The Linguistic Culture-4 (folklore and literature) (Старые лекции в ворде), страница 2

In the early 20^th century American influences became most dominant in popular music, with young performers producing their own versions of American music, including rock n' roll from the late 1950s and developing a parallel music scene. This led to the explosion of the 'British Invasion' of America of the early 1960s, headed by The Beatles, from which point rock music and popular music in general became something of an Anglo-American collaboration, with movements on one side of the ocean being exported to the other. As a result of these factors the United Kingdom remained a major source of musical innovation and participation in the modern era.

Literature

British literature is so rich that it is absolutely impossible to describe its history and its main writers, poets and dramatists in any detail.

Like many other world literatures English literature grew up from the rich and diverse folklore heritage of the nations constituting this country. Rich narrative traditions of ballads, songs and tales come to us through literature, writings of English authors ranging from Chaucer, Shakespeare and Ben Johnson, to William Yeats, Burns and Bernard Shaw and John Milton. The collector of Scottish folklore Walter Scott used many folklore elements in his wonderful historical novels. Scottish poet Robert Burns whom we know via wonderful translations by Marshak g rew up on the folklore traditions of his land.

Everyone in the childhood read Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Oliver Twist and David Copperfield by one of the greatest English writers of the 19^th century Charles Dickens (1812-1870).

The Bronte sisters were exceptional writers of poetry as well as fiction. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte are read and enjoyed even now. Thomas Hardy’s and Jane Austen’s novels reflected different sides of English life of the 19^th century. It was not easy for 19 century women writers to sell their books under their real names. Many of them used male pseudonyms: George Eliot (1819-1880) never used her real name which was Mary Ann Evans. Her books show a detailed picture of provincial Victorian society with humour and feeling. A Scottish writer Robert Stevenson (180-94) wrote famous adventure novels, and an English novelist William Thackeray (1811-63) in his brilliant satire Vanity Fair became the master of great individuality. Jerome, K. Jerome (1859-1927) wrote two humorous books, one of which Three Men in a Boat is favourite with the Russian students. Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) wrote a lot of poems, stories and tales, which children of all the countries still enjoy today. His stories about Mowglii and finest animal stories inspired Walt Disney to create a wonderful cartoon film. He was the first English writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in 1907. An Irish-born author Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900) created novels, stories and plays, still staged in Russian theatres. The War of the World by H. Wells (1866-1946) became the first great works of science fiction.

There were many wonderful poets in Britain. Romantic poets Baron and Shelly influenced the poetry of Alezander.Pushkin. Many great writers and poets are commemorated by statues at their birth-places or in big cities like London. R obert Burns (1759-1796) is regarded by the Scottish people as their national poet. Burns’s poems and songs, known to us through translations of Samuel Marshak, were written in a very expressive Northern dialect. R.Burns grew up in a farm and managed to combine in his simple poems all tenderness, rich humour, lyric and love for freedom of the Scottish folklore heroes. His birthday is celebrated in Scotland in cities, towns and villages as the national holiday and his statue and tiny house in Dumfries are the places, visited by his numerous admirers.

The 20^th century gave a great number of talented British writers, poets and dramatists: poet Thomas Eliot (1888-1965), novelist and dramatist John Galsworthy (1867-1933), David Lawrence, satirist Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), Sean O’Keisi, Richard Oldington, novelist, dramatist and essayist John Priestly (1894-1984), Evelyn Waugh (1903-66), Graham Green (1904-91), Irish novelist James Joyce (1882-1941) and many others. Joyce’s novel Ulysses started the development of modernist literature in Britain. In this novel and later in Einnegan’s Wake Joyce revolutionized the techniques of fiction – writing, introducing the “stream of consciousness,” inventing words, and experimenting with syntax. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) in her novels also experimented with the stream-of-consciosness narrative technique.

