07、现代主义时期文学(1914-1945)(修改版).doc

七、现代主义时期文学（1914-1945）Chapter Seven The Modernistic Period (1914 - 1945). Social Background The Victorian Age came to an end with the death of the title queen in 1901. Under the new social background, Britain entered a transition period. As a full participant in World War, England was severely weakened economically as well as in many other aspects. The country began to face new problems: unemployment, the sharp contrast between the working class and the diddle class, the widespread strikes. The situation hardly improved, and even worse, England was immersed in the Great Depression by 1931. Ill-prepared for another war, Britain suffered heavy losses in World War . Literary Characteristics During the first half of 20th century, British literature was closely influenced by the social changes. The novels: The English fiction took on a character of its own from the end of 1910s to the 1920s. The war and its historical and psychological impact were one of the chief stories the novelists were forced to tell. In technique, nourished by the realistic tradition, but also influenced by the avant-garde modernist movements all over Europe, the British fiction took two directions: one was taken by the more realistic modern writers including Ford Madox Ford(福特马多克斯福特), W.S. Maugham(毛姆), and E.M. Forster(福斯特). The other was taken by the modernist writers including James Joyce(乔伊斯) and Virginia Woolf(沃尔夫). The 1930s was more practically-oriented. The satirists were Evelyn Waugh(伊芙琳沃), Aldous Huxley(阿尔道斯赫胥黎), George Orwell(乔治奥威尔) and Jean Rhys(让里斯).The 1940s was more religiously-oriented. The most important writer in this period was Graham Greene(格雷厄姆格林). The poetry: The 1920s was the period of High Modernism. W.B. Yeats(叶芝), Thomas Hardy(哈代) and T.S. Eliot(艾略特) were the major poets. The 1930s saw intellectual poems with industrial and urban imagery and political consciousness. Headed by W.H. Auden(奥登), a group of poets founded “the pylon poets” (牛津诗派).The 1940s was the period of Neo-Romanticism. Dylan Thomas(迪伦托马斯) was the most brilliant poet. The drama:The English drama during this period never reached the same point of revolution as the English novel and poetry did. The war had put to the end the optimism for the English stage flourished by the problem plays of Bernard Shaw(萧伯纳).While W.B. Yeats continued his writing career by producing many great symbolic plays, another Irish “town” playwright Sean OCasey (肖恩奥凯西) made himself prominent by his tragic-comedies of the contemporary Dublin life. Both of them were the leaders of the Irish theatre movement. Modernism: a very comprehensive term applied to international tendencies and movements in all the creative arts since the latter end of the 19th century. As far as literature is concerned, it reveals a breaking away from established rules, traditions and conventions, fresh ways of looking at mans position and function in the universe and many experiments in forms and style. It covers symbolism (象征主义), futurism (未来主义), surrealism (超现实主义), cubism (立体派), etc. 现代主义文学： 它无论在思想上还是在内容上都力图摆脱传统的束缚，表现出先锋色彩。现代主义作家关注的重点不在于外部世界，而是直接进入人物的内心，以此折射出丰富多彩的外部世界。他们刻意进行艺术实验，使用意识流、内心独白、象征隐喻、意象堆砌、时空交错等表现手法，使得作品呈现出不连贯性和破碎性，从而象征性地表现出战后西方世界由于精神信仰和价值观丧失而陷入的混乱。 Stream of Consciousness: a phrase coined by William James in his The Principle of Psychology to describe the flow of thoughts of waking mind, and it was first applied to literature in a 1918 review by May Sinclair of Volumes of Dorothy Richardsons Pilgrimage. Since then it has been used to describe the narrative technique which attempts to render the consciousness of a character by representing as directly as possible the flow of feelings, thoughts and impressions without resorting to objective description or conventional dialogue. It was developed by James Joyce, Dorothy Richardson, Virginia Woolf, French novelist Marcel Proust (1871-1922) and the American novelist William Faulkner (1897-1962). . Major Writers and Their Works Novelist：E.M. Forster (福斯特) (1879-1970) His novels: Where Angels Fear to Tread 天使不敢涉足的地方 his first novel The Longest Journey 漫长的旅行 his favorite novel, partly autobiographical A Room with