské občianstvo)
1894- settled
in England married Jessie George
he became
excellent modernist writer- great master of English prose- a sea
writer
He wrote
stories of adventure, also philosophic texts- moral ambiguity
The Nigger
of the Narcissus- about voyage from Bombay to London disrupted
by James Wait (sickbed and then dies) and a trouble maker
Donkin Gale, who tries to incite the crew into mutiny. Once James
died, mariners feel sorry for him. This pity somehow caused
troubles- they weren´t able to complete their duties. (ambiguity
about pity- is it positive or negative?)
Lord Jim –
Marlow- an intermediate narrator- new type of narrator invented by
Joseph Conrad (sprostredkovaný rozprávač).- The story of someone
else is narated by different narrator. Jim is a chief mate,
good person doing heroic deeds. Ship carrying Pilgrims sinks.
Captain persuades his officers to leave as first ones (inak majú
kapitáni odchádzať poslední)- then there is trial on the court-
Jim faces it- because of a gross failure of duty- he is
stripped of his papers. He went to Patusan where he tries to restore
order.- ppl here love him and respect him- then _____ kills him.
Under
Western Eyes: philosophical novel- Razumov- wins essay writing
competition, Prince comes to congratulate him. Razumov cannot forget
the way prince was shaking his hand- he was poor and felt that the
shake was really warm- he was impressed. Razumov- injustly
imprissoned- group of revolutionaries who kill ministers- some
anarchist students came and killed ministers and police came and
arrested everyone, inlcuding Razumov- he is unhappy because he never
wanted to be involved in politics. Razumov calls the Prince, tells
him about his innocence and tells him name of the student who did
it. they think that Razumov betrayed them.
Author compares
natures of different cultures
Secret
Agent- another story of group of anarchists – he liked to talk
about corrupting effects of politics.- Verlock+Winnie (married
together), Stevie- mentaly insane. Verlock organizes attack on
Greenwich and forces Stevie to carry the bomb. Stevie- clumsy-
falls down, bomb explodes. Winnie can´t forgive her husbands and
she decides to kill him. Chapter about her decision- well written-
in the style of Dostojevsky- with psychological inside.
20.3.
Joseph Conrad
Korzeniowski had great impact upon Graham Greene
Graham Greene
(1904-1991)
born in the
South England to family of headmaster, studied at Oxford, then he
became journalist
apart from
moral ambiguities there´s something that Graham Green shared with
Konrad-
born as
a protestant, fell in love with catholic girl, that´s why he
in 1926 converted to Roman catholicism.
he wrote what
critics called ,,catholic novels´´
wrote also
short stories, books of travel, detective stories, books for
children, essays
as a journalist
he travelled a lot.
visited
countries of unrest- with some revolution going on, he had very good
nose for politics so he knew what was going to happen, how to
revolution was going to end and wrote and published his novel before
the revolution ended.
after his death
ppl say that he was a double spy (not sure) – for
Moscow/London
he was sent to
Mexico, because there was a comunist revolution and comunist
government came to power in 30´s and they started persecuting
catholic priests- executed lot of them
he as
a catholic was sent there to report on the situation- he wrote
one of his best novels under the title
THE POWER
AND THE GLORY- it´s a modern text with anonymous
protagonist (we don´t know his name), so the man is reffered to as
whiskey priest.- the last priest in a country- all other
priests imprisoned/executed. why whiskey? – addicted to alcohol-
had illegitimate child.
the 1st from
long chain of Greene´s protagonists who can be reffered to, that
they were sinful saints or saint sinners.
characters have
sense of responsibility even though they are sinners
(something
happens..) priests guesses that it´s a trap so he goes back,
he is captured, imprisoned and executed
BRIGHTON
ROCK- set in criminal underworld in Britain.Pinkie /17/ runs
a gang, Rose /16/ White, there is love, there is chance.
(brighton rock- dvojvýznam- lethal weapon in novel, zároveň
lízatko. Weapon in lunapark- Hell- very dark room with statues of
monsters v strašidelnom dome the journalist was sitting and
Pinkie threw him to the sea ale netuším)
leader of one
gang killed by another, so 17 yr old Pinkie became new leader and he
wants to take his revenge on the other gang
2 witnesses- 2
ladies- one Pinkies friend Aida (singer), the other Rose-
childish/innocent. Pinkie decided he loved Rose and married her to
avoid giving evidence about the crime she has seen.
Aida was after
him- asking police to arrest Pinkie- but policemen were happy that
gangs fough together, they didn´t care about it
at the end she
manages to ask policemen to come and they are after Pinkie, he is
trying to run away and he falls to the ocean on the very same spot
where he killed the journalist
Rose is his
wife and she is happy, pregnant and discusses her life with priest
and he says ,,While there is love, there is chance.´´
philosophy of 2
ladies matters a lot in the novell. Aida wants justice, Rose
wants to change Pinkie- she wants goodness
What is interesting
about Graham Greene´s philosophy?
what is right
is not necessarily good.
