Paed Dr Jana Javorkov Ph D lectures UAP

Paed. Dr. Jana Javorčíková, Ph. D. (lectures, UAP – seminars) Mgr. Martin Kubuš (PT – seminars)

Lecture 1 HOW DO WE READ? TRADITIONAL POSITIVISTIC COGNITION Senses are reliable Perception is objective Language is unambiguous TEXT and READER 1 and READER 2 and READER 3 THE MEANING

CRISIS OF THE TRADITIONAL THEORY OF COGNITION Senses are deceptive Perception is subjective Language is ambiguous ARE THE HORIZONTAL LINES STRAIGHT OR WAVY? TEXT and READER 1 = MEANING 1 and READER 2 = MEANING 2 and READER X = MEANING X

Lecture 1 PSYCHOANALYSIS - FREUDIANISM The psychological doctrine advanced by Sigmund Freud and his disciples (Carl Gustav Jung) HUMAN MIND consists of 3 areas: S. Freud 1856 -1939 THE ID A reservoir of hidden impules based on peasant, hedonistic, Epicurean principles THE SUPEREGO Internal censor bringing social pressures THE EGO Result, the ID modified by Superego

Freud also analysed pathological aspects of human personality and mind: 1. Hidden springs of motivation (lust, drive for power, desire to control) 2. Frustration resulting from the conflict between ID and SUPEREGO 3. Pathological personal relationships within families: Oedipus’ complex (son’s latent lust for mother and hate for father) Electra’s complex Clytaimnestra’s complex In: Holman-Harmon: 1986. A Handbook to Literature. NY: Mac. Millan, p. 214. ISBN 0 -02 -356410 -5

Lecture 2 JOHN ROBERT FOWLES - b. 1926 in Essex –– English suburban culture of the 30’s -“I have tried to escape ever since“ - died in 2005 BIOGRAPHY - University studies in Edinburgh interrupted by WWII - studied at Oxford - influenced by French existentionalists - in 1999 nominated for the Nobel Prize John Fowles

FOWLES´ TOPICS, GENRES - Poems related to Greece (Poems) - Best selling noves: The Collector 1963; The Magus, 1965 STYLE, INSPIRATIONS, TYPICAL FEATURES • Existentialism, search for the authentic, commited life; • Shakespeare´S The Tempest, and Homer´S Ulysses • Romanticism: remote huses, romatic recluses, gloomy atmosphere, love affairs • Detective stories (reader is a “detective“, compiling dialogues, events, flashbacks to a story • Psychological milieu • Hallucinations, fairy tales, charades • Puns, jokes

FOWLES’ TECHNIQUES OF WRITING -Several narrators: The Collector -Several layers of narrative: reality – absurdity – fantasy – hallucinations NOVELS FLW trailer http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=z. TO 1 w. Dx. AAxc - philosophical novel: The Aristos -The French Lieutenant’s Woman, 1969 -A Maggot, 1985 -Wormholes, 1988

ANALYSIS – The Collector Set in: Remote Victorian mansion, 1960’s Main characters: FERDINAND (Caliban) Working-class Rich Introvert The collector MIRANDA Upper class Student of art Active young woman Object of his passion Other potential collectibles

l Collector: final scene: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=p. L 5 Zi. J 6 bu. XY

ANALYSIS – The Collector THEME What is love? Altruistic emotion Absolute devotion Loss of oneself Based on the thoughts of: Danish existentialist Soren Aabye Kierkegaard EXISTENCE Vs. AUTHENTIC BEING 1813 -1855

TEXT ANALYSIS – The Collector John Fowles: The Collector: p. 98 I was like mad when I got out. I can't explain. I didn't sleep the whole night. It kept coming back, me standing and lying there with no clothes on, the way I acted and what she must think. I could just see her laughing at me down there. Every time PSYCHOLOGICAL I thought about it, it was like my whole body went red. I didn't INSIGHT want the night to end. I wanted to stay dark for ever. I walked about upstairs for hours. In the end I got the van out and drove down to the sea, real fast, I didn't care what happened. I could have done anything. I could have killed her. All I did later was because of that night. It was almost like she was stupid, plain stupid. Of course she wasn't really, it was just THE RIGHT WAY = she didn't see how to love me in the right way. There were a lot of ways she could have pleased me. She was like all women, she PASSIVE had one-track mind. I never respected her again. It left me angry for days. Because I could do it. The photographs (the day I gave her the pad), I used to look at them sometimes. I could take my time with them. They didn´t talk back to me. That was what she never knew. ABSOLUTE DEVOTION

Lecture 3 WOMEN WRITERS l l l Muriel Spark Margaret Drabble Beryl Bainbridge Angela Carter Iris Murdoch l l emerged in the 1970’s individual style but common features: they depict: l l female characters, female insight; intellectual social milieu; municipal settings (London, Edinburgh); realistic tradition but also variability of extravagant topics; experiments with postmodernism (Drabble)

SOCIAL BACKGROUND TO WOMEN FICTION – Characteristics of the 60´s and 70´s: l continuous violence between Republicans (Rom. Catholics) and Unionists (Protestants) – 1968; l 1973 – U. K. joined the EEC; l resent for the former world power (1982 – Suez); l 1967 – legalisation of abortions and homosexuality; l 1968 – abolition of strict censorship; l 1969 – abolition of capital punishment; l 1970 – voting age reduced to 18.

