Modernism in American literature. W. Faulkner

THE I^st HALF OF THE 20th CENTURY. MODERNISM IN AMERICAN LITERATURE(1914-1940s)

Many historians call the 1920s the roaring 20s or the Jazz Age. On the one hand American people were recovering from the tragedy & trauma of World War I. Those, who had taken part in the war, had come back home crippled either physically or morally or both. They tried to adjust themselves to the post - war mode of life, but often failed to do that as the dramatic war experience had ruined their old set of ideals & values, & made them unable to adopt themselves to the changed conditions. These people as well as the writers who described such people got the name of the “lost generation”.

— Ernest (his real name was Miller) Hemingway (1 899 -1961);

—Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940);

—John Don Passos (1896- 1970) -"Three Soldiers" (1921);

—William Harrison Faulkner (1897 - 1962) - "Soldier's Pay" (1926) - his first novel based on the problem of "the lost generalion", it was not very successful, especially in comparison with the two titans of American "lost generation" writers – Ernest Hemingway & Francis Scott Fitzgerald

On the other hand the 20s with their industrial boost also saw the great upheaval of the moods of the people, their desire to compensate for the austerity & deprivations of the war years. Moreover World War I turned out to be quite profitable for America as it was, the only country which really profited from the war. So the Americans partied, partied & parlied. Besides the 20s can be summed up as the age of prosperity, entertainment (jazz music gets enormous popularity) & fashion.

In the 30s the situation changed drastically because of the Great Depression (not only in America but in the whole world). The living standards dropped very low. There was a rise of proletariat movement in America The 30s are sometimes called the red 30s, as society was oriented on socialist ideas. So the Depression & the natural disasters which aggravated the economic disaster – all this was naturally reflected in literature (especially in realistic literature),

One of the best books on the 30s was John Ernest Steinbeck's (1902 - 1968) novel "The Grapes of Wrath” (1939) a story a family in Oklahoma which is a victim of the natural disasters & the economic crisis. They have to move to California - a sort of "promised land". And the author depicts their sufferings very well. The writers of that day tried to reflect the everyday life of common people, they showed people's search for the "promised land" & showed that there was no surely land. Steinbeck's personages also move from place to place lo find a better life.

Ihe period between the two World Wars also saw the emergence ofmodernism, the trend which broke up with the traditional realistic manner of writing & which ignored the social aspect of literature &
concentrated on the inner world of man.The vision & viewpoint became an essential aspect ol the modernist
novels. Novelists gave up writing a straightforward narration & began to experiment with fictional points of
view, that is - representing the world as it seen from the inside of the characters. Their narration became
fragmentary, incoherent.

The most prominent modernist prosaic writers were Henry James (1843 -1916) & William Faulkner (1897 - 1962), while Thomas Eliot (1888 - 1965) & St Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (1885 - 1972) excelled in modernist poetry

William Faulkner had in his works both the traces of “the lost generation" & modernism. W.Faulkner was born in the state of Mississippi, he took part in World War 1 (but not for long as he was wounded & came back home). As it was already mentioned his works were influenced by the war experience ("Soldier's Pay") and often dealt wilh the theme of "the lost generalion". Besides he also represented the Southern School of Writers.

The other writers who belonged to this school were:

— Erskine Caldwell(1903 - 1987) his novels "'Tobacco Road” (1932) & “God’s Little Acre” (1933) put the author among the classics of'american literature;

—Margaret Mitchell (1900 - 1949) the novel "Gone with the Wind" (1936) was her only novel;

— thomasclayton Wolfe (1900 - 1938) - his first novel at once brought fame to its author – “Look Homeward, Angel”(1929);

—Robert Penn Warren (1905 - 1989) - "All the King's Men” (1946) is his most famous novel;

— Tennessee Williams (1911 - 1983) - he was a playwright. One of his most popular plays are "The Glass Menagerie” (1944), "A Streat Car Named Desire"(1947), "0rpheus Descending” (1957), etc.

All these writers dealt with the Southern Myth in their work's, with the process of disintegration of the American South up to the Civil War. The Southern Myth meant the idealization of the prewar (the Civil War) past, of the relationships & mentality of the Southerners before the war, the superiority of the South over the pragmatic & commercial North. All that "was gone with the wind theof the Civil War. And all that was replaced. The moral superiority of the Southerners, the elegance & refinement of the southern women - all was gone & replaced by the pragmatism & unscrupulousness after the war. In all such novels we feel the nostalgia for the past. The writers of the Southern School asserted the myth, on the other hand denounced it, showing that the roots of the postwar vices lie in the prewar reality. In all these works we see that it was a crucial thing that destroyed the lives of many characters. None of the Southern families managed to revive morally after the war.

William Faulkner had in his works both the traces of “the lost generation" & modernism. W.Faulkner was born in the state of Mississippi, he took part in World War 1 (but not for long as he was wounded & came back home). As it was already mentioned his works were influenced by the war experience ("Soldier's Pay") and often dealt wilh the theme of "the lost generalion". Besides he also represented the Southern School of Writers.