THE HEART OF
THE MATTER- set in Africa- Sierra Leone- WWII. Scobie- the
deputy commisioner of police- at the beginning he is just and honest
person, but he is also poor and his wife is not happy about it and
want´s some more money and he is led to make various false moves
because of pity for his unhappy wife Louise.
documentating
modern catholicism. Louise-represents dogmatic catholics
modern
catholics- Scobie (diff. from dogmatic) – they try to love their
neigbours (they don´t care so much about hesitating in faith)
He loves 19 yrs
old Helen- young widow, not his wife. He commites suicide- spácha
smrteľný hriech
THE QUIET
AMERICAN- Graham green visited Vietnam at that time, when it was
French collony. Americans started going there and they believed that
Americans will take over.
Pyle- main
char., Fowler
Greene published
three collections of short stories- Basement Room, May We Borrow Your
Husband? The Last World.
Greene´s range is
wide, but preoccupated with moral dilemmas /distinction of good- or
evil from right-or-wrong/ gives his work a highly distinctive
quality. A rare combination of critical and popular admiration.
27.3.
Feminism
Feminist- someone
who holds view that women are underrated and underestimated and
discrimined
Feminism- term from
19th century- implies both way of looking at the world and also way
of acting in it.
3 basic aims = critique of male characters in literature, (Joyce,
Beckett and others were criticised), writing
= estabilishing of female literary tradition = rereading and
evaluating texts written by women
= questioning gender differences, woman´s quest for self-definition,
creating a feminine aesthetics and a special feminist
language or metalanguage.
Virginia Woolf
(1882-1941)
She was Londoner,
studied at King ´s College, born into intelectual family. Her father
was a celebrity between philosophers and her sister was a world
known painter. Virginia Woolf found a group of
intelectuals/artists = so called Bloomsberry Group= artists and
scholars used to meet there, discuss free love and art, criticise
realism and tried to promote modernism.
She started writing
and sending essays to Time´s literary supplement, which was best
literary journal in Britain. She was bisexual, later married Jewish
reformer- Leonard Woolf, while she was married she fell in love with
Vita West. She was political woman, she fought hard for womens right
to vote.
Virginia Woolf
suffered of schizophrenia, she was too sensitive to different noises,
so it was very hard for her to live during the war. During attacks
she heard birds speak greek- after one of these attacks she committed
suicide- jumped to the river.
She also used
technique of stream of consciousness, sought for more delicate
rendering of streams of consciousness, in which she felt that the
truth of human experience lay. She explored problems of personal
identity, personal relationships, significance of time and memory.
Her fiction is very poetic (it has beautiful rhytm and imagery)
Most popular of her
novels is The Waves. It is about three couples who recollect
and reflect on their past, each have different register, they think
about their friends who died, there are sections/chapters of lyrical
prose desecribing play of sunrays in the sea.
Other Novels:
Night and Day (to her brother and sister)
Mrs. Dalloway (she criticised Joyce´s Ulysses, but
Mrs. Dalloway has the same setting- one day in June in London. Female
protagonist (Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway, wife of an minister of
parliament (MP), during this one day she is preparing a party
for celebrities (prime minister...)- she is shown as a perfect
hostess. She´s still beautiful, even though she is 51 years old. Her
past lovers come to the party.
Stream of consciousness= not only hers, we know also lot about her
through other streams of counsciousness of other characters.
Peter Walsh- suitor- still in love with her, came there from India
Sally Seaton- lesbian tone (it was the most perfect experience for
Mrs. Dalloway when they kissed)
Daughter Elisabeth- strange relationship
Septimus Warren Smith- he is her alter ego in the novel. They never
meet in novel, she just heard about him- doctor told her about his
suicide on party. He was war veteran from WWI., who suffered of shell
shock and it killed his best friend Evans and he saw it, wanted to
warn him, screaming ,,Don´t go´´, he didn´t hear it and got
killed-homosexual undertones- from this point of view- both Septimus
and Clarissa were bisexual and she also considered suicide. Septimus
had italian wife, she wanted him to consult doctor, but he hated
doctors. When the doctor comes- ,,You want my life? Here it is!´´
and he threw himself out of the window.
To the
lighthouse- it has 2 parts.
1st- The Window-
son of Mrs. Ramsay wants to go to the lighthouse- he sees it as
a magical ,,eye´´ but because of bad weather his trip is
postponed. It´s the longest part, but it still covers just one
afternoon.
