The Early 20th century English Literature 1 страница
In the early 20th century the traditions of critical realism that had developed in the late 19th century were continued and developed. Three names were prominent among the writers who continued the traditions of critical realism. They were George Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy and Herbert George Wells.
All three possessed remarkable individual talent and developed the trend of critical realism along their own individual lines.
They sought for new ways and means of revealing the truth of life in their works, and their criticism of the bourgeois world reaches considerable depth. The narrow-mindedness, hypocrisy and stupidity are mercilessly criticized in the works of George Bernard Shaw.
John Galsworthy excells in revealing the characters from a psychological point of view.
Of great interest are the works of Herbert George Wells. He is a new type of writer who thinks about the future of mankind. The leading genre of the above mentioned period of time was the novel.
Vocabulary
excel [ik'sel] v отличаться seek [si:k] v (sought) искать
mercilessly ['imisihsli] adv жестоко sought [so:t] past и р. р. от seek
prominent ['prommant] а известный stupidity [stjui'piditi] n глупость
psychological [^saika'tocfeikd] а психологический
Questions and Tasks
1. What writers continued to develop the traditions of critical realism at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries?
2. What can you say about these three prominent writers?
3. Comment on the works of George Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy and Herbert George Wells.
4. What was the leading genre of the above mentioned period of time?
Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
| George Bernard Shaw |
George Bernard Shaw, novelist and playwright, was born in Dublin in an impoverished middle-class family. As a boy he seldom saw his parents. His father was occupied in a business which was almost bankrupt, and his mother devoted all her time to musical interests. She had a beautiful voice; Bernard himself and his sister could sing well enough and there were, besides the piano, many other musical instruments. Music came to play an important educative part in young Shaw's life.
Shaw had a well-educated uncle, a clergyman with whom he read the classics. So when he entered school at the age of ten, he was much advanced and did better than all the other pupils in English composition. He didn't like school, because the school
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course of studies was dull for him. He left one school for another, and then another, but everywhere the dull textbooks were the same, and they could not rouse the boy's interest. He educated himself by reading, and by studying foreign languages. At the age of fifteen Shaw went to work as a clerk. The monotonous daily routine, the endless figures, the feeling that he had become an insignificant part of a machine, all that alarmed the youth. In many things he was better informed than the most of his fellow clerks.
Shakespeare, Byron, Shelley and many other great poets and writers had been read and reread by him. He could discuss art, for he had studied the best works at the National Gallery in Dublin. At his job he had mastered the problems of his work without any difficulty. Yet he was far from being happy.
Bernard Shaw felt that he had to leave and so in 1876 he said good-bye to Ireland and went to London, where his mother had been making a living by giving music lessons. In London he devoted much time to self-education and made his first attempt at literature. He became ajournalist and wrote music and dramatic critiques for various periodicals.
Bernard Shaw set out to become a novelist. Between 1879 and 1883 he wrote five long novels, which were rejected by all publishers. Thus he gave up writing novels.
He became a socialist in 1882 and took an active part in the socialist movement. At the British Museum reading room he read Karl Marx in a French version. Though he admired their great influence on him, he failed to understand the necessity of a revolutionary reconstruction of the world.
In 1884 Bernhard Shaw joined the Fabian Society, an organization of petty bourgeois intellectuals. It was a reformist organization. They were afraid of any revolutionary changes and preached gradual transition from capitalism to socialism by means of reforms. On the eve of World War I Shaw experienced a deep ideological crisis. His faith in Fabian illusions was shattered considerably. His point of disagreement with the Fabians was their attitude to the war. Shaw set himself resolutely against the militarists and the military points of view.
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Shaw gave up writing novels and turned to dramatic writing. He wrote his first play Widower's Houses in 1892. It was the first of the three plays published in his first volume called Plays Unpleasant. The other two were The Philanderer (1893) and Mrs Warren's Profession (1894). In the preface to his volume Shaw explained why he called them Plays Unpleasant. They discussed social problems of tremendous importance: the source of earning money by the "respectable bourgeoisie", the miseries of the poor. Their dramatic power is used to make the audience face unpleasant facts. The first performance of Bernard Shaw's play Widower's Houses was quite a sensation. He was attacked both by the public and the critics.
George Bernard Shaw was a reformer of the theatre. The English Theatre of the 19th century was a theatre of primitive melodrama. Shaw opened the way for a new drama: a critical and realistic one. Shaw's plays were serious plays, which he called problem plays, full of topical problems of the day.
Shaw was the leader of the revolution against the theory of "art for art's sake". He maintained that art should serve social purposes. He believed that the artist's function was to teach and he saw the theatre as a means of correction of public morals. With his plays Shaw tried to change the world while he entertained it. In 1895 he published some of his plays under the title of Plays Pleasant — they include Arms and the Man (1894), The Man of Destiny (1895) and Candida (1894). The title of the plays is rather ironical: through the amusing situations and witty scenes with sparkling dialogues Bernard Shaw continued his criticism of bourgeois morals and ideals. He attacked militarism and war (Arms and the Man), showing their senselessness and cruelty, and dethroned Napoleon (The Man of Destiny).
