Theme: British literature of the xxth century

1.2.British literature after 1945.
Modernism is a general term applied in retrospect to the office of experimental and avant-garde movements in literature and other art forms in the early twentieth century. This includes trends such as symbolism, futurism, expressionism, imagism, vorticism, dadaism and surrealism, attitudes, and other innovations of the masters of their craft. Modernist literature is primarily a rejection of nineteenth-century traditions, characterized by the personal characteristics of the author and the reader. The chronological sources of events in the fiction have been overturned by Joseph Conrad, Marcel Proust, and William Faulkner, while James Joyce and Virginia Woolf have made changes in the style of consciousness, introducing new ways of their protagonists. Ezra Pound and T.S. in his poems. Eliot was associated with collages and intricate gestures of logically illustrated images of the piece.
In a 1924 report, "Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown," Wolfe declared, "Somewhere in December 1910, human nature changed." As early as 1919, he saw a new literature he called modernist, and for the first time used the word "modern" in a qualitative sense. The groundwork was laid for the development of modernism. After the war, works explaining the essence and essence of a new phenomenon in the spiritual life of the twentieth century appeared: D.G. Lourens (1920), T.S. Eliot (1922), D. Joyce's "Ulysses" (1922), V. Wolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" (1925). By rejecting traditional narrative forms in the first experimental phase, declaring the flow of mind technique to be the only correct way of recognizing individuality, modernists found that artistic image depended on myth, which was the primary means of aesthetic communication. the factor that makes up the structure [10,158].
David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930) poems, novels, critical essays, literary essays, psychoanalysis and special works on the unconscious problem. Women in love, rainbow, boys and lovers. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) - novels "Mrs. Dayloway", "Towards the Light", "Waves", "Orlando", "Years". James Joyce (1882-1941) - began his creative career as a poet-urbanist, then created a collection of short stories "Dubliners", "Portrait of an artist in his youth" a paraphrase of an educational novel; Ulysses.
The idea of renewing society and individual consciousness revealed differences in the critique of Victorian-era heritage. This critique was satirical in nature, consistent with the spirit and direction of English literature, but at the same time not monotonous, which was clearly reflected in the work of older generation writers: D. Galsworthy, B. Shaw, H. Wells, who presented various satirical denunciations. They were mainly interested in social and political issues, experienced the great influence of Russian literature, historical events that took place in our country. Their connection to the literature of the past, their connection with the traditions of the English classical novel, is different.
H.G. Wells (1866-1946) turned to the genre of science fiction to talk about new threats and threats to humanity. Among the first threats, he saw the power of science. "Time Machine" (1895), "The Invisible Man" (1897), "War of the Worlds" (1898); "The First People on the Moon" (1901) can be considered the first warning work. The main theme: "Earth is no longer a safe place for people". Problems of technical development, ways of development of modern civilization, impersonality of the individual. A sharp critique of the unique individual instincts of modern man has made Wells an important figure among writers who believed in the infinite possibilities of man, supported by the greatest scientific discoveries. It showed a close connection with the moral and ethical principle in the satire, a novel, a review, a novel-pamphlet of ideas, trying to bridge the gap between the individual and society, using the opportunities of the classical, educational tradition [11,369].
Bernard’s show (1856-1950) used the stage to advance his social and moral views, filling the performances with heated debates. He also tried to answer these global questions as a writer full of historical optimism in his plays. He became the founder of "New Drama" in England: the plays "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (1893-1894), "Caesar and Cleopatra" (1898), and "Pygmalion" (1912); A house with broken hearts (1913).
World War II, unlike the first, had very important consequences for Britain - the active disintegration of the British Empire began. Of course, this was a blow to national identity, although the sense of loss was filled with pride in the country (in the British war, in naval convoys). The stable, prosperous, organized life of the British was damaged, which caused them anxiety, instability during the war. The reflection of this experience took place in the spirit of ‘English’, the problem was approached in different ways, but the idea of roots, the historical continuity in the assessment of events, found expression in the literature and remained in the public consciousness.
The greatest exponent of post-war English literature was Graham Green (1904-1990), a prolific writer, journalist, playwright, author of political detective stories and serious works. Travelers, a master of newspaper reporting, he was deeply aware of laconicism, the sharpness of judgment, human psychology, the anatomy of the soul in his works. The novels "Power and Glory" (1940), "Quiet American" (1955), "Honorary Consul" (1973). At an important time of choice and decision-making, the problems of the person who is in a painful struggle with himself. Green’s protagonists have been put into practice, especially if you consider that the modern novel confirms many views on the world and human movements, the relativity of moral values. Green has always been interested in countries where the political situation forced a person to make the right moral decision, even if it cost him his life [12,458].
