12.

The development of English literature in the end of the XIX-XX century

(J. Kipling, J. Galsworthy, G. Well, A. Connan Doyle)

By 1880 England had become the first modern industrial empire. Its large, urban
manufacturing centers produced goods that went by rail and then by steamship to
consumers all over the world. British investments and energy were expanding and
served for the defense of the Empire. Queen Victoria lived until January 1901. Her
son, Edward VII, was nearly sixty years old when he was crowned, and reigned
only nine years. These nine years in the history of England are called the
Edwardian period. Despite the brevity of the Edwardian period, it saw the
development of a national conscience that expressed itself in important social
legislation (including the first old-age pensions). It laid the groundwork for the
English welfare state. On the other hand, the second half of the 19th century in
England gave rise to a rapid growth of social contradictions. These contradictions
found their reflection in literature, too. It was reflected in literature by the
appearance of different trends. A great number of writers continued the realistic
traditions of their predecessors. It was represented by such writers as George
Meredith, Samuel Butler, Thomas Hardy. These novelists gave a truthful picture of
the contemporary society. The writers of another trend, by way of protest against
severe reality, tried to lead the reader away from life into the world of dreams and
fantasy, into the realm of beauty. They idealized the patriarchal way of life and
criticized the existing society chiefly for its antiaesthetism. Russian literary critics
called them decadents. ( English and American literary critics call them the writers
belonging to the Aesthetic trend ). The decadent art, or the art belonging to the
aesthetic trend appreciated the outer form of art more than the content. Though the
decadent writers saw the vices of the surrounding world, and in some of their
works we find a truthful and critical description of contemporary life, on the whole
their inner world lacks depth. They were firm in their opinion that it was
impossible to better the world and conveyed the idea that everyone must strive for
his own private happiness, avoid suffering and enjoy life at all costs. The decadent
writers created their own cult of beauty and proclaimed the theory of “pure art”;
their motto was “art for art’s sake”. (Oscar Wilde, John Ruskin). Besides, the end
of the 19th century also created writers who were interested in human society as a
whole (B.Shaw, J.Galsworthy), and a new type of writer who was preoccupied
with the future of mankind (Herbert Wells).

The important figures in the mainstream of the Victorian novel were notable for a
variety of reasons. Anthony Trollope was distinguished for his gently ironic
surveys of English ecclesiastical and political circles; George Meredith, for a
sophisticated, detached, and ironical view of human nature; and Thomas Hardy, for
a profoundly pessimistic sense of human subjection to fate and circumstance. A
second and younger group of novelists, many of whom continued their important
work into the 20th century, displayed two new tendencies. Robert Louis
Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, and Joseph Conrad tried in various ways to restore
the spirit of romance to the novel, in part by a choice of exotic locale, in part by
articulating their themes through plots of adventure and action. Kipling attained
fame also for his verse and for his mastery of the single, concentrated effect in the
short story. Another tendency, in a sense and intensification of realism, was
common to Arnold Bennett, John Galsworthy, and H. G. Wells. These novelists
attempted to represent the life of their time with great accuracy and in a critical,
partly propagandistic spirit. Wells's novels, for example, often seem to be
sociological investigations of the ills of modern civilization rather than
selfcontained stories.

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India, on December 30, 1865, in the family
of John Lockwood Kipling, a professor of architectural sculpture. At the age of six
he was taken to England and educated at an English College in North Devon. In
1883 he returned to India and became subeditor of the Lahore Civil and Military
Gazette. At the age of 21 he published his first volume, a small book of verse
“Departmental Ditties”. A year later his “Plain Tails from the Hills” introduced
him to the public as a story-teller. Before he was twenty-four he had already
published six small collections of stories, which showed his remarkable talent.
From 1887 to 1899 Kipling travelled around the world and visited China, Japan
and America. During this period he wrote his most popular works: “The Jungle
Book” (1894-1895), “Captain Courageous” (1897), “Kim” (1902), “Just so
Stories”(1902), “Puck of Pook’s Hill” (1906) and “Rewards and Fairies”(1910).
The best and most beloved of Kipling’s prose works is “The Jungle Book”. It was
intended for children. In it Kipling depicted the life of wild animals, showed their
character and behaviour. Each chapter of this book began with a poem and ended
with a song. The main character of this work Mowgli is the child of an Indian
wood-cutter. He gets lost in the jungle and creeps into a lair of a wolf. The mother
wolf lets him feed together with her cubs and calls him Mowgli which means frog.
Maugli has many adventures and finally returns to the society of men. The Jungle
Book shows that man is a curious animal. He is the weakest and at the same time
the strongest animal in the world. Kipling wants to show that in an uncivilized
society powerful animals triumph. The weak animals submit to the power of those
who are stronger. This is the law of the Jungle, it is the law of the world. Kipling
regrets that the same law of the Jungle exists in a civilized society too. He wants to
see man as a good and noble being.
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), English writer and Nobel laureate, who wrote
novels, poems, and short stories, mostly set in India and Burma (now known as
Myanmar) during the time of British rule.

