Answer the following question:
LECTURE № 7
Literature.
British literature is so rich that it is absolutely impossible to describe its history and its main writers, poets and dramatists in any detail. Like many other world literatures English literature grew up from the rich and diverse folklore of the nations in this country. Rich narrative traditions of ballads, songs and tales come to us through literature, writings of English authors ranging from Chaucer, Shakespeare and Ben Johnson, to William Yeats, Burns and Bernard Shaw and John Milton.
Everyone in the childhood read Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), historical novels of Walter Scott, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield by one of the greatest English writers of the 19th century Charles Dickens (1812-1870).
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The Bronte sisters were exceptional writers of poetry as well as fiction. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte are read and enjoyed even now.
Thomas Hardy’s and Jane Austen’s novels reflected different sides of English life of the 19th century. It was not easy for 19 century women writers to sell their books under their real names. Many of them used male pseudonyms: George Eliot (1819-1880) never used her real name which was Mary Ann Evans. Her books show a detailed picture of provincial Victorian society with humour and feeling.
A Scottish writer Robert Stevenson (180-94) wrote famous adventure novels, and an English novelist William Thackeray (1811-63) in his brilliant satire Vanity Fair became the master of great individuality.
Jerome, K. Jerome (1859-1927) wrote two humorous books, one of which Three Men in a Boat is favourite with the Russian students.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) wrote a lot of poems, stories and tales, which children of all the countries still enjoy today. His stories about Mowglii and finest animal stories inspired American Walt Disney to create wonderful cartoon films. Kipling was the first English writer to be awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1907. An Irish-born author Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) created novels, stories and plays, still staged in Russian theatres.
There were many wonderful poets in Britain. Romantic poets Baron and Shelly influenced the poetry of Alezander Pushkin.
Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) whom we know in wonderful translations by Marshak 
grew up on the folklore traditions of his land. R.Burns managed to combine in his simple poems tenderness, rich humour, lyric and love for freedom of the Scottish folklore heroes. His birthday is celebrated in Scotland as the national holiday and his statue and house in Dumfries are the places, visited by his numerous admirers.
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The 20th century gave a great number of talented British writers, poets and dramatists: poet Thomas Eliot (1888-1965), novelist and dramatist John Galsworthy (1867-1933), David Lawrence, satirist Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), Sean O’Keisi, Richard Oldington, novelist, dramatist and essayist John Priestly (1894-1984), Evelyn Waugh (1903-66), Graham Green (1904-91), Irish novelist James Joyce (1882-1941) and many others.
Joyce’s novel Ulysses started the development of modernist literature in Britain. In this novel and later in Einnegan’s Wake Joyce revolutionized the techniques of fiction – writing, introducing the “stream of consciousness,” inventing words and experimenting with syntax. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) in her novels also experimented with the stream-of-consciosness narrative technique.
An Irish playwright Sean O’Casey wrote a number of tragicomedies, blending realism with symbolism and poetry with vernacular speech.
The poetic writings of William Yeats (1865-1939), marked with the Nobel Prize in 1923, had a great influence on the development of the British poetry of the 20th century. All his books of verses were full of the Irish spirit, brilliant vigorous technique, the combination of western viewpoint with national philosophy and traditions.
The War of the World by H. Wells (1866-1946) became the first great works of science fiction.
William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) is considered to be the best short-story writer in English. Many of his stories, together with novels and plays have been dramatized and became very fashionable and successful. 
Agatha Christie, the world’s most successful and best-known detective writer, occupies a special place in British literature. During her long writing career she wrote over 83 books. Her detective novels were translated into every major language and tens of millions of her books were sold. Her little Belgian detective became as popular as Sherlock Homes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Poirot and her other detectives have also appeared in many of the popular films, radio programmers and stage plays, based on her books.
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In the late 1950s John Osborne, one of a group of so-called Angry Young Men, achieved fame as an author of tough realistic drama about working class life. Iris Murdoch gained an international reputation for her “psychological detective stories’. Sir Arthur Clarke created a number of science fiction books but probably became best known for his book A Space Odyssey which was made into an extremely popular film.
English literature influenced the literatures of America, Europe, Russia and many other world countries. It also gave rise to the young literatures of former British colonies. For example, Paul Scot’s novels show the last years of the British presence in India, Alan Paton, Jack Cope, Alex La Guma wrote about the racial relationships in South Africa. Chinua Achebe described the tribal life in Nigeria. Nadina Gordimer, a white author from South Africa, was rewarded with the Nobel Prize in 1991 as the greatest English writer of her time.
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During the Revolution of 1642—1660, English theatres were closed by the Puritans.When the London theatres were opened again with the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, they flourished under the personal interest and support of Charles II. The audiences were attracted by the introduction of the first professional actresses (in Shakespeare's time, all female roles had been played by boys). New genres of the Restoration were heroic dramas and comedies.
In the 18th century, the Restoration comedy was replaced by an overwhelming interest in Italian opera. A change came in the late 19th century with the plays by the Irishmen George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and Norwegian Henrik Ibsen, all of whom vitalised English drama again.
Today there are over 200 theaters in Britain: 40 of which are situated in London’s West End. The most famous British theaters are The Royal Opera and Royal Ballet, both based at Covent Garden, the National Theatre and the Barbican Theatre. The National is a part of the South Bank Arts Centre, located near the River Thames. The Centre contains three theatres, cinemas, an art gallery, lecture and concert halls. The diamond of the National is the 1.160-seat Oliver Theatre, named after famous actor and director Laurence Olivier. The Royal Shakespeare Company performs at the Barbican in London and in Shakespeare's birthplace Stratford-upon-Avon.
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Pop music in Britain is an important part of British culture. It is mainly a mixture of styles. It is difficult to find people who don’t listen to music at least for pleasure so it is not surprising, that music can be an instrument of social influence and change. A prolific composer of the 20th century Andrew Lloyd Webber has dominated the West End for a number of years and his musicals have travelled to Broadway in New York and around the world, as well as being turned into films.
In the 20th century American influences became most dominant in popular music, with young performers producing their own versions of American music, developing a parallel music scene. This led to the explosion of the 'British Invasion' of America of the early 1960s, headed by The Beatles, with movements on one side of the ocean being exported to the other. As a result of these factors the United Kingdom remained a major source of musical innovation and participation in the modern era.
Answer the following question:
1. When was the term ballad used in its present sense?
2 .What is one of the oldest printed fairy tales in England?
3. What important information does the British folklore contain?
4. What English fairy tales and legends do you know?
5. Which English writers do you know?
6. Which English writers have you read in English?
7. What do you know about UK theater?
8. Have you read or seen any Shakespeare plays?
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