William Golding (1911-1993) considers and decides on similar issues in a different way. He began writing in the 1930s, maintaining his reputation as a pessimist and misanthrope for almost the rest of his life. The theme of moral, ethical superiority from prehistoric human generations is clear (The Heirs novel (1955), as well as the transformation of civilized, sweet, and defenseless children into savages (The Lord of the Flies, 1954) ... The Moral Decline of Man in Modern Civilization The subject has been considered by the author in various works. He puts his protagonists in unusual, extraordinary conditions (experimental situation), makes their essence look right, then returns them to their original state or leaves them with alternative options.
Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) was an active supporter and translator of Sartre. The structure of his works is very rigid, reminiscent of labyrinths, through which the heroes, unable to find harmony, selfishness, selfishness, alienation, trying not to understand each other, hurry. ("Bell", "Sand Castle", etc.) The world of evil is always opposed by the world of good, the desire to save love allows the hero to reveal his "I". In Murdoch’s novels, the unpredictability of man, the unpredictability of human destiny, the illogicality of connections and relationships predominate.
English literature has its own characteristics, which stem from the specificity of the country’s culture, social and political development. This dates back to the 19th century. identified literature problems and its forms. British writers, first and foremost, the novel develops at this stage, looking for its protagonists not among bankers, aristocrats, but among those seeking a career as in France - their protagonists were also small owners, such as J. Eliot ("Flosse mill"). ), even workers like E. Gaskell ("Mary Barton") or Charles Dickens ("Hard Days") [14,236].
But social protest in English literature manifests itself differently than in French. In 1641, the king was executed and a constitutional monarchy was established, and the state system of the country changed. There is no subject of violent regime change in English literature, as there are no new Dantons or Cromwells, although the extremism of hungry workers sometimes leads to attempts by those in power. For British political life, the problems of unemployment and electoral reform, the “bread laws” that starve the poor and the wealth of the landlords, remain topical. There is a rebellious feeling in Chartist poetry. One of the first places in this category is given by the poems of T. Good, in particular in the introductory chapter; The poems of C. J. Rossetti are devoted to the most difficult condition of the workers.
Judicial reform, like the reform of the education system, proved to be especially important for British society. As E. Sayo writes, "Until 1832, the establishment of a public education system in England did not occur to anyone." The subject of school, like the subject of personal upbringing, has become one of the central themes of English literature. The genre of "educational novel" has developed especially rapidly in England.
Scientific discoveries give rise to a new type of thinking. Charles Lyell's Fundamentals of Geology (1830-1833), as well as R. Chambers' Fundamentals of Creation (1844), testify to the continuity of the development of the animal and plant kingdoms. Charles Darwin’s book The Origin of Species by Natural Selection (1859) only changed the minds of the English because its conclusions contradicted the Bible. The teachings of economists I. Bentham, D. Mill, J. S. Mill, J. B. Say were aimed at explaining the laws of social life.
The desire of the oppressed masses to change their position leads to the drafting of the Charter. The English word “charter” gave rise to the name of the workers ’political movement in the first half of the century. The charter was written with the participation of Owen's followers and reached its peak in 1848. It is at this point that the confrontation between rich and poor takes on particularly sharp forms: in the novel Mary Barton, the strikers decide to kill. egasi. The extreme tension of the situation is reflected in Dickens's novel The Tough Times. During this period, English literature was nicknamed Unemployment and Workers' Homes (Dickens's "Oliver Twist"), prisons for the poor (where infertile people were forcibly placed, nonsense was punished by law - remember poor John in the Black House!) Schools where children are beaten, they don’t study and are taught, schools that are too far away from life (“Nicolas Nickleby” Dickens, “Jane Eyre” S. Bronte) [15,552].
Unemployment and hunger problems have led to population growth and the problem of overwork. Priest TR Malthus, for the most noble purposes, concluded that the birth rate in poor families should be reduced, and suggested that those who could not find work in their homeland should move. colonies. However, his ideas were met with outrage by many in the community ("Bells" and "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens).
Another feature of English life should be noted, without which the style of English realism would not be fully understood. The 19th century is a century of discoveries by archaeologists, first reconstructed by G. Schliemann on the basis of objects they discovered in the past. Troy and Babylon were reborn in the same century. For the first time, attention to the material world was of particular importance in U. Scott’s work, but the novels of the period under study (primarily by Charles Dickens) cannot be imagined without a description of the place where the protagonists lived. a means of describing an individual [13,377].