Muriel Spark (1918 – 2006) Characteristic features of her style of writing: • fantastic and grotesque novels; • reflects the development in theatre from horror to comedy (Memento Mori, 1959) • features of her Roman Catholicism (a Scottish Catholic convert from Jewish); commitment to moral issues, exercise of choice (The Girls of Slender Means, 1963) • hallucinations (The Comforters, 1957) • autobiographical features (Curriculum Vitae, 1992) • motifs of sins that dwell in darkness (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, 1961)

ANALYSIS –The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie l Set in: post-war Britain l Main characters: Miss Jean Brodie – a spinster by choice and the “Brodie set“ l 4 dominant topics: women intellectuals sex religion

TEXT ANALYSIS - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie l Women: There were legions of her kind during the 1930´s, women from the age of 30 and upward, who crowded their war-bereaved spinisterhood with voyages of discovering into new ideas and energetic practises in art or social welfare, education or religion. 42. l Intellectuals: J. B. . criticised Miss Mackay´s method. . . to thrust a lot of information into the pupil’s head, not. . . a leading out of knowledge, which. is true education. 36. l Sex: The year to come was in many ways the sexual year of the Brodie set, . . . , it was a crowded year of stirring revelations. In later years, sex was only one of the things in life. That year, it was everything. 44. l Religion: . . . she had quite lost interest in the man himself, but was deeply absorbed in his mind, from which she extracted, . . . , his religion as a pith from a hush. . . She left the man and took his religion and became a nun in the course of time. 123.

ANALYSIS - Memento Mori Comic parable of life and death: l Being over 70 is like being engaged in a war. All our friends are going or gone and we survive amongst the dead and the dying as on the battlefield. 37 TOPICS: l Morbidity, cynicism: Are there lots of obituaries today? 13 What do you feel about the cremation service? 30 l I always like to know. . . whether a death is a good one or a bad one. 167 l absurdity: You can never trust a ward sister over 50. 43 l Loss of identity: collective names (Granny, Grannies)

Lecture 4 MARGARET DRABBLE (b. 1939) TOPICS l realistic life in industrial settings l women exploring the process of social liberation (The Waterfall, 1969) l celebration of motherhood and instincts (The Millstone, 1965) l relationships within families (A Summer Bird Cage, 1963) l Exceptions to women writing: economic crisis in 1975 (The Ice Age, 1977); further social details of the 80´s (The Radiant Way, 1987)

ANALYSIS – The Millstone Set in: urban town Main Characters: RELATIONSHIP TO 3 MEN ROSAMUND STACY Ph. D student Analyses Shakeseare´s sonnets Theme of love Theoretical practical BABY MOTHERHOOD

TEXT ANALYSIS – THE MILLSTONE. ROSAMUND STACY RELATIONSHIP TO 3 MEN Ph. D student Analyses Shakespeare´s sonnets Theme of love Theoretical practical GEORGE JOE ROGER BABY Conflict of Incommensurrable values MOTHERHOOD ALTRUISTIC LOVE

Beryl Bainbridge (b. 1934) TOPICS l absurdity, situational and verbal irony, violence (murder): The Bottle Factory Outing, 1974; Injury Time, 1977; The Dressmaker, 1973 Angela Carter (1940 – 1992) TOPICS • world of magic and theatre • re-invented fairy tale for adult public • macabre fantasy, erotic comedy – MAGIC REALISM • modern versions of Gothic novels (Fireworks, 1974; The Bloody Chamber, 1979; The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman) • 2 major theatrical novels: Night at Circus 1984; Wise Children, 1991. • Feminist statements: essay: The Sadeian Woman – An Exercise in Cultural History, 1979.

WOMEN WRITERS – IRIS MURDOCH “We live in a fantasy, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality. “ “Writing is like getting maried. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one´s luck. “ BIOGRAPHY l born in 1919 in Dublin l died in 1999 in Oxford l teacher of philosophy in Oxford

IRIS MURDOCH – GENRES, TOPICS, NOVELS GENRES l l 26 thought-provoking novels Numerous plays Book of poetry: A Year of the Birds, 1978 Numerous philosophical essays: Sartre: Romantic Rationalist The Fire and the Sun: Why Plato Banished the Artists

IRIS MURDOCH – GENRES, TOPICS, NOVELS TOPICS l Comic, pathetic, difficult or embarassing life situations l Modern love stories l Modern variations of friendship, fame, wealth l Emotional and intellectual paralysis of a modern man

NOVELS BY IRIS MURDOCH l l l Under the Net; 1954 – shows a struggling writer Jake Donague The Bell; 1958 The Nice and The Good; 1968 The Black Prince; 1973 – reference to Hamlet The Sea, The Sea; 1978 COMMON TOPICS: The Jacob´s Dilemma; 1995 • STRUGGLING/aging • AUTHORS • Freaudian sexual imagery Remarkable structure

Lecture 4 -5 CAMPUS NOVEL Malcolm Bradbury – Kingsley Amis – David Lodge Common features of MB, KA, DL: l university settings (Oxford, Cambridge, provincial universities, e. g. Limerick); usually Dpts. of English, History or Sociology l intellectual milieu; psychologisation; needs a well-reader; l adventurous, anti – Freudian, de-romanticised, demythicised sexual life l satire (sincerity causing social embarrassment); eccentric characters.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO CAMPUS NOVEL England of the 60´s – sexually oppressive l England of the 70´s – sexually permissive l New cast of “scums“ – “white collar trash“ l “cast offs who prefer bier to burgund, village to city life and democracy to aristocratic aestheticism. “ l Butler´s education law