The third volume of Shaw's plays was called Three Plays for Puritans; these were Caesar and Cleopatra [ 'si:za and klea 'pcutra] (1898), The Devil's Disciple (1897) and Captain Brassbound's Conversion (1899). The title of the third cycle has a double meaning: on the one hand the plays turn against English puritanism and hypocrisy, on the other hand they are directed against the decadent drama.
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joking or serious. He makes a sort of game out of his jokes and witty words. Shaw called himself the "jester" of English society. A jester can say whatever he likes, no one can be offended with a jester's jokes. So as a professional "joker" Shaw told English society some bitter truths which no one would have allowed him to say if he had not been England's jester. Bernard Shaw chose satire as a weapon to fight for his ideals, and thus he carried on and developed the best traditions of critical realism in English literature. He died on November 2, 1950 at the age of 94. Bernard Shaw's best plays are highly appreciated in this country. They are staged in almost all the theatres and are always a success. |
In 1912 Shaw wrote his most popular play Pygmalion, which scandalized the "respectable" public by using dialect words which English usage considered vulgar.
By 1900 Shaw had established his reputation as a playwright. He wrote one play after another as well as books of criticism and pamphlets. Shaw's plays deal with various problems: politics, science, religion, education and economics.
During World War I Shaw wrote long and daring articles, protesting against the imperialist governments and their war policy.
After the war Shaw's political and social views underwent a gradual revolution. He reconsidered the idea of reforms and came to realize the role of the proletariat. His visit to the Soviet Union in 1931 impressed him greatly.
Shaw was greatly interested in Russian culture. He highly appreciated and admired Leo Tolstoy, with whom he corresponded, and also Chekhov and Gorky.
Bernard Shaw was at the peak of his fame (1925) when he received the International Nobel Prize for Literature.
Shaw's plays of the second period become still more complex, for the problems Shaw deals with are now more complicated and significant. The most powerfufamong the plays are The Apple Cart (1929) and Too True to Be Good (1931).
In his play The Apple Cart Shaw touches upon the theme of rivalry between the USA and England in the political arena.
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In his play Too True to Be Good Shaw dwells on the decay of the bourgeois system. Besides he depicts the birth and growth of new progressive forces in the world. Shaw's plays are discussion plays full of witty paradoxes and brilliant dialogues. He regards the speeches of his personages not only as means to characterize them but also as a means of expressing his own point of view on this or that problem. Shaw mocks at bourgeois charity, satirizes businessmen and aristocrats. Each play is a response to current events, a discussion of burning questions.
Shaw's way of writing is very peculiar, grotesque. He says true things in such a way that at first one is not sure whether he is
Vocabulary
admit [sd'mit] v признавать advanced [ad'vcrast) а продвинутый appreciate [a'piifieit] v ценить charity ['tfaenti] n милосердие complicated ['komphkeitid] а сложный considerably [kgn'sidarabli] adv значительно critique [kn'ti:k] n рецензия daring t'desnrj] а смелый decay [di'kei] n упадок dethrone [di'Greun] v свергнуть с престола figure [Tiga] n цифра gradual ['grsedjusl] а постепенный grotesque [greu'tesk] а гротескный illusion [f 1и:зэп] п иллюзия impoverished [im'prjvanjt] а бедный jester ['djesta] n шут maintain [men'tem] уутверждать, настаивать misery ['ткэп] п страдание; pi несчастья monotonous [ma'nDtanas] а однообразный
offend [s'fend] v обижать peculiar [pi'kju:lja] а особый petty t'peti] а мелкий preach [pri:tf] у проповедовать; выступать в защиту resolutely ['rezalutli] adv решительно response [n'sptms] n ответ rivalry ['rarvsln] n соперничество rouse [rauz] v поднимать; возбуждать routine [ru:'ti:n] n режим scandalize ['skaenalaiz] v возмущать senselessness [ 'senshsnis] n бесчувственность shatter ['Jaets] v поколебать source [so:s] n источник transition [traen'si33n] n переход tremendous [trs'mendas] а огромный undergo [ 'Andsgau] v (underwent;
undergone) подвергаться version [ 'v3:Jbn] n вариант
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Pygmalion
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Pygmalion is one of Bernard Shaw's
most popular and successful plays. It is a
deep and amusing comedy. Like any of
Shaw's plays, Pygmalion is full of criti
cism of contemporary life. The criticism
in this case is directed against social bar
riers and distinctions. The idea of the
play, expressed in the title, originates
from an antique myth. Pygmalion, an an
cient sculptor, while creating a statue of
beautiful girl Galatea [ 'gseb 'to], by
name, fell in love with his creation. His Andrey Mepburn
love was so great that he began to pray as Eliza Doolittle
to Aphrodite [, aeftV daiti], the goddess of love, to breathe life into his statue. The goddess made the statue alive, and Pygmalion married Galatea.
Pygmalion in Shaw's play is Mr Higgins, a professor of phonetics.
