《英国概况》（英文版） Chapter 6 British literature.doc_大学文库

6) The Modern Literature rence B. James Joyce C. Virginia Woolf I. What is Literature? In English we use the word in at least two different ways 1) In its broad sense, literature means anything that is written: timetable catalogues, textbooks, travel brochures and so on. In this broad sense an account of yesterday's football match or an advertisement for soap powder is as much literature as the Dialogues of Plato or the novels of Graham Greene 2) In its narrow sense, literature means something more serious Literature, we may now agree, is writing which expresses and communicates thoughts, feelings and attitudes towards life. It interests, entertains, stimulates broadens or ennobles the reader 2. Types of Literature In practice, works of literature fall into four categories or genres 1)narrative fiction 2)drama d 4)non-fiction prose All these four forms have many common characteristics. While the major purpose of non-fiction prose, for example, is to inform, the other genres also provide information(although informing is incidental to the others). All the genres(category of artistic works) are art forms, each with its own internal requirements of structure and style. In varying degrees, all the forms are dramatic and imaginative. Even a work of non-fiction prose designed to instruct will be unsuccessful unless it makes at least some appeal to the imagination Narrative Fiction A narrative is an account of a series of events, usually fictional, although sometimes fictional events may be tied to events that are genuinely historical. The two kinds of narrative fiction you will read most often are short stories and novels. Myths parables(EE), romances, and epics are also part of the genre 1)A short story is usually about one or two characters undergoing some sort of difficulty or facing some sort of problem. The characters may go uphill or downhill, but they almost never remain the same, for even stay ing the same way usually be interpreted as either downhill or uphill. Although the characters will interact with other characters and with the circumstances

2 6) The Modern Literature A. D. H. Lawrence B. James Joyce C. Virginia Woolf D. E. M. Forester 1. What is Literature? In English we use the word in at least two different ways: 1) In its broad sense, literature means anything that is written: timetable, catalogues, textbooks, travel brochures and so on. In this broad sense an account of yesterday’s football match or an advertisement for soap powder is as much literature as the Dialogues of Plato or the novels of Graham Greene. 2) In its narrow sense, literature means something more serious. Literature, we may now agree, is writing which expresses and communicates thoughts, feelings and attitudes towards life. It interests, entertains, stimulates, broadens, or ennobles the reader. 2. Types of Literature In practice, works of literature fall into four categories or genres: 1) narrative fiction 2) drama 3) poetry and 4) non-fiction prose All these four forms have many common characteristics. While the major purpose of non-fiction prose, for example, is to inform, the other genres also provide information (although informing is incidental to the others). All the genres (category of artistic works) are art forms, each with its own internal requirements of structure and style. In varying degrees, all the forms are dramatic and imaginative. Even a work of non-fiction prose designed to instruct will be unsuccessful unless it makes at least some appeal to the imagination. Narrative Fiction A narrative is an account of a series of events, usually fictional, although sometimes fictional events may be tied to events that are genuinely historical. The two kinds of narrative fiction you will read most often are short stories and novels. Myths, parables (寓言), romances, and epics are also part of the genre. 1) A short story is usually about one or two characters undergoing some sort of difficulty or facing some sort of problem. The characters may go uphill or downhill, but they almost never remain the same, for even staying the same way usually be interpreted as either downhill or uphill. Although the characters will interact with other characters and with the circumstances

surround ing them, usually these relationships are described fairly briefly, for the shortened form of the story does not permit a great deal of development about how human character changes in response to human beings and 2)The novel, on the other hand, permits a full development of these interactions d its length is caused by this fullness of development. Like the short story the novel usually focuses on a small number of characters, although the cast of secondary characters is often large and the number of incidents is multiplied Drama a drama or play is designed to be performed on a stage by live actors. It therefore consists of dialogue together with direction for action. Like narrative fiction,it focuses on a single character or a small number of characters. Drama does not rely on narration, however, but presents you with speech and action which actually render(k Eld) the interactions that cause change in the characters and that resolve the conflicts with which the characters are engaged The drama types are tragedy comedy and farce (BR E). In the face of human disasters, tragedy attempts to elevate human values. Comedy treats people as they are laughing at them or sympathizing with them, but showing them to be successful nevertheless. Farce exaggerates human foolishness, gets the characters into probable and lunatic(愚蠢的) situation and laughs at everyone in sight Poetry Poetry is a broad term that includes many subtypes, such as sonnet(十四行诗) lyric, pastoral(田园诗) ballad(歌谣),song,ode(颂诗), drama( which may be in either prose or poetry) epic, mock epic and dramatic monologue. Essentially, poetry is a compressed and often highly emotional form of expression. It relies more heav ily than prose on Imagery(比喻), that is, on a comparative, allusive(暗指的), suggestive form of expression that is applicable to a wide number of human situation. It is this compactness of expression, combined with the broadness of application that makes poetry unique Because poetry is so compact, the rhythms of poetic speech become as vital as the emotions and ideas. Sometimes these rhythms are called the music of poetry The topic material of poetry can be just about anything. Love, personal meditations, psychological studies, reviews of folklore, attacks on co celebrations of the seasons, observations on life in the streets or in the home--these are just a few of the topics found. While writers of narrative and drama confine themselves exclusively to their respective forms, the poet is free to select any form he or she wishes, thus

3 surrounding them, usually these relationships are described fairly briefly, for the shortened form of the story does not permit a great deal of development about how human character changes in response to human beings and environment. 2) The novel, on the other hand, permits a full development of these interactions, and its length is caused by this fullness of development. Like the short story, the novel usually focuses on a small number of characters, although the cast of secondary characters is often large and the number of incidents is multiplied. Drama A drama or play is designed to be performed on a stage by live actors. It therefore consists of dialogue together with direction for action. Like narrative fiction, it focuses on a single character or a small number of characters. Drama does not rely on narration, however, but presents you with speech and action which actually render (表现) the interactions that cause change in the characters and that resolve the conflicts with which the characters are engaged. The drama types are tragedy, comedy and farce (滑稽剧). In the face of human disasters, tragedy attempts to elevate human values. Comedy treats people as they are, laughing at them or sympathizing with them, but showing them to be successful nevertheless. Farce exaggerates human foolishness, gets the characters into improbable and lunatic (愚蠢的) situation and laughs at everyone in sight. Poetry Poetry is a broad term that includes many subtypes, such as sonnet (十四行诗), lyric, pastoral (田园诗), ballad (歌谣), song, ode (颂诗), drama (which may be in either prose or poetry) epic, mock epic and dramatic monologue. Essentially, poetry is a compressed and often highly emotional form of expression. It relies more heavily than prose on imagery (比喻), that is, on a comparative, allusive (暗指的), suggestive form of expression that is applicable to a wide number of human situation. It is this compactness of expression, combined with the broadness of application that makes poetry unique. Because poetry is so compact, the rhythms of poetic speech become as vital as the emotions and ideas. Sometimes these rhythms are called the music of poetry. The topic material of poetry can be just about anything. Love, personal meditations, psychological studies, reviews of folklore, attacks on co celebrations of the seasons, observations on life in the streets or in the home—these are just a few of the topics found. While writers of narrative and drama confine themselves exclusively to their respective forms, the poet is free to select any form he or she wishes, thus

some of the best poetry is dramatic(for example, Shakespeare's plays)and narrative (Miltons epic poem Paradise Lost) Nonfiction Prose This is a broad term referring to short forms like essays and articles and to longer non-fictional and non-dramatic works. The essay or article is a form designed primarily to express ideas, interpretations, and descriptions. The topics of essays are unlimited; they may be on social, political, artistic, scientific and other subjects. In an essay an author focuses on one topic such as the influence of diet on health or the contrast between envy and ambition. The writer usually develops a single topic fully but not exhaustively. When exhaustiveness is the aim, the writer expands the essay into the form of an entire book, which retains the same centralized focus as the essay but permits a wide examination and application of the entire subject The article is a form closely related to the essay. It is designed to explore and draw conclusion from facts and sometimes is exclusively factual. Therefore the article is used in all scholarly areas, such as economics, chemistry, physics, geology, anthropology and history. When an article is used exclusively for the reporting of research findings, it is distant from the essay in style, but when a writer combines factual material with conclusion and interpretations, the article comes close to the essay. When the scope of the article is enlarged, it grows into a complete book IL. Early Writing 1. Beowulf This is the first piece of English literary work. It is regarded as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons. The story consists of three fights made by Beowulf, the hero in 1)The fight with the monster grendel 2)The fight with Grendel's mother 3)The fight with a fire Dragon 2. Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) Chaucer is one of the greatest English poets. His masterpiece The Canterbury Tales was one of the most important influences on the development of English literature. His life is known primarily through records pertaining (io &)to his career as a courtier(f E)and civil servant under the English kings Edward Ill and richard II Chaucer was the son of a prosperous London wine merchant. Chaucer may have attended the Latin grammar school of Saint Paul's Cathedral and may have studied law at the Inns of Court. about 1366, he married Philippa roet, a lady-in-waiting to

4 some of the best poetry is dramatic (for example, Shakespeare’s plays) and narrative (Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost). Nonfiction Prose This is a broad term referring to short forms like essays and articles and to longer non-fictional and non-dramatic works. The essay or article is a form designed primarily to express ideas, interpretations, and descriptions. The topics of essays are unlimited; they may be on social, political, artistic, scientific and other subjects. In an essay an author focuses on one topic such as the influence of diet on health or the contrast between envy and ambition. The writer usually develops a single topic fully but not exhaustively. When exhaustiveness is the aim, the writer expands the essay into the form of an entire book, which retains the same centralized focus as the essay but permits a wide examination and application of the entire subject. The article is a form closely related to the essay. It is designed to explore and draw conclusion from facts and sometimes is exclusively factual. Therefore the article is used in all scholarly areas, such as economics, chemistry, physics, geology, anthropology and history. When an article is used exclusively for the reporting of research findings, it is distant from the essay in style, but when a writer combines factual material with conclusion and interpretations, the article comes close to the essay. When the scope of the article is enlarged, it grows into a complete book. II. Early Writing 1. Beowulf This is the first piece of English literary work. It is regarded as the national epic of the Anglo-Saxons. The story consists of three fights made by Beowulf, the hero in the story. 1) The fight with the monster Grendel 2) The fight with Grendel’s mother 3) The fight with a fire Dragon 2. Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) Chaucer is one of the greatest English poets. His masterpiece The Canterbury Tales was one of the most important influences on the development of English literature. His life is known primarily through records pertaining (涉及) to his career as a courtier (侍臣) and civil servant under the English kings Edward III and Richard II. Chaucer was the son of a prosperous London wine merchant. Chaucer may have attended the Latin grammar school of Saint Paul's Cathedral and may have studied law at the Inns of Court. About 1366, he married Philippa Roet, a lady-in-waiting to