Characteristics of British Universities of the 1960’s Formal, traditional, conservative, abstract (virtual character of Oxford) vs. Redbrick provincial universities opposed to Oxbridge

ANTECENDENTS TO CAMPUS NOVEL l works of intellectual satire (e. g. Thomas Love Peacock – satirises intellectuals) l academic episodes in autobiographical novels (E. Waugh´s Decline and Fall) l view of Oxford from the outside (Thomas Hardy´s Jude the Obscure) l detective fiction set in university settings

KINGSLEY AMIS (1922 -1995) BIOGRAPHY l Amis was a university teacher in Swansea, one of the Angry Young Men l significant milestone in campus novel tradition l destroys idealised vision of the university life; (Lucky Jim, 1954) l not the type of university which invites nostalgia l scorning meticulous academic snobbery l criticising the permissive society (Jake´s Thing, One Fat Englishman, 1963, That Uncertain Feeling, 1955) l satire, anti–book of travels (I Like it Here, 1958)

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ANALYSIS – Lucky Jim (1954) Set in: insignificant redbrick university, snobbish and pretentious academia with their “non-problems“ 60’s Topic of Dixon´s research: “The Economic Influence of the Developments in Shipbuilding Techniques, 1450 to 1485. ” Roger Kimball: l Important source of information about university culture l One of the funniest novels ever published

ANALYSIS – Lucky Jim = irony Main characters: JIM DIXON CHRISTINE CALLAGAN Unavailable: 1. Upper class 2. Bertrand´s girlgriend An underdog Desillusioned scholar Still on probation feminine MARGARET PEEL Unattractive scholar feminist PROFESSOR WELSCH HIS SON BERTRAND

HUMOR IN LUCKY JIM. SITUATIONAL HUMOR COMIC LINES UNDERSCORE COMIC SITUATIONS LINGUISTIC HUMOR MULTIPLE CLAUSES INCREASING RIDICULOUSNESS OF A SITUATION IRONY JIM´S SELF-DEPRECIATING HUMOR

l Lucky Jim part 1 first day at work 8 mins http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=_2 x. UF 71 HPt. Q l Merrie england lecutre l http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=e. Xx. An F 60 KQQ

Text analysis - Lucky Jim Welch’s head lifted lowly, like the muzzle of some obsolete howitzer. The wondering frown quickly began to form. “I don’t quite see…” “My probation, ” Dixon said loudly. The frown cleared. “Oh. That. You’re on two years’ probation here, Dixon, not one year. It’s all there in your contract, you know. Two years. ” “Yes, I know, but that just means I can’t be taken on to the permanent staff until two years are up. It doesn’t mean that I can’t be…asked to leave at the end of the first year. ” “Oh no, ” Welch said warmly; “no. ” He left it open whether he was reinforcing Dixon’s negative or dissenting from it. … “Well I’m just wondering what’s happening about it, that’s all. ” “Yes, I’ve no doubt you are, ” Welch said.

DAVID LODGE (b. 1935) BIOGRAPHY l teacher at the University of Birmingham (1960 – 1987) l His university studies portrayed in a combination of an autobiographical novel, Bildungsroman Out of Shelter, 1970) and H. James’ international novel (setting: London – Heidelberg). AUTHOR´S VOICE: http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Xnq. Fbqhl. SSw

LODGE´S STYLE l master of parody (The British Museum is Falling Down, 1965; Changing Places, 1975); parody of V. W. ; J. J. ; D. H. L; F. K. l Often depicts the Anglo-American cultural gap (Small World, 1984); l motivations: sexual intrigue and the drive for power; l Also wrote theoretical handbooks (The Language of Fiction, 1967) – explaining the methodology of structuralism and empiricism. l A view of British Museum http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=s-5 l. Z 4 wnhd. I

TEXT ANALYSIS – The British Museum has Lost its Charm Original title: new title: . . . is falling down l Consists of 10 chapters and epilogue l Shows one day in the life of Adam Appleby, his wife Barbara, children Claire, Dominic, Edward. . . l l Set in London, Battersea, the British Museum

TEXT ANALYSIS – The British Museum has Lost its Charm TOPICS: e. g. BIRTH CONTROL AND FAITH ROLE OF RELIGION IN MODERN SOCIETIES ROLE OF INTELLECTUALS IN MODERN SOCIETIES Rhytm and Safe method also called: “VATICAN ROULETTE“ Adam´s research: role of long sentences in 3 British novels

TEXT ANALYSIS – The British Museum has Lost its Charm NOTICE: LENGTH OF SENTENCES ALLUSION TO “STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS“ METHOD It was Adam Appleby´s misfortune that at the moment of awakening from sleep his consiousness was immediatelly flooded with everything he least wanted to think about. Other men, he gathered, met each new dawn with a refreshed mind and heart, full of optimism and resolution; or else they moved sluggishly through the first hour of the day in a state of blessed numbedness, incapable of any thought at all, pleasant or unpleasant. (p. 7)

TEXT ANALYSIS – LODGE, AMIS Criticism of superficial knowledge: l Amis: Dixon read, heard and even used the word (scholasticism) a dozen times a day without knowing. . . 29. l Lodge: . . . the Yale hermeneutic gang, The John Hopkins reader-response people. The local Chicago Aristotelians. . . 118 Low motivation for academic achievements: l Amis The reason why I am a medievalist. . . is that the medieval papers were a soft option in the Leicester course. 33. l Lodge: “The question is, therefore, how can literary criticism. . . ” If only he had completed it in time! Then, it could be photocopied and circulated like most of the other contributions. . . and it wouldn’t have mattered if it had been unconvincing, or even unintelligible , because nobody is seriously reading the papers anyway. . . 299.

