English Literature of the 20th Century

The 20th century literature is remarkable for a great diversity of artistic values and artistic methods. Following the rapid introduction of new modes of thought in natural science, sociology and psychology, literature has naturally reacted to absorb and transform this material into literally communication. Fundamental political, social and economic changes on the British scene deeply affected the creative writing of the new century. Men-of-letters of different generations and aesthetic views were critical of the new era; they were spiritual explorers voicing their discontent with life. Their work became a new investment in the heritage of English realism and stimulated its further development. We find this brilliantly exemplified in the art of H.G.Wells, B. Shaw, J. Galsworthy, A. Bennet, J. Conrad, G. Green, W.S. Maugham, Ch. P. Snow and others.

When a great writer dies high in honor and in fame, criticism is at a loss; as the applause dies down, praise sounds unnaturally loud. So it had to be with Bernard Shaw (1856-1950). Even now he begins to assume a position in English drama second only to Shakespeare. He built up his own new drama: true, Shaw followed the inspiration of Ibsen., but he would seem to have been himself ready to be the English Ibsen. He turned to the drama as his medium of expression.

The mere fact that Shaw chose the drama as a means of criticizing and educating the society was due to a most happy combination of experience, coincidence and chance.

The work of Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) developed through four of the most interesting decades in the history of Western Man and he responded all the time to what was going on around him: the breaking of Europe, the technological revolution, the population explosion with the appearance of Mass Man, the economic revolution. During these decades violent oppositions came into being. It became possible for the population to be properly fed, clothed and housed; it became possible for them to be destroyed in a few minutes. Huxley was always sensitive to these oppositions, the eternal balance between good and evil in nature and in a human society. He spent much time in exploring the new possibilities of advantage to man. He believed in the individual, and he saw the possibilities of greater awareness for the individual. A. Huxley was born in 1894, and would have gone to war if he had not been nearly blind.

William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) is one of the best known English writers of modern literature. He was not only the novelist of considerable rank, but also one of the most successful dramatists and short-story writers. His first novel "Liza of Lambeth" came out in 1897 and he went on producing books at the rate of at least one a year for sixty odd years. "Of Human Bondage," the first of his masterpieces, came out in 1919.

This is a fine achievement, some part of which is a recollect of phases of his own life. With the publication in 1919 of "The Moon and Sixpence" his reputation as a novelist was established. "Cakes and Ale" written in 1930 had brilliance, genuine pathos and beauty. It is his best novel, for, here, sardonic wit and satire do not drive out human sympathy and understanding. It represents the backstage life of the literary profession and unmasks the scheming and humbug behind the popularity to which Driffield, the hero of the novel, and "A Grand Old Man of Letters" is exposed.

The period between the wars (1920-1940) was marked by: Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence and James Joyce. Woolf and Joyce permanently altered novelistic technique through the development of the stream of consciousness style of writing; Lawrence brought to the novel a fresh stream of vitality.

James Joyce (1882-1941) is a famous English writer of Irish descent.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), like Joyce and unlike Lawrence, was an aesthete.

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is known all over the world as detective novelist and playwright whose books have been translated into 103 foreign languages. She is one of the best-selling authors in the world, whose books were sold more than 100 000 000 copies. Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie was born on September 15, 1890 in Torquay, Devonshire. She was educated at home by her mother and took singing lessons in Paris. She began writing detective fiction while working as a nurse during World War I. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published in 1920. That was the first appearance of Hercule Poirot, who became one of the most popular private detectives. This little Belgian amazes everyone by his powerful intellect and his brilliant solutions to the most complicated crimes.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was born in the town of Bloemfontain, South Africa on January 3rd, 1892, to English parents. In 1895 Ronald, his mother, and brother Hilary returned to England. Ronald's memories of Africa were slight but vivid, and influenced his later writing to some extent.

Graham Greene (1904-1991), an English author, won fame for both serious novels and for lighter books he called "entertainments".His entertainments include the detective story "This Gun for Hire" (1936) and the adventure mystery "The Third Man" (1950). Greene's serious novels describe a world of criminals, mentally disturbed people, and people who have lost faith in God.

Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) was born in Dublin. Her mother was Irish and her father was an English civil servant who served as a cavalry officer in the World War I. The family moved to London in her childhood and she grew up in the western suburbs of it. Murdoch studied classics, ancient history and philosophy at Somerville, Oxford. During World War II she was an active member of the communist party, but soon she became disappointed with its ideolodgy and resigned. Some years later Murdoch took up a postgraduate studentship in philosophy. In 1948 she was elected a fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford, working there as a tutor until 1963. Since then Murdoch devoted herself entirely to wtiting. Between the years 1963 and 1967 she also lectured at the Royal College of Art.

John Fowles (1926), novelist, born in Essex and educated at Oxford University. His novels are: The Collector (1963);T he Magus (1965;revised edition 1977); The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969); Daniel Martin (1977); Mantissa (1982); A Maggot (1985). He is an experimental writer, interested in the nature of fiction and its interaction with history and reality, but he combines this with a skill in story - telling and an ability to create compelling characters and a vivid sense of social context. Several of his novels have been best- sellers and three have been filmed (The Collector, The Magus, The French Lieutenant's Woman). His reception by the critics had been more enthusiastic than in Britain. The recurrent concerns of his novels are the power of repressive convention and social conformity, the enigmatic nature of sexual relations, the desire to manipulate and control and the problem of individual freedom. The last of these concerns reflects the influence of existentialism. Collector, the story of the kidnapping of an attractive and wealthy girl by an introverted clerk, is in part a study of a pathological desire for possession, and in part a fable about social deprivation. It is in three parts, the first and the last narrated by the man, and the second by the girl.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), novelist, chiefly noted for his stories and novels out the amateur detective, Sherlock Holmes, a genius in minute deduction and acute observations. His friend Dr. Watson, is represented as an ordinary ingenuous man, who needs to have everything pointed out to him and explained; and this offsets the ingenuity of the detective. The combination of acute detective and obtuse colleague has been imitated in many detective stories ever since. Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in A Study in Scarlet (1887). Though Conan Doyle himself lamented that Holmes distracted him from better things - Conan Doyle wrote profusely in the fields of historical fiction - his attempt to bring strict logic to the detective story ensured that Holmes remained his best - loved creation. The stories include: A Study in Scarlet (1887); The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891); The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893); The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902); The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905); and historical novels: Micah Clarke (1888);The White Company (1891) and Rodney Stone(1896) (1, 87).

Joanne Rowling was born at Yates, northeast of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, England on 31 July 1965. In 1995, Rowling completed her manuscript for Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone. The book was handed to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected it. A year later she was finally given the green light by editor Barry Cunningham from the small publisher Bloomsbury. Soon after, Rowling received an 8000 grant from the Scottish Arts Coucil to enable her to continue writing. The following spring, an auction was held in the United States for the rights to publish the novel, and was won by Scholastic Inc., who paid Rowling more than $ 100,000. In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of only one-thousand copies, five-hundred of which were distributed to libraries. Today such copies are each valued at between 16,000 and 25,000. Five months later, it won its first award, a Nestle Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the prestigious British Book Award. In October 1998, Scholastic published Philosopher's Stone in the US under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone