20th century english literature.pptVIP

In this lecture, you will learn The social background Ideological background Realism in the 20th century English literature Modernism The poetry in England in the 20th century The modernistic novel The modernistic drama Representative writers of this age The Social Background 1. The natural and social sciences development led to great gains in material wealth. 2. Frequent economic depressions and mass unemployment sharpened the contradictions between the rich and the poor. 3.The catastrophic two world wars tremendously weakened the British Empire and brought about great sufferings to its people as well. The Social Background The appalling shock of the First World War severely destroys people’s faith in the Victorian values; the postwar economic dislocation and spiritual disillusion produced a profound impact upon the British people, who came to see the prevalent wretchedness in capitalism. The Second World War marked the last stage of the disintegration of the British Empire. Britain suffered heavy losses in the war: thousands people were killed; the economy was ruined; and almost all its former colonies were lost. People were in economic, cultural and belief crises. Ideological Background Ideologically, the rise of the irrational philosophy and new science greatly incited modern writers to make new explorations on human natures and human relationships. 1. The theory of Scientific Socialism put forward by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels not only provided a guiding principle for the working people, but also inspired them to make dauntless fights for their own emancipation. 2. The Social Darwinism under the cover of “ survival of the fittest”, vehemently advocated colonialism or jingoism (侵略主义). 3. Freud’s analytically psychology drastically altered people’s conception of human nature. Realism in the 20th Century English Literature Realism was, to a certain extent, eclipsed by the rapid rise of modernism in the 1920s. In the 1930s, novelists began to turn their atten