TEXT ANALYSIS – LODGE, AMIS Relationship to their alma mater: Amis: The point about Merrie England is that it was about the most un-Merrie period in our history. It’s only the homemade pottery crowd, the organic husbandry crowd, the recorder playing crowd, the Esperanto. . . 227. l Lodge: The day of the single, static campus is over. 63. Boredom of academic activities: l Amis: There was no reason to suppose that the week-end would contain anything better than the familiar mixture of predicted boredom with unpredicted boredom. 75. l Lodge: Long before it (the conference) was all over, they would have sickened each other’s company, exhausted all topics of conversation, used up all congenial seating arrangements at the table. 4.

OTHER CAMPUS NOVEL AUTHORS MALCOLM BRADBURY (1932 -2000) Eating People is Wrong, 1959: l satirising new provincial, redbrick universities. Liberal man’s as impotent spectator at process of cultural decline, failing to live up to own high ideals, falling for charms of pretty postgraduate student. Stepping Westwards, 1965: American and British ways of life. The History Man, 1975: l conflict of radical and liberal powers; a dramatised analysis of England of the 60´s. No inferiority in treatment of characters. Reader therefore obliged to make his/her own judgements on character’s motives and ethics.

MONARCHISM Lecture 6 BRITISH HUMOR LOVE FOR PETS l Sign on motorway garage: PLEASE DO NOT SMOKE NEAR OUR PETROL PUMPS. YOUR LIFE MAY NOT BE WORTH MUCH BUT OUR PETROL IS l In an office: WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE STEP LADDER YESTERDAY PLEASE BRING IT BACK OR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKEN PATRIOTISM TEA AT FIVE CONSERVATIVISM

BRITISH HUMOR GEORGE MIKES l “The English have a sense of humour – they proved it by buying 300 000 copies of a book that took them quietly anf completley apart, a book that really took the Mikes out of them“ BIOGRAPHY l (b. February 2, 1912 in Siklos, Hungary – died august 30, 1987) l studied law, received his doctorate at Budapest University l a journalist, sent to London as a correspondent to cover Munich crisis l remained in Britain for the rest of his life l went back to Hungary only at the time of Hungarian Revolution

ANALYSIS – How to be an Alien, 1946 1) How to be a General Alien 2) How to be a Particular Alien “The English have no soul. They have the understatement instead. “ “An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one. “ A Warning for Beginners: “In England only uneducated people show off their knowledge, nobody quotes Latin and Greek authors in the course of conversation unless he has never read them. “

TEXT ANALYSIS – How to be an Alien PREFACE In England everything is the other way round. On Sundays on the Continent even the poorest person puts on his best suit, tries to look respectable, and at the same time the life of the country becomes gay and cheerful; in England even the richest peer or motor-manufacturer dresses in some peculiar rags, does not shave and the country becomes dull and dreary.

TEXT ANALYSIS – How to be an Alien PREFACE On the Continent public orators try to learn to speak fluently and smoothly; in England they take a special courses in Oxonian stuttering. On the Continent learned persons love to quote Aristotle, Horace, Montaigne and show off their knowledge; in England only uneducated people show off their knowledge, nobody quotes Latin or Greek authors in the course of a conversation, unless he has never read them.

2) How to be a Particular Alien: l l l Three Games for Bus Drivers; If Naturalized How to be Decadent: “After the WWII they (the English) declared: Let´s be fair. We have been top nation for centuries. We have done splendidly well once again. Now we must give others a chance. Let´s decline. “ l Sections: Language, Food, Drinks, Sex, On How not to Be Reserved, Bank Holidays, On not Complaining, Shopping: “If the death penalty is ever restored in Britain, it will not be for murder, . . . , but for queue – jumping, the most heinous of all crimes. “

MIKES´ STYLE Entertaining satire and revealing criticism of various nations: l The first Penguin novel about the British: How to be an Alien, 1946 l Americans: How to Scrape Skies, 1948, l The Swiss: Scandinacia for Beginners, 1962, George Mikes Introduces l Switzerland, 1977; Switzerland for Beginners, 1985, The Jamaicans: Not by Sun Alone: Life in Jamaica, 1967, l The Australians: Boomerang: australia Rediscovered, 1968, l The Israeli: The Prophet Motive. Israel Today and Tomorrow. l l l Autobiography: How to be Seventy Other: How to be Inimitable“ Coming of the Age in England, 1959, How to Tango, 1961.

BRITISH HUMOR - Sue Townsend Richard Ingram: “Adrian Mole was first introduced to the British public ten years ago. Since then he has established himself a classic. “ BIOGRAPHY l b. in 1946 to a working class family l Left school at the ago of 15 l Ardent reader l Started writing for the Phoenix Theatre writing group l The 1 st draft of The Secret Diary was a BBC radio play l Now lives in Leicester

OTHER NOVELS BY SUE TOWNSEND l The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 ¾; 1982 The Growing Pains of Adrian Aleber Mole; 1989 Adrian Mole: from Minor to Major; 1991 Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years; XX l Ghost Children; 1982 l l l

ANALYSIS - The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, aged 13 ¾; 1982 l l l Set in a working class family in 1982 Setting varies from Thatcher´s Britain to Major´s Britain (In The Capuccino Years: Blair´s Britain) The story is told chronologically Diary form of the narrative Many cultural, historical, social facts about Britain

