Chapter Nine The Twentieth Century

Marks:two World Wars rival imperialist countries and their ambition to dominate the world The 20 th century literature between the two World Wars literature after World War II

Three main trends Modernism The Angry Young Men The theatre of Absurd

Modernism: a rather vague term which is used to apply to the works of a group of poets, novelists, painters, and musicians between 1910 and the early years after the World War II. Modernism includes various trends or schools: Imagism Experessionism Dadaism Stream of consciousness Existentialism

The basic themes of modernism: alienation and loneliness The characteristics of modernist writings complexity and obscurity the use of symbols allusion irony

T. S. Eliot ( ) Born --- in the United States Education --- at Harvard University His works: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1911) The Waste Land (1922) Murder in the Cathedral (1935) 《荒原》 《大教堂凶杀案》 The Family Reunion (1939) 《全家重聚》

James Joyce ( ) Born --- in Dublin Education --- first at Catholic schools later at the University College at Dublin Works ---A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) semi --- autobiographical novel Ulysses (1922) masterpiece stream of consciousness --- interior monologue

a term coined by William James in Principles of Psychology to denote the flow of inner experiences. It refers to that technique which seeks to depict the multitudinous ( 大量的） thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind. Another phrase for it is “interior monologue”. James Joyce and Virginia Woolf are the master of this technique. stream of consciousness

Angry Young Man term applied to a group of English writers of the 1950s whose heroes share certain rebellious and critical attitudes toward society. This phrase, which was originally taken from the title of Leslie Allen Paul's autobiography, Angry Young Man (1951), became current with the production of John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger (1956). The word angry is probably inappropriate; dissentient or disgruntled perhaps is more accurate. The group not only expressed discontent with the staid, hypocritical institutions of English society—the so-called Establishment—but betrayed disillusionment with itself and with its own achievements. Included among the angry young men were the playwrights John Osborne and Arnold Wesker and the novelists Kingsley Amis, John Braine, John Wain, and Alan Sillitoe. In the 1960s these writers turned to more individualized themes and were no longer considered a group.

Angry Young Man Appearance for angry young man In 1945, the Labour Party won in the general election had promised establish a welfare state welfare jobs took office not get any better refused to cooperate with the government criticized state, church, society

The features be fiercely critical of the established order 2.working class families, lower, middle families 3. write ugliness and sordidness of life and expose the hypocrisy of the genteel class 4. Written in ordinary, sometimes dirty language

The scenes --- in the dark rooms or kitchens of industrial cities instead of the drawing rooms The heroes --- not men with high ideals, they were bitter defeated men in society

The Theatre of the Absurd refers to a group of dramatists who were active in the 50’s. The name was coined by Martin Esslin in his book The Theatre of the Absurd (1961). The word “absurd” means out of harmony or inharmonious. The dramatists use the term to show man is lost and senseless, absurd, useless. The absurdity of human conditions is the main theme of the plays and the dramatists express that life has no pattern of meaning or ultimate significance and that no activity is more or less valuable than another.