Thetwentiethcenturyliterature综述.ppt

The twentieth century literature 1. social background WWⅠ and WWⅡ 2. Modernism Modernism—is a very vague and confusing term. In literature, it includes various modern schools such as imagism. cubism, and existentialism. It is a clear departure from the established values of the Victorian age as it is opposed to the conventional realistic methods of literary creation, seeks for something new and original, and advocates reforms in literature. It was mainly the result of the total disillusionment of the intellectuals with the conditions of their countries and the development of psychology, especially the theories of psychoanalysis put forward by Sigmund Freud. Alienation and loneliness of the modern man are the favorite themes of modernistic writers. In their eyes, the world is chaotic and incomprehensible, and human beings are helpless. Modernist writings are characterized by complexity and obscurity as they usually express the subjective world rather than the objective world. Modernist writers like to use symbols, allusions and ironies, thus making their writings more suggestive, more complex and hard to interpret. Characteristics of Modernism in Literature 1) One characteristic of English Modernism is the dehumanization of art; 2)The modernist writers are mainly concerned with the inner being of an individual; 3)Modernism is, in many aspects, a reaction against realism Among American writers, the best-known Modernists are T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and so on. George Bernard Shaw(1856-1950) 1.life(杨晓峰书上) 2 characteristics of his plays 1)The dominant theme of many of his plays is his social criticism and some of the plays even touch the root of capitalism.2)he likes to portray a central character as unconventional, observant 善于观察的and free in thinking in sharp contrast with other minor characters in order to bring out the theme of the play. His focus is fixed on dialog