Cultural, historical and social facts about Britain which intensify authenticity: l l l Abbreviations: RSPCA, GPO Daily objects: Sellotape, red and blue telephone bills Places: Habitat, Chinese Businessman Lunch Media: Morning Star, Woman´s Own, Big and Bouncy Famous people: Kevin Keegan Cuisine: Toad in the Hole, Chapati

TEXT ANALYSIS – Adrian Mole 2 sources of humor: innocent narrator understatement Sunday February 22 My father has gone fishing with the dog. Mr. Lucas came for dinner and stayed for tea. He ate three slices of black forest cake. We played Monopoly. Mr. Lucas was banker. My mother kept going into jail. I won because I was the only one concentrating properly. My father came in the front door and Mr. Lucas went out of the back door. My father said he had been looking forward to the black forest cake all day. There was none left. . I let the dog sleep in my room tonight, it doesn’t like quarelling.

ANALYSIS – Adrian Mole a worrier, dogged by existence l Strongly believes he is an intellectual: l “I have a problem: I am an intellectual but at the same time I am not very clever“ THEME: To what end are intellectuals nowadays? l In The Capuccino Years: Adrian is a single father of two sons, failure as a son, husband writer.

BRITISH DRAMA AFTER WWII Lecture 7 l Before the mid-50´s: almost no original plays (only translations, comedies, adaptations) MOST POPULAR PRE-WAR GENRES: l l poetic drama (T. S. Eliot; W. H. Auden); “comedy of mood” invented by Christopher Fry; comedies (Peter Ustinov); operetta (Noel Coward (jazz age); Peter Ustinov (Romanov and Juliet, ); Peter Shaffer (The Royal Hunt of the Sun, 1964);

CHANGES AFTER THE 1950’s l 50´s – novel stagnated, drama and poetry proliferated: NEW GUILDS FOUNDED l l l 1919 – British Drama League founded; 1945 – Theatre Workshop founded in Manchester; new stages formed: West End (Broadway) versus East End (off Broadway) stages; provincial Birmingham, Glasgow stages;

CHANGES AFTER THE 1950’s l 1956 – “New Wave of British Drama” l l “new wave” of the French film; “new wave” of the British drama – new Elizabethan age, Merrie England l era of butskellism; reflecting social re-shaping; democratisation of the culture l 1957 – Theatre of the Absurd emerged

CHARACTERISTICS OF POST-WAR PLAYS TOPICS l crisis of identity: “classless“ plays – characters conspicuously detached from the class structure l isolation, anxiety, uprootedness (Wesker´s Roots) l “generation of anger“ (imitating the lost generation) – nihilism, lack of formal education l radical sympathies of the new, young, liberal audience l sources: criminal stories, Freudian, Jungian, individualist psychology

DEFINITION OF ABSURD DRAMA THEATER OF THE ABSURD: „A KIND OF DRAMA THAT PRESENTS A VIEW OF THE ABSURDITY OF THE HUMAN CONDITION BY THE ABADONING OF USUAL OR RATIONAL DEVICES AND BY THE USE OF NONREALISTIC FORM. IT EXPOUNDS AN EXISTENTIAL IDEOLOGY AND VIEWS ITS TASK AS ESSENTIALLY METAPHYSICAL. IT PORTRAYS NOT A SERIES OF CONNECTED INCIDENTS TELLING A STORY (breaks the Aristotelian unity) BUT A PATTERN OF IMAGES PRESENTING PEOPLE AS BEWILDERED BEINGS IN AN INCOMPREHENSIBLE UNIVERSE. “

PRINCIPLES OF ABSURD DRAMA l Action is minimal (and where it occurs is hard to explain); specific plot; l Place is ill-defined; l Hints of symbolic meanings; l Verbal paradoxes (e. g. rounded square); syllogisms; l Inert language; l Unpredictable course of performance; improvisation.

Lecture 8 SAMUEL (BARCLAY) BECKETT (1906 - 1989) b. in Dublin to a prosperous Protestant family; l studied at Trinity College in Dublin (French – Italian); l worked as a lecturer in Belfast; l lived in Paris (1937), fluent French speaker and writer; l in 1961 married a French, Suzanne Dechevaux Domesnil; l a translator for the resistance network (WWII), l sought by the Nazis, l wrote his novel Watt, 1953; l l 1969 – Nobel Prize for literature.

BECKETT’S MAJOR WORKS PLAYS: • En Attendant Godot, 1953; • Fin de Partie – Endgame, 1957; • Krapp´s Last Tape, 1959; • Happy Days, 1964; • Catastrophe, 1984.

BECKETT’S MAJOR WORKS: Poetry: Whoroscope, 1930; Antinovels (narrative trilogy): l l l Malone Meurt (1952), Malone Dies, 1956; L´Innomable (1953), The Unnamable, 1959; l l - Comment C´Est (1961), How it is, 1964;

BECKETT’S INFLUENCES, INSPIRATIONS: l influenced by J. Joyce; his secretary and translator of Finnegan´s Wake; l Parisian literary circles, art galleries, dramatic life; l Psychoanalysis (1935 – 36); l Existentialism; l Un-English concern with Christian theology.

