Civil war (1642-1648) and the English Bourgeois Revolution

Literature: Dickens considered to be a brilliant satirist, he wrote in defense of poor and low class; democratic character, devoted his efforts to striking at some obvious social evil. Dickens’s criticism is sharp and precise. A novel “Oliver Twist” it is about the life of the very bottom of society.- novels “Martin Chuzzlewit”, “Dealing with the firm of Dombey and Son…” Criticism of America based on his own experience.
Features of his language: pathos and sentimentality - humorous portrait and caricature - the main character is “a small man” -writer’s belief in victory of virtue -the very precise technique of description.
W.M. Thackeray. The works of Thackeray&Dickens complement each other in presenting the life of the period, but Th. directed his satire against the representatives of the upper classes of society whom he knew better. His most outstanding works are: The Book of Snobs (1846-47), Vanity Fair(1847-48). The Book of Snobs-he presents here a gallery of men&women of the ruling classes of England. He writes about the evils of the bourgeoisie;the English military men of high rank who place themselves above the rank. All they are snobs. The book is a real encyclopedia of the life of the ruling classes in England. Vanity Fair. A Novel without a Hero. Vanity has become the desire for society's approval and rewards.
7. English Realism of the 2nd half of the 19th c. Gaskell, Eliot, Hardy
Reign of the Queen Victoria. The 1830s which followed the industrial revolution saw the sharpening of сlass contradictions. The new class of bourgeoisie was divided into 3 categories: upper, middle and lower. One of its signs was the Chartist movement which followed the Parliamentary reform of 1832(slavery). An age of progress and an age of doubt. There was too much poverty, too much injustice and too little certainty about faith and morals. A new approach to literature was needed which would reflect the problems of that time. Thus a new trend was born in English as well as in the Continental literature - Critical or Social realism, dealing with the needs of society. Realists stressed the link between man and the social environment in which the personage grew and functioned. So from the materialistic point of view man is predetermined by the conditions of his life. Portrayed day-today realities and personages of the realistic works were social types, not psychological as in the Romantic Lit.
Naturalism (is close to realism but it is less given to generalizations; it is more concentrated on details of private life and is more pessimistic by its tone)
George Eliot(= Mary Ann Evans) (1819-1880) born in Yorkshire in a family of a farmer. Is considered to be one of the most well-educated women of England, she knew many languages, was interested in science, well-educated in the spheres of philosophy, religion, literature and history. Literature: early stood up against orthodox religiosity; was a social novelist , her main characters represent various layers of British society, but most of all the author sympathized with common people; the ideas of positivism; criticized exaggeration and idealization; opposed good qualities of the poor to immorality of the reach. Best known novel is The Mill on the Floss. (largely autobiographical)