INTERWAR PERIOD: MODERNIST and POST-MODERNISTS WRITERS ( PART II ) James Joyce, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, AldouS Huxley, Iris Murdoch.

JAMES JOYCE James Joyce (2 February 1882 - 13 January 1941) was an Irish writer and poet of the Modernist movement. He was from Dublin, Ireland. He wore an eyepatch, because of eye damage. He could not see well. Joyce met Nora Barnacle in 1904 and they began to have a long relationship until his death in 1941. The couple moved out of Dublin to Zürich in 1904, then to Trieste, Paris then back to Zürich. They married in 1931. They had a son and a daughter. Their daughter had a mental illness later in her life. Joyce became a very famous writer after he published Ulysses. He also began to have a lot of problems with his eyes and his family. But he completed his last book, Finnegans Wake by 1939. He died in Zurich.

MAIN WORKS AND STYLE His books are written in a special style. At first he wrote in a way which describes very accurately how life is, in the short story collection called Dubliners. In his next book, called A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, he started a new style. It is called stream of consciousness*, and influenced many other writers in the 20th century. * Depiction of human’s mind and inner-self. Thoughts, dreams, association of different ideas are not ordered in a logical way. Focus on the world of dreams.

His most important work is Ulysses His most important work is Ulysses. In Ulysses, Joyce employs stream of consciousness, parody, jokes, and virtually every other literary technique to present his characters. The title alludes to the hero of Homer's Odyssey. The action of the novel, which takes place in a single day, June 16, 1904, sets the ancient myth of Ulysses, Penelope and Telemachus*2 in modern Dublin and represents them in the characters of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom and Stephen Daedalus, parodically contrasted with their lofty models. The book explores various areas of Dublin life, dwelling on its squalor and monotony Joyce's method of stream of consciousness, literary allusions and free dream associations was pushed to the limit in Finnegans Wake, his last novel. *2) Ulysses ( Latin ) or Odysseus ( Greek ) was a Greek hero, father of Telemachus and married to Penelope. The Odyssey narrates Ulysses trip to Ithaka, which takes 10 years, after 10 years fighting at the Trojan war.

T.S. ELIOT Place and date of birth. Change of nationality He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He changed his nationality in 1927 and he became British. He had emigrated to England in 1914. A seven word definition. Literary movement to what he belongs. He’s one of the 20th century’s major poets. He can be considered a Modernist or Post - Modernist. His most important work is The Wasteland.

The Wasteland When was this published? It was published at a very difficult time of his life. His marriage was falling apart. He and his wife were suffering from mental disorders.  What’s the nature of the poem? What connections are there with Joyce’s Ulysses? It is known for its obscure nature, its slippage between satire and prophecy, its abrupt changes of the speaker, location, and time. Its structural complexity has led critics to say it’s a touchstone or example of Modernist literature and a poetic counterpart to Joyce’s Ulysses.

Iris murdoch Place and date of birth: Dublin, 1919. Why famous?   Why famous? Author and philosopher. She was best known for her novels about good and evil, social relationships, morality and the power of the unconscious.

Master Piece: although she won a Booker Prize for her novel “The sea and the sea”, we could say “Under the Net” is her masterpiece as it is considered to be among the 100 best novels in English language.   Influences In her philosophical writings: Plato, Sartre and Wittgesntein. Novels: Dostoievsky, Tolstoy, G.Eliot, Proust and Shakespeare. Important Writings: Under the net ( 1954 ) . It’s a comic work. The unicorn ( 1963 ). Sophisticated gothic romance The Black Prince ( 1973 ). It’s a study of erotic obsession The Sea and the Sea ( 1978 ). She won the Booker price for this one. Importance of Irish Murdoch with regard to Ireland She was Irish, born to Irish parents. She deals with the Irish problem in her novel “ The red and the Green”, where she celebrates the uprising of 1916.

YEATS Place and date of birth June 1865, Dublin, Ireland. Background and influence on his poetry He was born to Anglo-Irish parents. That meant that his parents were protestants. The nationalistic movements had a profound effect on his poetry and his subsequent explorations of Irish identity had a significant influence on the creation of his country’s biography. Style and his meaning in 20th century literature. He’s considered to be one of the 20th century’s key English poets. One word definition of his style He was a symbolist.

Difference with other Modernist poets. He experiments with traditional forms rather than with the Free verse. From early poetry to mature years His poetry dealt with Irish myths and folklore, however his later works were more engaged with contemporary issues and his style underwent a dramatic transformation. Relationship with Picasso, Pound and Eliot Some critics claim that Yeats spanned the transition from the 19th century into the 20th century. He represents Modernism in poetry as Picasso does in painting. Other critics question that he had a lot in common with Modernist writers such as Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot. “The Second Coming” Literary criticism say that it’s the portrait of the decline of European civilization in the mode of Eliot, but some critics have pointed out that this poem is an expression of Yeats’s apocalyptic mystical theories.  

Aldous huxley Date and place of birth Surrey, England, 1894. Connection to Bloomsbury writers He met some of these writers, Bertrand Russell for instance. Aspects of novels written during WWI and Interwar periods He dealt with the dehumanizing aspects of scientific progress. He also started to write non-fiction works related to pacifist themes.

Connection to George Orwell’s 1984 Although 1984 was written after A brave new world, the similarities between both books are obvious. He congratulated Orwell on how fine and profoundly written the book was. Major concerns about the future. Dangers of over population. The tendency to a society which is highly hierarchical. The importance to evaluate the use of technology in a society who is easy to be persuaded. His master piece, A brave new world. Main topic: It’s a dystopia ( the opposite to utopia ) set in future London, in the year 2540. The novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and psychological manipulation. Classification of human beings: People are genetically designed to fit one of the 5 existent castes: Higher castes: alphas and betas, who are developed naturally. Lower castes: gammas, deltas and epsilon, who are subjected to chemical influences to avoid their intellectual development.