Kipling was born December 30, 1865, in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, and at age
six, was sent to be educated in England. From 1882 to 1889 he edited and wrote
short stories for the Civil and Military Gazette of Lahore, India. He then published
Departmental Ditties (1886), satirical verse dealing with civil and military barracks
life in British colonial India, and a collection of his magazine stories called Plain
Tales from the Hills (1887). Kipling's literary reputation was established by six
stories of English life in India, published in India between 1888 and 1889, that
revealed his profound identification with, and appreciation for, the land and people
of India. Thereafter he traveled extensively in Asia and the United States, married
Caroline Balestier, an American, in 1892, lived briefly in Vermont, and finally
settled in England in 1903. He was a prolific writer; most of his work attained wide
popularity. He received the 1907 Nobel Prize in literature, the first English author
to be so honored. Kipling died January 18, 1936, in London. Kipling is regarded as
one of the greatest English short-story writers. As a poet he is remarkable for
rhymed verse written in the slang used by the ordinary British soldier. His writings
consistently project three ideas: intense patriotism, the duty of the English to lead
lives of strenuous activity, and England's destiny to become a great empire. His
insistent imperialism was an echo of the Victorian past of England. Among
Kipling's important short fictional works are Many Inventions (1893), The Jungle
Book (1894), and The Second Jungle Book (1895), collections of animal stories,
which many consider his finest writing; Just So Stories for Little Children (1902);
and Puck of Pook's Hill (1906). The highly popular novels or long narratives
include The Light That Failed (1891), about a blind artist; Captains Courageous
(1897), a sea story; Stalky & Co. (1899), based on his boyhood experiences at the
United Services College; and Kim (1901), a picaresque tale of Indian life that is
generally regarded as his best long narrative. Among his collections of verse are
Barrack-Room Ballads (1892), which contains the popular poems “Danny
Deever,” “Mandalay,” and “Gunga Din”; and The Five Nations (1903), with the
well-known poem “Recessional.” Something of Myself, published posthumously
(1937), is an unfinished account of his unhappy childhood in an English foster
home and at school.

John Galsworthy (1867-1933) was a consistent supporter (champion) of realistic

art, believed in its reforming force and positive influence to the society. He writes
on injustice, existing in the society, describes people of labour, class struggle and
class contradictions. John Galsworthy was born in 1867 in London. His father was
a well-known London Lawyer. Galsworthy graduated from the Oxford University,
receiving juridical education. But he practiced the profession of a barrister a year,
then after his travel round the world he devoted his life to literature. During his life
he wrote dozens of novels, about 30 plays, a great number of stories. Besides he is
the author of essays and articles. Central theme of Galsworthy's creative activity is
the theme of Forsytism, the theme of property. He described the world of the men
of property exposed his psychology, out-looks and moral qualifies. The theme
sounds in his early novel "Villa Rubein" (1900). It is about a bourgeois family. The
main hero is Nicholas Trefry - a man of property, who judges everybody by his
dignity and property. There are other personages as well: a painter Gartz, who
loves Trefry's niece. He is a talented man, but so poor, that is why Trefry doesn't
like him. Value of a man for Trefry is not determined by his personal dignities but
by the size of his property. He can not respect Hartz, a gifted painter, but poor,
though he loves Trefry's niece Christian. In 1901 "The Salvation of a Forsyte" was
written Central figure in the story is SuiseneForsyte; the writer points out features
typical to people of her class. "The Island Pharisees" is one of the works, in which
satire prevails than other works. By the Island pharisees, that is the Island of
hypocritic people the author means England, disclosing real face of politicians,
church officials, men of art. Dick Shelton is the main hero. He is from aristocratic
layers of the society. He knows life very bad. Before his marriage he pays a visit to
London, he sees the country life, gets introduced with people. LuiFerran played a
great role in Shelton's life to understand needs, problems of simple people. His
articles are "Literature and Life" (1930), "The creation of Character in Literature”
(1931). "The Forsyte Saga" was created from 1906 till 1928. This cycle includes 6
novels. The first three make up the trilogy "The Forsyte Saga", "The Man of
property"(1906),"In Chancery" (1920), "To Let" (1921). The second trilogy -
"Modern comedy", consists of 3 novels: "The white Monkey" (1924), "The Silver
Spoon" (1926), "Swan Song" (1928). The events cover the period beginning from
1886 till 1926, history of generations of the Forsytes in the history of English
society of those days. The Forsytes are not creators. They try to get and to own the
things created by others. The 1st and 3rd novels of the cycle cover the periods
from 1886 to 1920. They reflect Anglobur war, death of the queen Victoria, the 1st
world war. The Forsytes are businessmen, tax collectors, jurists, merchants,
publishers, agents on land sale but among them there is no creator of beauty. They
get profit from art. Old Soams does not like music. Heroes are aunt July, Bossiney,
Flur. Capable and clever by nature Soams directed his energy to gathering the
capital. He has no friends. Love and beauty are alien to him. In the end of the novel
Bossiney dies. July comes back to Soams.
"The Forsyte Saga" is a monumental work - masterpiece of Galsworthy, it is a
socialhistorical chronicle of the English society from the end of the XIXc. up to the
20es of the XXc. In this great work Galsworthy gave a realistic and satirical
portrayal of the moral, the destruction (degradation) of the family. The Forsyte
Saga is a series of three novels and two interludes (intervening episodes) published
between 1906 and 1921 by John Galsworthy. They chronicle the vicissitudes of the
leading members of an upper-middle-class British family, similar to Galsworthy's
own. Only a few generations removed from their farmer ancestors, the family
members are keenly aware of their status as "new money". The main character,
Soames Forsyte, sees himself as a "man of property" by virtue of his ability to
accumulate material possessions—but this does not succeed in bringing him
pleasure. Separate sections of the saga, as well as the lengthy story in its entirety;
have been adapted for cinema and television. The first book, The Man of Property,
was adapted in 1949 by Hollywood as That Forsyte Woman, starring Errol Flynn,
Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon and Robert Young. The BBC produced a popular
26-part serial in 1967 that also dramatised a subsequent trilogy concerning the
Forsytes, A Modern Comedy. In 2002, Granada Television produced two series for
the ITV network called The Forsyte Saga and The Forsyte Saga: To Let. The 1967
version inspired the popular Masterpiece Theatre television program, and the two
Granada series made their runs in the US as part of that program. Aside from the
later plays of George Bernard Shaw, the most important drama produced in
English in the first quarter of the 20th century came from another Irish writer, Sean
O'Casey, who continued the movement known as the Irish Renaissance. Other
playwrights of the period were James Matthew Barrie, John Galsworthy, Somerset
Maugham, and Sir Noel Coward. Beginning in the 1950s the so-called angry
young men became a new, salient force in English drama. The dramatists John
Osborne, Arnold Wesker, Shelagh Delaney, and John Arden focused their attention
on the working classes, portraying the drabness, mediocrity, and injustice in the
lives of these people.