BECKETT’S STYLE of WRITING “Beckett was obsessed by a desire to create what he called ´literature of the unword´. He waged a lifelong war on words, trying to yell the silence that underlines them. TYPICAL FEATURES: l Economy of means; short sentences, l references to psychology rather than to locations, l lack of obvious plot, rhythmic exploration of the subject matter, l breaking the traditional poetics

BECKETT´S STYLE OF WRITING: l Pozzo: And thank you. l Vladimir: Thank you. l P: Not at all. l V: Yes, yes. l P: No, no. l Silence. THE ORIGINAL MOTIVATION AND THE MEANING OF THE DIALOGUE IS GRADUALLY LOST.

Beckett´s style 2: l E: Does he want to replace him? l V: What? l E: Does he want somebody to take his place or not? l V: I don´t think so. l E: What? l V: I don´t know. CONTRADICTION LOSS OF COMMON SENSE

Beckett´s style 3: l LOGICAL FALLACIES: (logické neprávosti): V: Well? Shall we go? E: Yes, let´s go. They do not move. SYMBOL OF PARALYSIS OF MANKIND

BECKETT’S MAJOR TOPICS (In Beckett´s plays, . . . nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful). l l l human impotence, ignorance, modern struggle with the loss of God, meaninglessness, struggle with the Cartesian compulsion to think, to solve insoluble mysteries.

Timelines of British Drama l misfit/precursor: S. Beckett l 3 “waves“: 1 st wave: 50´s-60´s: Pinter, Wesker (pure absurd drama) l 2 nd wave: 60´s: Edward Bond, T. Stoppard – brutality, violence, taboo language l 3 rd wave: after 1979: political drama reacting to M. Thatcher´s politics: Bernard Behan l

ANALYSIS - Waiting for Godot A tragicomedy in two acts: l Influenced by autobiographical events: 1. “Je Ne Sais Pas, l Monsieur. ”; 2. Wandering across the France, meeting beggars, hobos. Protagonists: l Godot (absent) – symbolises God, Godillot, Charlot. Characteristic features: l lack of meaningful structure, common sense l incidental character of human fate l meaninglessness of time

Lecture 9 Harold Pinter (b. 1930) BIOGRAPHY l - a son of an East End tailor; l former actor, his wife: an actress Vivien Merchant l awarded the Nobel Prize in 2005 CHARACTERISTICS OF PINTER´S STYLE l owes a great deal to Becket but also Ionesco; l TV and radio plays; l “comedy/drama of menace“: alienation of humans in the modern world; existential insecurity of being; l theatre of anxieties: isolation and anxiety of his characters; l claustrophobic settings: motif of the room (e. g. Room, 1957); l absence of a diachronic view; l confines himself to few characters; l absence of slang, colloquialisms.

PINTER´S PLAYS l l l The Birthday Party, 1958 – verbal and physical violence ; The Caretaker, Old Times, 1971 – absence of violence, familiar collage of clichés and euphemisms; No Man’s Land, 1975 – acquiescence from the audience; Betrayal, 1978 – subject of adultery, strong dialogues; Homecoming, 1965 – analysis of family and sexual relationships.

Arnold Wesker (b. 1932) born to Jewish immigrant family from Eastern Europe; l lived in East End (London); l a “a Jack-of-all-trades“; l Wesker´s dramas: l l The Kitchen, 1956; Trilogy: Chicken Soup with Barley, 1958; Roots, 1956; I'm Talking about Jerusalem, 1960; Chips with Everything, 1962; The Wedding, 1974.

Edward Bond (b. 1934) BIOGRAPHY l a dramatist of Brechtian pretensions; l used Brecht´s brisk narrative technique; BOND´S PLAYS l The Pope´s Wedding, 1962; - a study in intellectual and l l l Saved, 1965; Early Morning, 1968; The Narrow Road to Deep North, 1968 a Brechtian l The Sea, 1973. emotional poverty of working class life; comedy;

Tom Stoppard (b. 1937) l l pseudonym of Tomáš Straussler, b. in Zlín Youth spent in Australia, India CHARACTERISTICS OF STOPPARD´S PLAYS l Imaginative stage effects: e. g. sections of Hamlet in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, 1966 – allegory of the idea: “All world is a stage. . . “ l His characters bear more action than those of Becket (alike Voskovec and Werich)

STOPPARD´S PLAYS l Jumpers, 1972; l Travesties, 1974; - sequences and style imitating Joyce, allegory of The Importance of Being Ernest l The Real Inspector Hound, 1968 l Professional Foul, 1977

BRITISH POST-WAR POETRY Lecture 10 SEVERAL MOVEMENTS EMERGED THE MOVEMENT THE REVIEW THE GROUP THE MARTIANS THE UNDERGROUND TED HUGHES SEAMUS HEANEY

THE MOVEMENT l l - dominated in the 40's - 50's; - manifesto of THE MOVEMENT: collections: "Poets of the 50's", 1955 and "New Lines", 1956 P. Larkin: I believe a poet has to enjoy writing poetry and the readers enjoy reading it, or they are both wasting their time. (The Times, 1964).

I had suggested, in exasperation, that he finds Something other to write about the moon, and flowers and birds, and temples, And the bare hills of the once holy city Through the leprous lakes of mud. (Changing the Subject). The poet Should seek more serious topics Struggle with life

Artistic manifesto of the Movement Influences: W. Butler Yeats; W. H. Auden; Edwin Muir; Philosophy of the Movement * Disillusionment * Empirism * Subjectivity, intimacy, privacy * Intellectualism * Specific target: poets, churchgoers, mourners * Rational, logical language * Representatives: educated, Oxbridge graduates

Intimacy Sharp observations And why should this chain of miracles be easier to believe Than that my darling should come to me as naturally As she trusts a restaurant not to poison her? " on life Existential topics This man I knew Only a little, by his death Shows me a love I thought I lacked. . . For finished work, like answered prayer, makes death taste sweet. Vivid SIMILES

MEMBERS OF THE MOVEMENT 1. Robert Conquest “A World of Difference“, 1955; "Arias from a Love Opera", 1969 "Forays", 1979 2. Philip Larkin: Whitsun Weddings 3. D. J. Enright 4. Elisabeth Jennings “Poems“, 1953; “A Way of Looking“, 1955; A Sense of the World" 5. Kingsley Amis Poems: "The End" 6. John Wain "Mixed Feelings", 1951; "A Word Carved on a Sill", 1956; Weep before God, 1961 7. Thom Gunn "On the Move", 1966; "The Sense of Movement" 8. John Holloway - literary criticism 9. Donald Davie - literary criticism

PHILIP LARKIN l l l - b. 1922 in Coventry, died 1985; - studied at Oxford, St. John's - librarian in Belfast, Leicester Collections: “The North Ship", 1945 “The Less Deceived“, 1955 “The Whitsun Weddings“, 1964 “High Windows“ Style: Days What are days for? Days are where we five. They come, they wake us Time and time over They are to be happy in: Where can we live but Ah, solving that question Brings the priest and the doctor In their long coats Running over the fields.

PHILIP LARKIN: Days RHETORIC QUESTION ANAPHORA Days MOTIFS OF What are days for? PANTA REI Days are where we live. They come, they wake us Time and time over They are to be happy in: METAPHYSICAL Where can we live but FOUNDATIONS Ah, solving that question Brings the priest and the doctor In their long coats Running over the fields. TABOO QUESTIONS

DENNIS JOSEPH ENRIGHT - b. 1920 Style: comic, funny verses Collections: l "The Laughing Hyena", 1953 l "Bread Rather than Blossoms", 1956 l “The Old Adam", 1965 l "Unlawful Assembly", 1968 l “The Terrible Shears",

THE GROUP l Manifesto of THE GROUP: The Group Anthology, 1963 l Common features of THE GROUP: - university literary circles - organized after 1952 - lower middle-class, immigrants, - labourites - magazine Delta l l l

MEMBERS OF THE GROUP l - Philip Hobsbaum l - Peter Porter l - Edward Lucie-Smith l - George Mac. Beth l - Martin Bell, Chris Logue

THE GROUP - PETER PORTER - called the UNCOMPROMISING REALIST l - born in Australia in 1929 l - moved to England l l l Style: attempts to join the British and the Australian traditions; Past and present (Poems Ancient and Modern, 1964) The Last of England, 1971; Preaching to the Converted, 1972

THE GROUP - GEORGE MACBETH l b. in Scotland in 1932, died 1992 Style and topics: versatile: l - Realism l - Surrealism l - Expressionism l - Neoromanticism l - Black humour l l The Broken Places, 1963 A Doomsday Book, 1965 The Colour of Blood, 1967 A War Quartet, 1969

MINOR MOVEMENTS AND LITERARY TRENDS: THE UNDERGROUND • Loose groups also called “The Liverpool Poets” • Representatives: Adrian Henri, Roger Mc. Gough • TOPICS: Criticism of “the Establishment” Formed since the 1960´s • Influenced by the Beat Generation, jazz, William Blake, dadaism, surrealism • Collections: Love, love, 1968; Children of Albion, 1969

ROGER MCGOUGH - happiness lying in bed ofa weekday morning Autums and the trees none the worse for it. Youve just got up to make tea toast and a bottle leaving pastures warm for me to stretch into in his cot the littlefella outsings the birds Plenty of honey in the cupboard Nice.

THE REVIEW l - Their manifesto: magazine l - Reaction to the Movement l - Confessional poetry and dramatic lyrics of Alfred Alvarez

THE MAVERICKS l - Opposition to the Movement l - their anthology: The Mavericks l - representatives: Ian Silkin (Nature with Man, 1965) l TONE: reflexive, meditative poetry about the North of England its nature

THE MARTIANS or THE MARTIAN SCHOOL l - collection: A Martian Sends a Postcard Home, 1979 l - representatives: Craig Raine

Lecture 12 SEAMUS HEANEY “. . . poetry as revelation of the self to the self, as the restoration of the culture to itself, poems as elements of continuity. . . ” (1976) l l - b. in Ireland (Conn Derry), 1939 - studied in Belfast at Queen´s University - teacher, later the Head of the Department in Dublin 1995 – awarded the Nobel Prize Style: NEOROMANTICISM l - prolific, near-demonic poet l - simple but strong l - anti-human l - reflections of the experience of human cruelty l - psychic drama

SEAMUS HEANEY’s APOLITICAL POETRY 1. APOLITICAL POETRY: l Traditionalist: images of farms, diligence, animals, nature l Language: robust, uses dialects, archaisms, experiments with assonance l l Prosody: unrhymed, American free verse form inspired by neonaturalism of Ted Hughes, Robert Lowell Collections: - Death of a Naturalist, 1966 Wintering Out The North, 1975 Field Work, 1979 l

SEAMUS HEANEY’s POLITICAL POETRY 2. POLITICAL POETRY l l influenced by Patrick Ravanagh rooted in Heaney´s Irish Catholic origin (Ulster Catholics) l l criticises bigotry of the Protestant Extremists Military Images: Trout, Rookery Collections: Whatever You Say, Say Nothing North, 1975