Galatea is Eliza Doolittle, a street flower seller, and the play itself is
the story of Mr Higgins's attempt to make a duchess out of the flower
seller. *
Professor Higgins meets Eliza one stormy night selling flowers to a crowd under the portico of St Paul's Cathedral. The professor, struck by her remarkably pure Cockney pronunciation, is making notes of her words with a view of studying them at home. A gentleman seems particularly interested in Higgins, and the conversation, which springs up between them reveals that he is Colonel Pickering, a student of Indian dialects.
He and Higgins, it appears, have been interested in each other's work for years. Higgins points out that he can perfect the girl's shocking pronunciation which keeps her selling flowers in the street and prevents her from getting a respectable position as a saleslady in a flower shop.
The remark has made a deep impression on Eliza and the very next day she visits the professor to take lessons in pronunciation, at a price she considers fully sufficient of one shilling an hour.
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Finding Eliza's offer very interesting Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering make a bet, that in six months Higgins will teach Eliza the language of "Shakespeare and Milton" and pass her off as a duchess at an ambassador's party. If Higgins succeeds Pickering will pay the expenses of the experiment.
Eliza is taken into Higgins's house where for several months she is being taught to speak correct English. While staying at Higgins's home Eliza gets accustomed to Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering. Higgins is not married and lives alone with his servants and his elderly housekeeper. He often finds Eliza amusing and Eliza, grateful for the education he is giving her, makes herself useful to him wherever she can.
In order to prove his experiment Higgins dresses Eliza in beautiful clothes and takes her to the Ambassador's Garden Party where she meets the "cream" of society. Everybody takes her for a grand lady.
Higgins wins his bet. But he has forgotten that a flower girl is a human being with a mind and a heart. He looks upon her only as a thing. He does not care what is to become of her when he has finished his instruction. He says, "When I've done with her, we can throw her back into the gutter, and then it will be her own business again".
Higgins is not unkind by nature and perhaps he has even grown fond of Eliza without knowing it; but what is an ignorant flower girl to a gentleman of means and wide education... Eliza teaches him how wrong he is, giving him a lesson in feeling. The lesson costs her some pain because not only has she got accustomed to Higgins, but she has also begun to love him.
Higgins and Eliza remain friends, but the play is without an ending. The dramatist thought it best not to go on with the story. Had he given the usual happy ending, the play would have become an ordinary fairy-tale story.
Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion is a satire on higher society. Here, aristocrats are opposed to a simple girl. In the play Shaw shows his deep feelings for the common people, their humanism, the beauty of their inner qualities. He shows that good language and correct pronunciation are not only the attributes of people of high social, cultural and moral standing.
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| Professor Higgins believes that he can create a new Eliza by teaching her good language and manners. However, the paradox lies in the fact that Higgins only gives an outer polish to Eliza, whose inner qualities have always been greater than the Professor's. Her individuality remains the same, but she is the one who awakens human feelings in the Professor's heart. Language can be learned; the inner qualities of a person do not depend on it. |
| 1. Relate the main facts of Bernhard Shaw's life. 2. What did he begin writing first? 3. Why did he give up writing novels? 4. What organization did he join in 1884? 5. What did the members of the Fabian Society preach? 6. What was Shaw's point of disagreement with the Fabians? 7. What was Bernard Shaw's first play? 8. How did he call the first volume of plays? |
Vocabulary
accustomed [a'kAStamd] a привычный
to get accustomed привыкнуть ambassador [jem'baesgda] л посол antique [sen'ti:k] о античный appear [э'рю] v оказываться attribute ['aetnbju:t] n отличительная
черта barrier ['Ьаепэ] л барьер bet [bet] л пари
to make a bet держать пари cockney ['kokni] n кокни (лондонское
просторечие) colonel ['кз:п1] л полковник cream [kri:m] n сливки; самое лучшее,
цвет (чего-л.) creation [kii'eijbn] n творение distinction [dis'tinkjbn] л различие duchess f'dAtfis] л герцогиня grateful ['greitful] а благодарный
Questions and tasks
gutter ['gAta] л трущобы means [mi:nz] л средства, состояние oppose [э'рэиг] v противопоставлять originate [э 'ndjineit] v происходить,
брать начало outer f'auta] а внешний perfect [pa'fekt] v совершенствовать,
улучшать polish ['prjhj] л изысканность pray [prei] v молиться respectable [ns'pektabl] о приличный remark [n'ma:k] л высказывание saleslady ['seilzleidi] л продавщица shocking ['Jokirj] о ужасный spring [sprirj] v (sprang; sprung) происходить standing ['stasndirj] л положение succeed [sak'si:d] v суметь сделать sufficient [sa'fijsnt] а достаточный
9. Explain why he named these plays in such a way.
10. What changes did Bernard Shaw introduce into the theatre of England?
11. What plays did he publish under the title of Plays Pleasant?
12. Comment on the third volume of Shaw's plays.
13. What is his most popular play?
14. What problems do Shaw's plays deal with?
15. Characterize the second period of his literary work.
16. Describe Shaw's way of writing.
17. What is the main idea of the play Pygmalion?
18. What is the origin of the plot?
19. Give a brief summary of the contents of Pygmalion.
20. Against what is the criticism of the play directed?
Herbert Wells (1866-1946)
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