An Irish playwright Sean O’Casey wrote a number of tragicomedies, blending realism with symbolism and poetry with vernacular speech. The writings of Irish poet William Yeats (1865-1939), marked with the Nobel Prize in 1923, had a great influence on the development of the British poetry of the 20^th century. All his books of verses were full of the Celtic spirit, brilliant vigorous technique, the combination of western viewpoint with national philosophy and traditions. The Irish people are also proud of their countryman – playwright Bernard Show, (1856-190) whose satirical, witty and psychological plays became well known not only in Britain, but also all over the world, including Russia. Among Shaw’ best-known plays are Heartbreak House, Saint Joan and Pygmalion, based on a Greek myth about a sculptor who carved a statue of a woman and fell in love with her. The adaptation of Pygmalion is a very popular musical “My fair lady”, successfully staged in Broadway and many Europeans theaters.

William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) is considered to be the best short-story writers in English. Many of his stories, together with novels and plays have been dramatized and became very fashionable and successful. Agatha Christie, the world’s most successful and best-known detective writer, occupies a special place in British literature. During her long writing career she wrote over 83 books. Her detective novels were translated into every major language and tens of millions of her books were sold. Her little Belgian detective became as popular as Sherlock Homes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Poirot and her other detectives have also appeared in many of the popular films, radio programmes and stage plays, based on her books. Her play The Mousetrap has been running continuously in London since 1952.

In the late 1950s John Osborne, one of a group of so-called Angry Young Men, achieved fame as an author of tough realistic drama about working class life. Iris Murdoch gained an international reputation for her “psychological detective stories’. Sir Arthur Clarke created a number of science fiction books but probably became best known for his book. A Space Odyssey which was made into an extremely popular and

English literature influenced the literatures of America, Europe, Russia and many other world countries. It also gave rise to the young literatures of former British colonies. For example, Paul Scot’s novels show the last years of the British presence in India, Alan Paton, Jack Cope, Alex La Guma wrote about the racial relationships in South Africa. Chinua Achebe described the tribal life in Nigeria. Nadina Gordimer, a white author from South Africa, was rewarded the Nobel Prize in 1991 as the greatest English writer of her time.

1. Answer the following question:

1. When was the term ballad was used in its present sense?

2 . What is one of the oldest printed fairy tales in England?

3. What important information does the British folklore contain?

4. What English fairy tales and legends do you know?

5. Which English writers do you know?

6. Which English writers have you read in English?

2.Translate the following words into Russian: refrain, outlaw, unscrupulous, a chapbook, notorious, highbrow and provocative glen.

3. Translate the following sentences into English:

1.Главная причина уникальности культуры Великобритании, очевидно, лежит на поверхности. 2. Большинство английских сказок существовали только в устной форме. 3. Сказки с одинаковыми сюжетами и героями можно обнаружить практически во всех европейских культурах.4.Баллады можно считать богатым источником информации об истории, общественной жизни, чувствах и ценностях англичан. 5. Легенды о короле Артуре начали появляться в 12 веке и, возможно, в их основе лежат предания о предводителе кельтов 5 или 6 веков, защищавшего страну от саксонского нашествия . 6.Самые древние баллады о Робин Гуде относятся к 15 веку. Его имя впервые упоминается в английской литературе в поэме Вильяма Лэнгланда, написанной в 1377 году, и позже в 18 веке в правительственных документах. 7. Можно с уверенностью сказать, что Робин Гуд действительно был похож на человека, описанного в старинных балладах. 8. Великий шотландский поэт Роберт Бернс любил свою родину, своих соотечественников и писал, в основном, о них.9. В 1718 году, когда английскому писателю Даниэлю Дэфо было уже около 60 лет, он встретил моряка, который пробыл много лет один на необитаемом острове около Чили. 10.Необычные приключения моряка Селкирка захватили его воображение, и Дэфо написал историю человека, потерпевшего кораблекрушение. Он выбрал остров в другой части мира и создал вымышленный образ своего героя, Робинзона Крузо.11. Мастерство журналиста позволило Дэфо создать очень правдивую и увлекательную историю. Книга имела грандиозный успех

.3. Tell about your most favourite English writers.