H. G. Wells (1866-1946), English author and political philosopher, most famous

for his science-fantasy novels with their prophetic depictions of the triumphs of
technology as well as the horrors of 20th century warfare. Herbert George Wells
was born September 21, 1866, in Bromley, Kent, and educated at the Normal
School of Science in London, to which he won a scholarship. He worked as a
draper's apprentice, bookkeeper, tutor, and journalist until 1895, when he became a
full-time writer. Wells's 10-year relationship with Rebecca West produced a son,
Anthony West, in 1914. In the next 50 years he produced more than 80 books. His
novel The Time Machine (1895) mingled science, adventure, and political
comment. Later works in this genre are The Invisible Man (1897), The War of the
Worlds (1898), and The Shape of Things to Come (1933); each of these fantasies
was made into a motion picture. Wells also wrote novels devoted to character
delineation. Among these are Kipps (1905) and The History of Mr. Polly (1910),
which depict members of the lower middle class and their aspirations. Both recall
the world of Wells's youth; the first tells the story of a struggling teacher, the
second portrays a draper's assistant. Many of Wells's other books can be
categorized as thesis novels. Among these are Ann Veronica (1909), promoting
women's rights; Tono-Bungay (1909), attacking irresponsible capitalists; and Mr.
Britling Sees It Through (1916), depicting the average Englishman's reaction to
war. After World War I (1914-1918) Wells wrote an immensely popular historical
work, The Outline of History (2 volumes, 1920). Throughout his long life Wells
was deeply concerned with and wrote voluminously about the survival of
contemporary society. For a time he was a member of the Fabian Society. He
envisioned a utopia in which the vast and frightening material forces available to
modern men and women would be rationally controlled for progress and for the
equal good of all. His later works were increasingly pessimistic. '42 to '44 (1944)
castigated most world leaders of the period; Mind at the End of Its Tether (1945)
expressed the author's doubts about the ability of humankind to survive. He also
wrote An Experiment in Autobiography (1934). Wells died August 13, 1946, in
London.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a British writer, who created Sherlock Hol-mes, the
world’s best known detective. Millions of readers are delighted in his ability to
solve crimes by an amazing use of reason and observation. Doyle was born in
Edinburgh, Scotland. He was a doctor and began practicing medicine in 1882, but
his practice was not successful. Sherlock Holmes came into being while the young
doctor waited vainly for patients. Doyle amused himself during those long hours
by writing stories about a “scientific” detective who solved cases by his amusing
power of deduction. His early stories were not very popular, but he won great
success with his first Holmes novel “”A Study in Scarlet” (1887). The author
modeled Holmes on a real person, a tall, wiry surgeon who had the reputation of
being able to tell a person’s occupation just by looking at him. Holmes appeared in
56 short stories, written by Doyle, and three other novels: “The Sign of Four”
(1890), “The Hound of the Baskervilles”(1902), and ”The Valley of Fear” (1915).
Later, growing tired of writing Holmes stories, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a
story in which the detective was killed by the Professor Mariarty mentioned at the
beginning of “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder”. But Holmes was so
popular that public demand forced the author to bring him back to life in “The
Return of Sherlock Holmes”. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also wrote historical novels,
romances, and plays. At last he left fiction to study and lecture on spiritualism
(communication with spirits).