LITERARY HISTORY

LITERARY HISTORY Part 2: 1940 -1960 The Modern Age Utopia vs Dystopia

T h e M o d e r n A g e George Orwell “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” ~George Orwell

T h e M o d e r n A g e George Orwell: 1903–1950 Eric Arthur Blair, known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist and journalist. His work is marked by clarity, intelligence and wit, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and belief in democratic socialism. Considered perhaps the 20th century's best chronicler of English culture, Orwell wrote literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. He is best known for the dystopian novelNineteen Eighty-Four - 1949 and the allegorical novellaAnimal Farm - 1945, which together have sold more copies than any two books by any other 20th-century author. Orwell's work continues to influence popular and political culture, and the term Orwellian - descriptive of totalitarian or authoritarian social practices - has entered the vernacular with several of his neologisms, such as doublethink, thoughtcrime, Big Brother and thought police.

T h e M o d e r n A g e George Orwell: Early life • Born June 25, 1903 in India • He was the son of Ida Mabel née Limouzin (1875–1943) and Richard Walmesley Blair (1857–1938). • In 1936 Blair and once student of J.R.R. Tolkien student Eileen O'Shaughnessy (1905-1945) married. • In 1944 they adopted a son, Richard Horatio. • At the age of 1, Blair and his mother settled in England; his father joined them in 1912. • At the age of 5, Blair entered the Anglican Parish School of Henley-on-Thames which he attended for two years before entering the prestigious St. Cyprian’s school in Sussex. • Corporal punishment was common in the day and possibly a source of his initial resentment towards authority.

T h e M o d e r n A g e George Orwell: Early life • Blair earned a scholarship to “the most costly and snobbish of the English Public Schools” Eton College where he attended between 1917 and 1921

T h e M o d e r n A g e George Orwell: Abroad • In 1922, Blair went to Burma (now Myanmar) to join the Indian Imperial Police. During the next five years, he grew to love the Burmese and resent the oppression of Imperialism and decided to become a writer instead. • From 1928 to 1936 Blair stayed in London. In the first 6 months after his decision to go back to England, Blair went on (what he thought of as) an expedition to the East End of London to become acquainted with the poor people of England. • In July 1936 the Spanish Civil War broke, and he went to Spain. After his arrival in Barcelona, he joined the militia of the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista) and served with them in action in January 1937. His experiences in Spain made him into a revolutionary Socialist.

T h e M o d e r n A g e George Orwell: WWII • After World War II began, he wanted to join the military. The Army, however, rejected him as physically unfit, but later he served for a period in the home guard and as a fire watcher. • In early 1941 he commenced writing “London Letters” for the Partisan Review. • In August 1941 he joined the BBC as a producer in the Indian section. He remained in this position until 1943.

T h e M o d e r n A g e George Orwell: 1943 • The year 1943 was an important one in Orwell's life for several reasons: • His mother died in March. • He left the BBC to become literary editor of the Tribune. • The most important event occurred late that year, when he commenced the writing of Animal Farm. • Orwell completed this satire in February 1944.

T h e M o d e r n A g e George Orwell: The Final Years • In 1946, he settled on Jura, off the coast of Scotland • Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) is an elaborate satire on modern politics, prophesying a world perpetually laid waste by warring dictators. • Orwell entered a London hospital in September 1949 and the next month married Sonia Brownell. • He died in London on January 21, 1950.

T h e M o d e r n A g e Animal Farm: A Fairy Story? “Man serves the interests of no creature except himself.” “All men are enemies. All animals are comrades.” “All animals are equal.” “Four legs good, two legs bad.” “The only good human being, is a dead one.”

“All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”

T h e M o d e r n A g e Sir William Golding “I began to see what people are capable of doing… Anyone who moved through those years - WWII without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey must have been blind or wrong in the head.” ~ Golding

T h e M o d e r n A g e William Golding: 1911–1993 Sir William Gerald Golding, CBE was a British novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate, best known for his novel Lord of the Flies. He was also awarded the Booker Prize for literature in 1980 for his novel Rites of Passage, the first book of the trilogy To the Ends of the Earth. Having been appointed a CBE in 1966, Golding was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 1988.