(Edward James) Ted Hughes b. 1930 in the North of England (West Yorkshire); l Studied at Cambridge; interested in folklore, D. H Lawrence, Shakespeare, Dylan Thomas; l Many unusual jobs l 1956 – married to a U. S. poet Sylvia Plath; l founded Arvon foundation; l died 1984. l

HUGHES´ STYLE l l l individual; middle-English poetry – north-English dialect; philosophical topics, questions; neo-naturalist; 1 st person narrator: „I sit in the top of the world, my eyes closed“. Topics/Themes: l brutality vs. vitality l Symbolism: of Jaguar, Hawk, Fox, Cat, Pike; pigs, apes, parrots l Death vs. life: symbolism of animal world, war l Horror, roughness: - ”silhouette of horror“, “enraged jaguar” l “sudden sharp hot stink of fox” l Determinism; l Exercise of power

Controversial poetry of Ted Hughes Exercise of power: I kill where I please because it is all mine. . . Nothing has changed since I began. My eye has permitted no change. I am going to keep things like this. (Hawk Roosting) Collections of poems: l - The Hawk in the Rain, 1957; l l - Lupercal, 1960; - Gandette, 1977; - Cave Birds, 1978; - Moortown, 1979.

What to think over before you take an exam in. . . MODERN BRITISH LITERATURE – EXAM GUIDE In your credit test or, in your final oral exam or in your state exam you may be given similar questions: 1. 2. Compare and contrast structuralism and post-structuralism. Which types of literary criticisms are recognised in the 20 th century? How do these criticisms help/trouble understanding the meaning of a literary text? (D. Lodge: Small World). 3. Explain: “Every decoding is another decoding” ( D. Lodge: Small World, p. 25) 4. Why did Moris Zapp´s lecture shock the audience in D. Lodge´s novel Small World? 5. What were the angry about? What was the difference between the Angry Young Men and the Beat Generation? 6. What was the difference between father´s and Rob´s values in J. Wain´s short story Manhood? 7. Who was a/the representative of the Angry Young Men in J. Wain´s short story Manhood? Why? 8. Who was a/the representative of the Angry Young Men in J. Osborne´s drama Look back in Anger? Why? 9. Why did Jim Porter get married to Alison Redfern? Why he calls her “sycophantic, phlegmatic and pusillanimous”? (J. Osborne´s drama Look back in Anger) 10. What Jimmy Porter likes/dislikes most in his life? (J. Osborne: Look back in Anger, p. 21) 11. Compare and contrast Jim Porter (J. Osborne´s drama Look back in Anger) and Rob (J. Wain´s short story Manhood). 12. Who was a/the representative of the working class in A. Sillitoe´s short story Uncle Ernest? Why? What do we learn from this story about the social conditions of the working class in Britain? 13. Compare and contrast the Working Class novels/novelists and the Angry Young Men and their characters. 14. What is strange about the title of the painting in P. Scott´s novel The Jewel in the Crown? 15. Which topic/s do P. Scott and G. Orwell share? Why? 16. Does W. Golding believe that “people will abuse power when it is not earned”? Why/Why not? 17. Does W. Golding believe that “man produces evil as a bee produces honey”? Why/ why not? 18. Explain the symbolism of these characters/objects in W. Golding´s novel the Lord of the Flies: Piggy, Ralph, Simon, roger, Jack, the Island, Lord of the Flies. 19. Explain the function of the indefinite article in the title of K. Ishiguro´s short story A Family Supper. Is it the same as in M. Spark´s short story A Member of the Family? What does the indefinite article signify? 20. What is the role of Indian words such as phial, purdah, Mullahs in S. Rushdie´s short story The Prophet´s hair?

More questions : 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. Explain the clash of two cultures in K. Ishiguro´s short story A Family Supper. Compare and contrast the portrayal of the colonising, dominant culture and the colonised, submissive culture in D. Lessing´s short story Little Tembi. What is the paradox of the “abrasive powers of observation“ in Graham Greene´s short story The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen? How does the title of G. Greene´s short story The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen illustrate theme of the story? Which topic/s do P. Scott and G. Orwell share? Why? Does W. Golding believe that “people will abuse power when it is not earned”? Why/Why not? Does W. Golding believe that “man produces evil as a bee produces honey”? Why/ why not? Explain the symbolism of these characters/objects in W. Golding´s novel the Lord of the Flies: Piggy, Ralph, Simon, roger, Jack, the Island, Lord of the Flies. What is the role of Indian words such as phial, purdah, Mullahs in S. Rushdie´s short story The Prophet´s hair? Explain the clash of two cultures in K. Ishiguro´s short story A Family Supper. Compare and contrast the portrayal of the colonising, dominant culture and the colonised, submissive culture in D. Lessing´s short story Little Tembi. What is the paradox of the “abrasive powers of observation“ in Graham Greene´s short story The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen? How does the title of G. Greene´s short story The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen illustrate theme of the story? What is the difference between a good fiction and fiction written for commercial success (best-sellers)? Does G. Greene´s short story help us to understand this question? How? What role played the “ Nelson´s touch” in g. Greene´s short story The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen? What does J. Betjeman criticise in his poem Westminster Abbey? What does Roger Mc. Gough criticise in his poem 40 -LOVE? Compare and contrast THE MOVEMENT and THE GROUP. What is the difference between amoral and immoral? Which British poet uses the contrast between these two words in his/her poems?

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