自考英美文学. modern literature.pptVIP

New Trends existentialist literature, 存在主义文学(法) theatre of absurd, 荒诞戏剧(法、英) new novels, 新小说(法) black humour, 黑色幽默(美) 2. Modernism The movement known as English literary modernism grew out of a general sense of disillusionment with Victorian era attitudes of certainty, conservatism, and objective truth. the earliest examples of the movements attitudes appeared in the mid to late nineteenth century literary modernism reached its peak between the First and Second World Wars The first decades of the 20th century saw several major works of modernism published, including the seminal short story collection Dubliners by James Joyce Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness the poetry and drama of William Butler Yeats * * 20th Century Literature Modernism 20th century literature a period of great artistic change dominated by the impact of two world wars the artistic concerns of modernism (which affected both themes and methods of writing). I. Historical Background II. Modernism I. Historical Background The First World War was usually regarded as the watershed(转折点) in English history, for it had hastened radical changes in every field of English society. But the changes started long before the war. 1. The First World War capitalism came into its monopoly stage in Britain the sharpened contradictions between socialized production and the private ownership caused frequent economic depressions mass unemployment greatly slowed down the speed of the British economic development. But in the same period, Germany, Italy and the United States grew very rapidly in their industrial production. Towards the end of the 19th century, Germany and the United States had already caught up with or even surpassed Britain in the main fields of industry. Having lost her industrial supremacy, Britain faced a severe challenge from Germany and other newly-arisen imperialist countries for the redivision of the world, which led to the outbreak of the First World War (1914-1918). The postwar economi