T h e M o d e r n A g e William Golding: 1911–1993 • born in 1911, in Newquay, Cornwall, England • grew up in Marlborough, Wiltshire • his father, Alec Golding was a Science Master and a socialist • his mother, Mildred, supported the campaigns for female suffrage • in 1930 Golding went to Oxford University as an undergraduate at Brasenose College, where he read Natural Sciences for two years before transferring to English Literature

T h e M o d e r n A g e William Golding: 1911–1993 • joined the Royal Navy in 1940. • fought in the Royal Navy - on board a destroyer and was briefly involved in the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck. • participated in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, commanding a landing ship • at the war's end, he returned to teaching and writing. • awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983 • knighted by the Queen in 1988

T h e M o d e r n A g e William Golding: Novels • Lord of the Flies - 1954 • The Inheritors - 1955 • Pincher Martin - 1956 • Free Fall - 1959 • The Spire - 1964 • The Pyramid - 1967 • The Scorpion God - 1971 • Darkness Visible - 1979 • The Paper Men - 1984 • To the Ends of the Earth - trilogy • Rites of Passage - 1980 • Close Quarters - 1987 • Fire Down Below - 1989 • The Double Tongue - posthumous - 1995

T h e M o d e r n A g e Lord of the Flies List all the rules in your life that you object to or reject

T h e M o d e r n A g e TOTAL FREEDOM • Does it exist? • Advantages / disadvantages

T h e M o d e r n A g e Lord of the Flies • Golding often writes in allegorical fiction (in an allegory characters and settings represent moral concepts and symbolize human existence) • The Lord of the Flies is an ironic response to Ballantyne’s Coral Island • Golding’s view is pessimistic: human nature is inherently violent • The Lord of the Flies reflects the central problem of modern thought: the nature of the human personality and the reflection of the personality on society. Its main theme is to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature

T h e M o d e r n A g e J.R.R. Tolkien

T h e M o d e r n A g e J.R.R. Tolkien: 1892–1973 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1945 and Merton Professor of English Language and Literature there from 1945 to 1959. He was at one time a close friend of C. S. Lewis - they were both members of the informal literary discussion group known as “the Inklings”. Tolkien was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 March 1972.

T h e M o d e r n A g e J.D. Salinger

T h e M o d e r n A g e The Post-War Era • August, 1945: first atomic bombs used in warfare dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki • August 10, 1945: Japan surrendered to the Allies, the only condition being that the emperor be allowed to remain the nominal head of state. • 1946: Churchill coined the term “Iron Curtain” • 1949: Communists took control in China • 1951: The Rosenbergs are convicted of selling U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. They are executed in 1953, despite protests of some who believe they were targets of Red Scare “witch-hunt” • 1950-1954: The Joseph McCarthy Era - investigations into alleged Communists in the government; ended in McCarthy’s being discredited by the U.S. Army

T h e M o d e r n A g e J.D. Salinger • Born 1919 in New York City to parents Sol and Miriam; father was Jewish, mother Catholic • Attended public and private schools in Manhattan; then Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania • Attended New York University and Ursinus College, but did not graduate from either • First publication appeared in 1940 • Many stories submitted to, and rejected by, The New Yorker • Served in WWII: participated in D-Day Landings in 1944; was one of first soldiers to enter a liberated concentration camp • Was treated for shell shock after the war

T h e M o d e r n A g e The Catcher in the Rye • The Catcher in the Rye, featuring Holden Caulfield, was published on in July 1951 • Salinger on Catcher: "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it.” • Novel was immediate popular success but also faced criticism for profanity, irreverance, and other “inappropriate” content • Attention after publication of Catcher led Salinger to move to a small town in New Hampshire • Most recent well-known publications are from the 1960’s: best-known is Franny and Zooey (1961), from a series of stories about the Glass family (no relation). • Salinger has lived as relative recluse ever since, very rarely giving interviews, with no publications since 1965

T h e M o d e r n A g e The Catcher in the Rye: Style • Techniques/aspects of style: - internal monologue - sparse but revealing dialogue - young characters as focus - colloquialisms intermingled with elevated diction • Themes in Catcher and other works: - youthful innocence and the loss thereof - alienation and isolation of the individual - failure to live up to parental and society’s expectations

LITERARY HISTORY