the queen and afterward in the service of John of Gaunt, who was duke of Lancaster and Edward's fourth son. Chaucer served as controller of customs for London from 1374 to 1386 and clerk of the kings works from 1389 to 1391, in which post he was responsible for maintenance of royal build ings and parks. About 1386 Chaucer moved from London to a country residence, where in 1386 he was justice of the peace and representative to Parliament. He traveled on several diplomatic missions to france, one to Spain in 1366, and two to Italy from 1372 to 1373 and in 1378. In the last year of his life, Chaucer leased()a house within the district of Westminster Abbey After his death, he was buried in the abbey(an honor for a commoner), in what has since become the poets' corner Chaucer's masterpiece is The Canterbury Tales. It is made up of a series of stories told by pilgrims to entertain each other on their way to the important Christian Church at Canterbury in southeast England. One of the contributions Chaucer made to the English literature is the introduction of the couplet from France into England Hero plet a rhy ir of iambic-pentameter lines, first used extensively English by Chaucer and later developed as a syntactically complete unit, esp. by Dryden and pol IL. Elizabethan drama 1. Christopher Marlowe(1564-1593) Christopher Marlowe was born in 1564, the year of william Shakespeare's birth He is the eldest son of a shoemaker. At 23. he went to London and became one of the most important dramatist before Will iam Shakespeare. Marlowe worked on tragedy and he wrote four important plays developing tragedy as a dramatic form. Being an atheist(无神论者), he was arrested for an unknown offense. Marlowe was killed in 1593 in a tavern(iW l) fight He and his friend argued over the bill and then he was killed by his friend with a knife. Some say that it may be an assassination. Marlowe died at the age of 29, and it is interesting that at this time Shakespeare was just beginning his dramatic career. Marlowe was the first one to use blank verse that encourage Shakespeare to try it. Marlowe was also the first to write a tragedy in English, again paving the way for Shakespeare I)The greatest writer in"University Wits Marlow is the immed iate predecessors ($4E)of Shakespeare. They are a group of men from the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge, who were generally known as the University Wits, includ ing John Lyly, George Peele(1558-1598) Thomas lodge(1558-1625), Robert Greene(1558-1592), Thomas Nashe, Thomas Kyd(1558-1594), and Christopher Marlowe(1564-1593), lyly and Peele and

5 the queen and afterward in the service of John of Gaunt, who was duke of Lancaster and Edward's fourth son. Chaucer served as controller of customs for London from 1374 to 1386 and clerk of the king's works from 1389 to 1391, in which post he was responsible for maintenance of royal buildings and parks. About 1386 Chaucer moved from London to a country residence, where in 1386 he was justice of the peace and representative to Parliament. He traveled on several diplomatic missions to France, one to Spain in 1366, and two to Italy from 1372 to 1373 and in 1378. In the last year of his life, Chaucer leased (租) a house within the district of Westminster Abbey. After his death, he was buried in the Abbey (an honor for a commoner), in what has since become the Poets' Corner. Chaucer’s masterpiece is The Canterbury Tales. It is made up of a series of stories told by pilgrims to entertain each other on their way to the important Christian Church at Canterbury in southeast England. One of the contributions Chaucer made to the English literature is the introduction of the couplet from France into England. Heroic couplet a rhyming pair of iambic-pentameter lines, first used extensively in English by Chaucer and later developed as a syntactically complete unit, esp. by Dryden and Pope III. Elizabethan Drama 1. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) Christopher Marlowe was born in 1564, the year of William Shakespeare's birth. He is the eldest son of a shoemaker. At 23, he went to London and became one of the most important dramatist before William Shakespeare. Marlowe worked on tragedy and he wrote four important plays developing tragedy as a dramatic form. Being an atheist (无神论者), he was arrested for an unknown offense. Marlowe was killed in 1593 in a tavern (酒馆) fight. He and his friend argued over the bill and then he was killed by his friend with a knife. Some say that it may be an assassination. Marlowe died at the age of 29, and it is interesting that at this time Shakespeare was just beginning his dramatic career. Marlowe was the first one to use blank verse that encourage Shakespeare to try it. Marlowe was also the first to write a tragedy in English, again paving the way for Shakespeare. 1) The greatest writer in “University Wits”: Marlow is the immediate predecessors (先辈) of Shakespeare. They are a group of men from the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge, who were generally known as the University Wits, including John Lyly, George Peele (1558-1598), Thomas lodge (1558-1625), Robert Greene (1558-1592), Thomas Nashe, Thomas Kyd (1558-1594), and Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), Lyly and Peele and