The Linguistic Culture-5 (USA-1) (1157932), страница 31
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The life of Harlem inspired the poems of one of the best known blackAmerican poets of the 20 th century Langston Hughes (1902-67). To Hughes it seemed thatPPthe people of Harlem’s hopes of better attitude had been delayed – “deferred” for too long:“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or festerlike a sore-and then run? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?”Maya Angelou is a contemporary black American author and poet. Her first book “IKnow Why the Caged Bird Sings” (1970) has an autobiographical character.
In 1993 atPresident Clinton’s first inauguration ceremony, she read her poem “On the Pulse of Morning“on TV to the entire country. Alex Hayley’s epic story of the black experience “Roots”(1976) with the subsequent television special caused white America to stop and investigate its“past sins».
In 1983 Alice Walker won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel ‘The Color Purple”,devoted to her struggle for equality.In the 1950s there appeared a group of unconventional writers and artists “The BeatGeneration” The writers of this generation, called beatniks, wanted to create a new kind ofwriting grown from poetry readings in the form of jazz. The poetry of Allen Ginsberg (19261997) was considered unconventional because it did not follow the structure of traditionalverse. Jack Kerouac`s (1922-1969) writing had a new spontaneous style. His best-knownnovel “ On the Road” describes beatniks wandering through America seeking an idealisticdream of communal life and beauty.
In the 1960s a young writer and singer Bob Dylon usedprotest lyrics to support the anti-war movement of the time. For many young people hebecame the voice of the conscience of his generation. His lyrics set to old tunes, were ironiccomments on what he saw as the deceit and hypocrisy of those in power.In the 1960s and 1970s a new ethnic literature emerged.
Dee Brown’s history of theAmerican West “Bury My Heart and Wounded Knee” (1971) led the way for a serious ofbooks on the American Indian.By the late 1970s and the 1980s science fiction had moved to a generally acceptedform of literature. Popular writers here included Isaac Asimov and Arthur Clarke. The1980s also saw the rise of popular horror fiction with Dean Koontz, V.C.
Andews, PeterStraub, Clive Barker and Stephen King as the most prolific writers.Recent literature included John Updike’s four novels (.“Rabbit at Rest”, “ SelfConsciousness” and others) and Tom Clancy. His books, such as “The Hunt for RedOctober”, “Red Storm Rising” and “Patriot Games” top both the hardback and overallbestseller books.The TheaterThe greatest flowering of American drama came between 1920 and 1970. In thoseyears, startling, powerful, and illuminating works, both tragic and comic, flowed from thepens of Eugene O’Neill, Thornton Wilder, Maxwell Anderson, Robert Sherwood,Kaufman and Hart, Lillian Hellman, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and WilliamInge. These playwrights reflected the events of their times, beginning with World War I,theGreat Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. In his plays “Desire Under theElms”(1924), “Mourning Becomes Electra”(1931),”Long Day’s journey into Night”, “TheIceman Cometh”(1946) the first important American playwright of serious drama EugeneO’Neil ( 1988-1953) made deep and sensitive analyses of human relationships.
The plays ofnotable playwrightArthur Miller(1915) “All My Sons”(1947), “Death of aSalesman”(1949),”The Crucible”(1953) , “A View from the Bridge”(1955) and others werestaged in many countries of the world and brought him a world prominence.The playwrights who came after them were inspired by many events of their time:assassination of John F.
Kennedy, the student rebellions of the 1960s, the war in Vietnam, etc.Each playwright, with an individual style and a message, has been mining the Americansociety. Several of them A.R. Gurney, John Guare, David Rabe, Sam Shepard receivedboth national and international popularity. There were also a number of women playwrightsTina Howe, Marsha Norman, and Wendy Wasserstein.One notable development in recent years is the “theater of absurd” (Edward Albee).There are also experiments with electronic music and lighting, body movements instead ofspoken words, and spontaneous audience participation in some performances.Black theater presents plays about black people, written by black playwrights, andperformed by black casts.
Originally such plays used to carry messages of protest againstracial prejudice. Today black theater is increasingly concerned with blacks as individualhuman beings and their life problems. Black theatrical performances usually use black music:spirituals, gospel singing and jazz.Most important new plays are produced in the theaters located on or near Broadway inthe midtown area of New York City.
There are over 15000 professional actors in New Yorkalone and another 20000 or so in the state of California. Over 16000 professional musiciansand composers live in New York, and almost 23000 more in California. Every yearoutstanding Broadway playwrights, actors, musicians, directors, choreographers andtechnicians are nominated for Tony Awards.
August Wilson, an Afro-American playwright,received both a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize for his play “Fences”, devoted to the fate of abaseball player who struggles with the difficulties of everyday life. Wendy Assertion, afemale playwright won a Tony for her “The Heidi Chronicles”.Off-Broadway theaters are shown around Manhattan in small theaters and off-offBroadway companies often play in former garages, offices and stores. Sometimes there is noraised stage and the actors perform in the center of the hall, surrounded by the audience (socalled (“theater-in-the-round”).
In almost every major city there are professional companies,which follow repertory (rep) schedules. There are also traveling acting companies that tourthroughout the country. Very many theater groups suffer from the lack of financing and mustcharge high prices for tickets in order to pay production costs and make profit.The moviesOriginally American cinema was born in the East, when in 1903 a cameramanEdwin S. Porter turned out a short film. The first “Patent Cinema Company” was formed in1908 in Chicago.
The first crew included 8 cinema-making firms. Those who did not go intoit went to Los-Angeles, California. Soon the number of film companies, producers, actors,technical staff grew up there and the first film studio was founded in 1911 in Hollywood.There were several reasons why Hollywood, the former provincial small town was to becomethe main center of American cinema industry. Besides the favorable natural conditions, brightsun all the year round and splendid landscape, the land was very cheap there. Besides therewas enough manpower around for building and servicing of film studious. By 1915 60% of allAmerican film production was accumulated in Hollywood. After the beginning of World WarI film industry in many European countries was in crises.
Hollywood filled the gap to createthe supremacy at the world cinema market. American movies poured over the cinema screensof the world. . By the middle of the 20s Hollywood had modern financial and technical basisof film production and the professional stuff. There were 5 large studios at that time: “MetroGolden Myer”, “Paramount”, “Fox”, “Universal” and “Warner”, headed by the producersLuise .Mayor, Sam Goldwine, Adolf Zuker, William Fox, Karl Lemale and Warner Brothers.One of the most popular and prolific producers of silent movies of that time was David YorkGriffit. He made 61 melodramas, comedies, historical films, thrillers, westerns, screenversions of the Bible and literature.In the 20th the system of film stars appeared.
Film stars were the most highly paidactors and actresses, whose names attracted crowds of filmgoers to movie-houses. The starswere necessary for the cash success of the film All over the world, from Berlin and London toTokyo and Buenos Aires millions of people lined up every day to see their favoriteHollywood stars Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pikford, Douglas Ferbenks, Greta Garbo, RomanNavarro and others.. For most people the world of the movies remained a dream world,separate from real life. It helped to create the “American Dream” and to convincecinemagoers that the American way of life was the ideal one. At the same time the moviesmade people think of their own lives, which could be changed and improved.One of the greatest American actors, directors and scriptwriters was Charlie Chaplin(1889-1977).
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