2nd part- it´s
short and describes ten years and talks there abouth death of the
heroine. When he came to lighthouse, he realised that it´s not so
awesome and tells ,,Nothing is simply one thing´´ (we need at least
two perspectives to look on things).
3.4.
POSTMODERNISM
Post-can be
explained in two different ways- ,,anti´´ (am. Scholars)
,,high´´ (british scholars)-
Frank Kermode-
defines postmodernism as the 3rd generation of modernism.
Dustin
Brook-Rose- defines postmodernism as a moderner modern.
Postmodernism is
term which can be discussed also philosophically- philosophy of doubt
and resignation. (Age of rationality is over, we don´t trust the
rationality because we cannot explain everything on rational basis,
there´s new theory of determined chaos- (predtým – malá vec
spraví malý efekt, neskôr- malá vec môže spôsobiť veľký
efekt- butterfly effect ) more things that we don´t know than things
that we DO know.
On the other hand-
Pluralism- we can take other people´s opinions
Disruption of
traditional values- postmodern texts deal rather with sex and
seduction than with love.
John Barth-
american scholar- he believes that aesthetics of modernism is that of
exhaustion.
Postmodernism
aestetics of replenishment. (anything goes- všetko je povolené-
všetky prostriedky v jednom texte môžu existovať- again,
plurality)
Susan Sontag-
defines postmodernism in three ways- victory of form is more
important over the contents, victory of irony over tragedy, victory
of aesthetics over ethics.
Brian McHale:
juxtaposition of 2 disparate worlds – niečo nespojiteľné-
postmoderna to spája
Ihab Hassan-
Egyptian scholar who mentions some other qualities of postmodern
texts
Performance- active
participation of reader
Fragmentation
(thematic/formal/
Self-less-ness-
identity- pohrávanie sa s identitou postáv
The unpresentable-
violence, death
Agressive irony
Hybridization-
sometimes its difficult to say if it´s an essay or a short
story
(changing places-
stále iný rozprávač- telefónne rozhovory....))
David Lodge-
short circuit (skrat)/textual or extratextual reality merge (autor
vstúpi do príbehu a zhovára sa s postavou)
Metafiction-
antinovels- písanie o písaní- dissapoint readers
expectations- writer is the hero, he starts to think about ,,how to
write that´´
In realism author
reacts to reality, in postmodernism there is relation between text 1
and text 2- it can be parody (same in a different way)
(agresívna, vysmieva prvý text- to isté inak) or pastiche
(different in the same way) (nie je agresívny, skôr hold prvému
textu)
Theathre of the
absurd (absurdná dráma- nie dráma je absurdná, ale to o čom
sa píše je absurdné)
Appears in the
middle of the 20th century (Beckett, Ionesco, Stoppard, Albee)
At the centre
of European man there lies an essential absurdity- life has no
apparent purpose, is out of harmony with its surroundings, sad to
the point of anguish, and at the same time funny
Stress on
destructive nature of time, the feeling of solitude and isolation
Main point-
failure of communication- why? Lebo sa navzájom nepočúvajú (ako
Godot)
The plays lack
a formal logic and convertional structure, there are nonsense
dialogues, repetitive or meaningless action and non-realist cyclical
plots.
Mixture of
comedy with horrific images. Dialogue full of cliches, wordplay, and
nonsense.
Characters are
metaphorical or archetypal
Anything that
happens is permissible
Absurdist: we
take ridiculous seriously
Cliche used (in
other context)
Waiting for
godot- metapher for life? Ppl´s life is waiting...
Samuel Beckett
(1906-1989) Dublin- Paris
Dublin Trinity
College, Befast, Germany, London, Paris, J.Joyce
(živí smrdia
horšie ako mŕtvi- najprv wtf? Potom sa pochopí)
He studied
Modern languages, English - Belfast, German -
Germany, London, French –Paris
In Paris he met
Joyce,
Poetry:
Whoroscope (1930. Descartes- cogito ergo sum. He was first
one who devided human personality into body and mind- duality)
Fiction: Dream
of Fair to Middling Women (1992)- published after his death
because it was ,,too sexual´´ ( z Tennysonovho ,,Dream of
fair woman´´ a z toho spravil ,,snívaj o priemerných
ženách)
Murphy-
1938- set in London, protagonist Murphy falls in love with
prostitute- Celia, Mr. Endon
Grimly
entertaining, it was about having versus being something
Murphy
spends years in rocking chair, later works in mental hospital,
because of faulty radiator- výbuch plynu, he dies. Scéna v márnici
je najsmiešnejšia- čítajú jeho poslednú vôľu- aby jeho popol
spláchli v záchode, zastavia sa v krčme po ceste,
vypadne im popol a zostane na dlážke. Melancholy, boredom,
despair.