a View 一间可以看到风景的房间 Howards End 霍华兹别墅 this novel established Forster as a writer of significance A Passage to India 印度之行 his last novel, his masterpiece His critical works: Aspects of the Novel 小说面面观 the famous ideas about “round” and ”flat” characters His style: He belonged to the traditional of realism, yet his realism was combined with symbolism. His language was direct and informal, he liked to use images and symbols to express his concerns for the social morals and humane values. Virginia Woolf (沃尔夫) (1883-1941) Her literary achievements: The Voyage Out 远航 Night and Day 夜与日Jacobs Room 雅各布的房间 her first experimental novelMrs. Dalloway 达罗卫夫人 her first successful novel in her new styleTo the Lighthouse 到灯塔去 masterpiece and a partly autobiographical novelOrlando 奥兰多The Waves 海浪 her most experimental novelThe Years 岁月Between the Acts 幕间 Her contributions: She experimented in an innovative way with the forms of modern novel through the technique of stream of consciousness. Her stream of consciousness was flowing, poetic, feminine, painting-like and aesthetic. Poets: T.S. Eliot (艾略特) (1888-1965) His poems: Prufrock and Other Observations 普鲁弗洛克及其他观感 his first volume of verse The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock J阿尔弗雷德普鲁弗洛克的情歌 the most important poem in the above volume and it was the most important poem of his early poems The Waste Land 荒原 a literary revolution in English poetry (作为现代主义诗歌的代表作，荒原成功的运用仿自然主义的再现手法、象征主义和神秘体系，呈现出一个经历信仰危机的现代世界。在艾略特笔下的世界里，文化、传统和信仰统统成了一面面破碎的镜子，折射出碎片化的现实世界，而都市就是这个世界的中心。整首诗犹如一部现代主义风格的纪录片，选取种种都市景象、人们谈话的片段、生活场景的细节，拼凑成一幅表现毫无生机的现代都市生活的历史画卷，诗中的意向富有内在的张力，即表现现代人的生活困境，又探讨整个人类的命运，因此具有普遍的意义。) Four Quartets 四个四重奏 Ash Wednesday 圣灰星期三 His playwright of verse-drama: Murder in the Cathedral 大教堂凶杀案 The Cocktail Party 鸡尾酒会 His critical essays: The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism 圣林 The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism 诗歌的作用与评论的作用 On Poetry and Poets 论诗与诗人 His contributions: He pioneered the modernist poetry of the 20th century he brought into Modernist poetry the intellectual resources of wit and irony learnt. he used the “un-poetical” imagery of modern urban lifehe rejected the meaningless rhythms of conventional verse and adopted a non-discursive mode.W.B. Yeats (1865-1939 Irish) His poems: The Wind among the Reeds苇间风 The Wild Swans at Coole 库利的野天鹅 Michael Robartes and the Dancer迈可罗拔兹与舞者 The Tower塔楼 The Winding Stair回梯与其他诗作 Playwrights: Sean OCasey (肖恩奥凯西) (1880-1964) His literary career can be divided into two phases: his realistic Dublin trilogy or his early plays, and his later plays in which he experimented with expressionism and symbolism. Early plays: The Shadow of a Gunman 枪手的影子 Juno and the Paycock 朱诺与孔雀 The Plough and the Stars 犁和星 （these three works were called Dublin trilogy, it condemned all the wars, showed the horrible impact of war on people. The tragedies of his characters were not these of the individual person or of particular groups of persons, but the tragedy of Ireland itself.） Later plays: The Silver Tassie 银杯 With in the Gates 铁门之内 The Star Turns Red 星儿变红了 Red Rose for Me 给我红玫瑰.Other Writers and Their WorksNovelist：James Joyce (詹姆斯乔伊斯) (1882-1941)A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 一个青年艺术家的画像his first full-length novel which was considered to be a partly autobiographical novelUlysses 尤利西斯It was a compendium of modern genres and a stylebook for the age. Joyces reputation largely depended on this book. It has been described as the greatest novel ever written and one of the great literary achievement of the 20th century.Dubliners 都柏林人It was his first collection of short stories.Finnegans Wake 芬尼根守灵夜It was his last work.His contributions: His novels changed the conventional conception of fiction in the sense that there were no longer, in the conventional sense, the characters, actions and events in the novel. Instead, there was just a stream of consciousness flowing through the whole novel. His stream-of-consciousness technique marked the peak of modernist novelists.Joseph Conrad (约瑟夫康拉德) (1857-1924)He wrote both novels and short stories.Heart of Darkness 黑暗之心It was one of the best novelle