W. Faulkner said that "once he realized that his small country, the sign of a post stamp presents enough
material to write about". "Sartoris” (1929) was Faulkner's first novel which really brought him fame (though it was already his 3^rd published novel). In this book we find ourselves in the district ot Yoknapatawpha (which very much resembles the stale of Mississippi where Faulkner lived) with the town of Jefferson as its capital. "Yoknapatawpha is an Indian phrase which means “quiet flows the river here" (it is consonant with Sholohov’s Тихий Дон"). And in many of the writer's other novels we come across the characlers from this district, so the theme of Yoknapatawpha & its people is many times repeated in Faulkner's future works. About 14 other novels of Faulkner deal with life of families from there & trace the process of disintegration of these families: "As I Lay Dying" (1930);'Light in August” (1932); ''Absalom, Absalom!”(1936);

—the trilogy: — "The Hamlet” (1940); "The Town"1957); “The Mansion" (1959) this trilogy shows a rise of a bourgeois family.

All these novels are marked with a very deep insight into human psychology, They bring out the innermost thoughts & feelings of the characters. Besides the writer introduces the device of multiple narration, when one & the same story is told by several people (for example, "As I Lay Dying" consists of 59 monologues of the 15 characters). Faulkner thought that the position of the narrator, standing above the characlers is not applicable - many viewpoints should be shown. In the 30s Faulkner wrote under a great influence of Freud's ideas. And his so called "black novels" are full of scenes of madness, schizophrenia, insanity (such a piece modernism is his novel " The Sound and The Fury”(1929). And the trilogy shows his turn to realism. It traces two opposite processes: the downfall of the rich, aristocratic families & the rise of a capitalist family with the American Dream as their target i life "from ags to riches". Faulkner was really a Southern writer with the feeling of defeated mode of life of the Southerners after the Civil War. In his works he often shows the black slaves as primitive people who need the guidance. He also touches upon the blood relationships in the works (for example, the right of the landowner to have any black woman & children from her).

Actaully aamericans are always likely to be quite optimistic but Faulkner was deeply influenced by Dostoyevsky and he was not afraid to show the worst sides of human nature. For his literaturry work he was awarded the Nobel Prize.

And speaking about modernists of the time we can’t mention Henry James whose concept was “the many windowed house” (концепция множественности точек зрения) had a great influence on the development of the novel as a genre. The concept reflected the many-sided character of the perception of the reality by different personages, as they look on the world from different view points (this idea is very consonant with the ideas of Leo Tolstoy).

21. American Drama. E.O'Neill, T. Williams.

AMERICAN DRAMA

    The greatest American playwrights ol the 20"' century are Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953), Tennesse Williams (1911 - 1983), Arthur Miller (1915).

American Drama of the l9th c. Was aimed at entertaining - vaudevilles & musicals were very popular. So, everything in drama was done for entertainment or melodrama. But the situation in Europe was similar). But at the end of the 19^th c, & at the beginning of the 20^th c. New tendencies began to appear in theeuropean theatre opposing the previous ideas that plays should he just "well - made". 0. Wilde (1854 - 1900) gave some wit & fantasy to English drama in hiscomedy of manners "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1895), a comedy that is worthy to rank with Sheridan.

But the really great dramatic genius of'the age was not to come from Britain but from Norway, Henric Ibsen's (1828 - 1906) work cannot be considered here but we must note the tremendous impact it made on the English theatre, and in the long run on the American theatre. Ibsen delved deep into the social & domestic problems of his age (problems common to both Scandinavia & England), and his presentation of a tailed marriage in "A Doll's House", and the sins of the fathers being visited on their children in “Ghosts", caused a sensation when William Archer translated these plays into English for production in London.

George Bernard Show (1856 - 1950) defended Ibsen against the attacks of the critics, and stated that this was the way the new drama should go - it should not be afraid to shock, it should concentrate on ideas, it should rely on its own inner life rather than on external "accidents" like spectacle & comic turns. Shaw put hisown notions of drama into practice, and from "Widower's Houses" (1892) onward he dominated the European theatre & influenced American drama, too.

August Strindherg was another playwright who introduced some novelty into drama. He & Ibsen introduced elements of expressionism into European drama.

Like Shaw, Chekhov in Russia also introduced drama of ideas (remember his words – Люди едят, пьют, спят, я в это время проходят человеческие жизни” - so, nothing may happen, there may be quite few actions in the play, but the dramatism will be found in the principle of stoicism – people should live whatever the circumstances are).

So American Drama had many examples to follow in the theatre developing, and had its own geniuses in this field. Drama in America focused on the evils of American society: its economic conditions & impossibility to achieve the American Dream. That is how the American Dream turns out to be the American Tragedy due to the impossibility to implement this dream!

At that time many small theatrical companies began to appear in the USA. One of the most influential among them was the one of "province town players" (near Boston). They were dissatisfied with the productions on Broadway. E. O'Neill got acquainted with them. They all wanted to introduce new American drama. (By the way one of the members of this group was John Rid who wrote the famous book "The Ten Days That Shocked the World” His wife fell in love with E. O'Neill but for him art was more important than love).

R. O'Neill found Broadway plays absolutely stupid. He read & was influenced by the works of Strindberg, Ibsen, Chekhov. In his works he managed to combine elements of expressionism with the traditional realism, mythology, classical tragedy (the Ancient Greek traditions) & usage of Biblical myths. In all his plays E. O'Neill touches upon the problem of dramatism of our human existence, nevertheless all his works differ from one another.

E. O'Neill was born at the theatre. His parents were actors. And he was always behind the scene. His play "Long Day's Journey Into Night" (1956) is autobiographical. His will was not to publish the play until 25 years after his death but his wife broke the will & published it shortly after his death.