10.4.
Dystopia
– anti-utopia
Utopia
is about beautiful future, dystopia about terrible future.
Forecasts
of the doom awaiting mankind.
1600:
Joseph Hall: Mundus Alter et Idem
1920:
Zamyatin: My
1932:
A. Huxley: Brave new world
1945:
G. Orwell: Animal farm
1949:
G. Orwell: 1984
Science
fiction, apocalyptic fiction
1516:
Thomas More: Utopia
– a kind of earthly paradise, heavenly city, no private property,
free education, meals accompanied by music…
George
Orwell (1903 – 1950)
Born
in Bengal in British India
Studied
at Eton,
His
family did not have the money to pay for a university education.
Instead he joined the India Imperial Police in 1922.
He
went back to London, later moved to Paris
In
1937, Orwell travelled to Spain, where he joined one of the groups
fighting against General Franco in the Spanish Civil War.
Last
3 years of his life he spent on The Hebrides, where he finished the
novel 1984.
During
his lifetime he was also a journalist – using a plain colloquial
style
Down
and Out in Paris and London: It is a
memoir in two parts on the theme of poverty in the two cities –
London and Paris.
Homage
to Catalania: personal account of his
experiences and observations in the Spanish
Civil War.
Spanish Civil War broke out, he travelled
to Spain as a volunteer. In Spain Franco – fascist (fašisti) came
to the power and who hated fascism – democrats were against him and
were supported by many volunteers all over the world. Democrats lost
this war. Critique of the communists´ part in it: destroying
anarchists, trockists and all not toeing the Stalinist line. Orwell
was sent back to England and worked for BBC. He is known as a
political writer.
Coming
up for Air – 1939
Main
protagonist is George Bowling, who lives on outskirts of an English
town in Midland (West Bletchley). He is a member of a middle class,
works in an insurance company. His wife´s name is Hilda and they
have 2 children. He won money on a horserace and decides to take trip
to the place of his childhood (Binfield) – which became failure, as
it was almost completely changed. He is a typical example of an
Anti-hero. It is a recollection of childhood and war experiences.
Humour and self-irony. Discourse on politics. No closure – only
open ending. (He comes back and knocks on the door, wife opens and we
don´t know what follows).
Animal
Farm: a fable showing how a perversion
of socialism could develop. The animals on Mr Jones´ farm revolt
against their human masters and drive them out, the pigs becoming the
leaders. They become corrupted, their power and a new tyranny
replaces the old one. (Napoleon, Boxer, Molly is a mare - kobylka,
dogs, tame raven Moses,…)
It
has a national anthem, and have wrong commandments: (later these
commands were changed a little bit)
No
animal sleeps in bed (on sheet it´s ok)
No
animal must ever kill any other animal (cannot do it without reason)
No
animal drinks alcohol (no to excess)
All
animals are equal (but some are more equal than others)
Major´s
dream (which is a boar): parody of Der Kapital by Karl Marx
1984:
writes about totalitarian future of England systematically destroying
the human spirit. In that dark vision of hell on Earth (called
“newspeak) has become the principal instrument of power.
Main
protagonist - Winston Smith
– helpless struggle, suffers final defeat by acceptance. He has no
heroic qualities only a longing for truth and decency. He is in love
with Julia.
(The story of Winston Smith presents the world in
the year 1984, after a global atomic war, via his perception of life
in Airstrip One (the former United
Kingdom), a province of
Oceania, one of the world's three superstates; his intellectual
rebellion against the Party
and illicit romance with Julia;
and his consequent imprisonment, interrogation, torture, and
re-education by the Thinkpol
in the Miniluv.)
Big
Brother is a fictional character that
never appears in person. He is the embodiment of the Party who rule
Oceania. His portraits are watching you – inescapable.
O´Brien
– a member of the Inner Party who poses as a member of The
Brotherhood, the counter-revolutionary resistance, in order to
deceive, trap, and capture Winston and Julia.
Emmanuel
Goldstein - a former leader of the
Party, counter-revolutionary leader of the Brotherhood, and author
of The Book, The
Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism,
Goldstein is the symbolic Enemy
of the State—the national nemesis
who ideologically unites the people of Oceania with the Party,
especially during the Two
Minutes Hate. While Winston eventually learns that The Book is
the product of an Inner Party committee that includes O'Brien,
whether Goldstein or his Brotherhood are real or fabrications of
Party propaganda is something that neither Winston nor the reader is
permitted to know.
3
warring totalitarian
super-states control the world: Oceania, Euroasia, East Asia.
BB,
Inner Party, Outer Party, prols - ?????????
Essays:
Politics
and the English language
A
Hanging