2 Plan: The role of the English Literature in the Development of the world Literature

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Lecture 1


INTRODUCTION. MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE (1100-1485)
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Plan:

1. 
   The role of the English Literature in the Development of the world Literature.
   
2. 
   The Periods of the English Literature.
   
3. 
   The Development of English Literature (Periodization).
   
4. 
   The Literature of the Norman Period (12th - 13th centuries).
   
5. 
   Old English Poetry and Old English Prose
   

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Testing the knowledge of English literature

 Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719)
 Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)
A satirical masterpiece that’s never been out of print, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels comes third in our list of the best novels written in English
 Emma by Jane Austen (1816)
Jane Austen’s Emma is her masterpiece, mixing the sparkle of her early books with a deep sensibility.
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8. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
Mary Shelley’s first novel has been hailed as a masterpiece of horror and the macabre.
 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847)
Charlotte Brontë’s erotic, gothic masterpiece became the sensation of Victorian England. Its great breakthrough was its intimate dialogue with the reader.
 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865)
Lewis Carroll’s brilliant nonsense tale is one of the most influential and best loved in the English canon.
 Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897)
Bram Stoker’s classic vampire story was very much of its time but still resonates more than a century later.
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English literature is the literature which is written in the English language, as opposed to other languages. English literature includes literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England, but all are considered important writers in the history of English literature (for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Thomas Pynchon is American, V.S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad). In other words, English literature is as diverse as the varieties and dialects of English spoken around the world.
Until the early 19th century literature from Britain will mainly be discussed; then America starts to produce major writers and works in literature. In the 20th century America and Ireland produced many of the most significant works of literature in English, and after World War II writers from the former British Empire also began to challenge writers from Britain.
English literature is a component part of the world literature. Its best national traditions have played an important role in enriching and development of the world literature. English literature consists of poetry, prose, and drama written in the English language by authors in England, Scotland, and Wales. These lands have produced many outstanding writers.
English literature is a rich literature. It includes masterpieces in many forms, particularly a novel, a short story, an epic and lyric poetry, an essay, literary criticism, and drama. English literature is also one of the oldest national literatures in the world. The masters of English literature from the turn of the XIV century to the present rank among the world’s greatest literary figures. Such names as Geoffrеy Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, George Gordon Byron, Charles Dickens, Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy and many others are famous all over the world. Their way of writing has influenced a great number of writers, poets and playwrights from other countries. National literature is the reflection of the history and national peculiarities of people. Each national literature has much in common with the world literary progress, but at the same time has its own specific features as well. One of the characteristic features of the English authors is that they have always been deeply interested in political and social environment of their time. They are parts of the real world, which dramatically influences what and how they write. What takes place in the writer’s study is crucial, but it also emphasizes the importance of what takes place in the larger world.
The world Book Encyclopedia gives the following outline of English Literature: