Topic 57 – The united kingdom in the interwar period And during the second world war. Representative authors

OUTLINE

1. INTRODUCTION.

1.1. Aims of the unit.

1.2. Notes on bibliography.

2. A HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FOR THE INTER-WAR YEARS AND THE WORLD WAR II.

2.1. Before the First World War.

2.2. The First World War (1914-1918).

2.3. The inter-War years (1918-1939).

2.3.1. The 1920s.

2.3.2. The 1930s.

2.4. The World War II (1939-1945)

3. A LITERARY BACKGROUND: THE 20^TH-CENTURY ENGLISH LITERATURE.

3.1. Main literary features.

3.2. Main literary forms.

3.2.1. Poetry.

3.2.2. Drama.

3.2.3. Prose.

3.3. Most representative authors.

3.3.1. In poetry.

3.3.2. In drama.

3.3.3. In prose.

4. MAIN EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS.

5. CONCLUSION.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

1. INTRODUCTION.

1.1. Aims of the unit.

The present unit, Unit 57, aims to provide a useful introduction to Great Britain in the inter – War years and during the World War II so as to examine the life, works and style of the most representative authors in this period. In general, the literature of the time was both shaped by and reflected the prevailing ideologies of the day, in which the main social, economic, political, and cultural conditions were overshadowed by the two World Wars. A new age had come, and after the First World War, modernism and experimentalism was felt all over the world, and in particular, in Great Britain where poets, dramatists and novelists constructed a major literary tradition based on the calmness of spirit and leisure of mind as a reaction against the two World Wars (Albert, 1990).

Then, we shall further analyse all this information within a historical and literary background so as to provide an appropriate context for the way they lived and a better understanding of their literary works. Therefore, we shall divide our presentation in five main chapters.

Chapter 2 namely offers a historical background for the inter-War years and the World War II in Great Britain regarding social, economic and political changes so as to provide an overall view of the context in which the most representative authors lived and produced their works. So, we shall divide our study in four main sections regarding the main events occurred (1) before the First World War, during (2) the First World War (1914-1918) in terms of (1) home and (2) international affairs; during (3) the inter-War years (1918-1939), in which we analyse the most outstanding events of (a) the 1920s and (b) the 1930s; and finally, the period during (4) the World War II (1941-1945).

In Chapter 3, with this historical overview in mind, we shall provide a literary background of the period which ranges from the inter-War years to the end of the World War II with the aim of going further into the most representative authors and their masterpieces within the three main literary forms: poetry, drama and prose. Therefore, we shall start by providing first an overview of the (1) main features of the inter-war years and World War II; and second, (2) the main literary forms and their most reprentative authors. Therefore, within (a) poetry, we shall examine the life, works and style of Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973) in England, Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) in Wales, W.B. Yeats (1865-1939) in Ireland, and also, out of Britain, the relevant American poets T.S. Eliot (1888- 1965) and Ezra Pound (1885-1972). Secondly, within (b) drama we include Sean O’Casey (1884- 1964) in Ireland, Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973) and

J.B. Priestley (1894-1984) in England, and the first American dramatist of international significance, Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953); and, finally, within (c) prose, we shall review the following authors: David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930), Virginia Woolf (1882- 1941), Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), Edward Morgan Forster (1879-1970), Evelyn Waugh (1903- 1966), George Orwell (1903-1950), and Graham Greene (1904-) in England, and James Joyce (1882-

1941) in Ireland.

In Chapter 4 will be devoted to the main educational implications in language teaching regarding the introduction of this issue in the classroom setting. Chapter 5 will offer a conclusion to broadly overview our present study, and Chapter 6 will include all the bibliographical references used to develop this account of Great Britain literature in the twentieth century.

1.2. Notes on bibliography.

An influential introduction to Great Britain in the inter-War years and during the World War II so as to examine the life, works and style of the most representative authors in this period is based on Thoorens, Panorama de las literaturas Daimon: Inglaterra y América del Norte. Gran Bretaña y Estados Unidos de América (1969); and Palmer, Historia Contemporánea (1980). The literary background includes the works of Rogers, The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature (1987); Albert, A History of English Literature (1990); Magnusson & Goring, Cambridge Biog raphical Dictionary (1990); Sanders, The Short Oxford History of English Literature (1996); and Speck, Literature and Society in Eighteenth -Century England: Ideology Politics and Culture (1998).

The background for educational implications is based on the theory of communicative competence and communicative approaches to language teaching are provided by the most complete record of current publications within the educational framework is provided by the guidelines in B.O.E. (2004) for both E.S.O. and Bachillerato; the Council of Europe, Modern Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. A Common European Framework of reference (1998); and van Ek and Trim, Vantage (2001). Other sources include Enciclopedia Larousse

2000, Editorial Planeta.

2. A HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FOR THE INTER-WAR YEARS AND THE WORLD WAR II IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Chapter 2 namely offers a historical background for the inter-War years and the World War II in Great Britain regarding social, economic and political changes so as to provide an overall view of the context in which the most representative authors lived and produced their works. So, we shall divide our study in four main sections regarding the main events occurred (1) before the First World War, during (2) the First World War (1914-1918) in terms of (1) home and (2) international affairs; during (3) the inter-War years (1918-1939), in which we analyse the most outstanding events of (a) the 1920s and (b) the 1930s; and finally, the period during (4) the World War II (1941-1945).

2.1. Before the First World War.

The years before the First World War coincide with the accession of Victoria’s son, Edward VII (1841-1910) to the crown, and his reign was known as the Edwardian Age (1901-1910) or the age of the House of Saxe -Coburg-Gotha. Edward was the only British monarch who reigned for nine years at the beginning of the modern age in the early years of the 20th century. He was replaced on his death by King George V (1865-1936), who replaced the German-sounding title with that of the English Windsor during the First World War. Actually, the Windsor title remained in the family under the figure of Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor (1894-1972) and, as we know, the family name is still present in the current Royal Family.

Broadly speaking, under the rule of Edward VII, known as Edward the Peacemaker for his diplomacy in Europe, the kingdom of Britain still felt secure after the Boer War despite the growing forces of discontent and resentment felt by most members of British society due to the international situation. It must be borne in mind that the balance of power in so many areas was shifting in a Europe because of the rise of a united Germany, and in a world in which the United States would soon dominate. Yet, the death of King Edward would mark the dividing line between the security and stability of the nineteenth century and the uncertainties of the twentieth, not only in Great Britain but also on the rest of the world.

Following Laurousse (2000), the First World War came about the result of a breakdown in the European diplomatic system and of the profound economic changes that had been at work within European society. As stated above, England’s domestic problems had dictated foreign policy decisions, such as not to see Germany defeat France again or to lose her imperialist

position as the world’s leading power. Eventually, World War I broke out in August 1914, when Germany declared war on Russia, and trouble in the Balkans precipitated the outbreak of hostilities, which had been stewing for a long time.

Regarding England’s domestic policies in the pre-War years, the following major changes are to be mentioned. Economically, the crisis on the question of tariff reform, which divided the Conservative and Liberal parties; in politics, the rapid rise of men from humble origins to high positions in the government; the greatest industrial unrest in Britain’s history (1911) where nationwide strikes of dock workers, railway men and miners brought the country to a standstill; and finally, in social terms, the passing of the National Insurance Act to ensure the welfare of its citizensby means of which the worker, the employer and the government would contribute to a general fund to pay for free medical treatment, sick pay, disability and maternity benefits.

Moreover, this flood of reforms which took place under the label of socialist experiment brought about important changes in society, such as the introduction of a salary for the Members of Parliament (M.P.’s), the entry of working class members to Parliament; the Union Trade’s liability for strike damage, and the freedom to use their funds in politics. Hours and conditions of labor were also regulated, slum clearances effected, eighty-three labor exchanges set up, and old-age pensions inaugurated as the first installment of social security. All this cost a great deal of money and, as we stated above, came from the pockets of the rich (tariff reform).

Actually, these reforms were further incensed by the Home Rule Bill of 1912 and, since Irish M.P.’s wanted their reward in Home Rule, they helped the Liberals gain power. Yet, the Conservatives did not agree with the idea of Britain splitting up in the face of increasing German hostility and defined this situation as ludicrous. Hence they were aided by the Protesta nt forces of Ulster (most of Northern Ireland), who were equally alarmed at the prospect of being ruled from Dublin. As a result, major civil war loomed in Ireland, and in the mutiny at the Curragh the British Army regulars made it clear that they would not fight against their brothers in Ulster. In 1914, the Home Rule Bill was finally pushed through, but the outbreak of the Great War pushed everything else aside.

On the other hand, regarding foreign policy, it is worth mentioning that by the turn of the century, Prime Minister Arthur Balfour (1902- 1905) saw that Britain needed to strengthen its defenses after the humiliations of the Boer War and a Committee of Imperial Defence was created. Hence the Civil Service was itself enriched by a steady stream of educated, qualified young men and Britain’s naval defenses were also improved so as to further meet the threat from the new German fleet. Moreover, it had become increasingly apparent to many, both in

and out of government, that the possession of an Empire would not cure Britain’s domestic problems but, on the contrary, could only waste the nation’s resources (the costly adventures in Afghanistan, the Sudan and South Africa), sorely needed to aid its own people and its own land.

Actually, in the heady day of Empire, Germany’s support of the Boer farmers (arms and guns) boded ill for future relations between the two countries and also developed a new rivalry over their respective navies. So, Britain’s foreign policy changed drastically during the first few years of the new century and, instead of the old cordiality towards Germany and fear of a combined France and Russia, she now became friendly towards France and Russia and hostile to Germany. As a result, an Anglo-French agreement in 1904, mainly over their respective interests in Egypt and Morocco, alarmed the Germans.

The question now arose of what would be Britain’s response on a dispute concerning Morocco. The answer can be found in the summer maneuvers of the English army that assumed Germany, not France, would be the enemy. Germany also felt humiliated by the Treaty of Algeciras that temporarily settled the Morocco question, and felt surrounded by hostile powers, a feeling that grew alarmingly after the 1906 Anglo-Russian Entente. Its reply was to build up its navy, including the Dreadnought, a threat to England’s long-held supremacy at sea.

Yet, the troubles began out of the British Isles, in Bosnia, with the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June, 1914 since, after it, the military chiefs of many nations were all ready to go to war. Then two main events created a huge dilemma for Britain: first, Austria declared war on Serbia (with the Kaiser’s support) and, second, Germany declared war on Russia and on France. This meant that Britain should give full military support to France (and her allies) and also to stay out of Europe altogether in a policy of complete neutrality. Yet, Germany violated the neutrality of Belgium in August and eventually Britain went to war on the side of France.

2.2. The First World War (1914-1918).

The length of the First World War was completely unpredicted as well as its enormous death toll and resources. Actually, from beginning to end the years of warfare are regarded as a costly war of attrition since neither side (the German offensive and the combined French-British armies) gained any real advantage. In this section we shall try to provide an overall view of the situation of Great Britain in and out home under the heading of (1) home and (2) international affairs.

2.2.1. Home affairs.

Regarding domestic affairs, there was a strong feeling of unrest all over Great Britain during the War in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. In Scotland within the industrial belt the intense labor conflict gave the name Red Clyde to its shipbuilding region. After it, a series of episodes, pitting management’s use of semi- or unskilled labor against the militant unions, produced such well- known activists as James Maxton, John Wheatley, John Maclean and Emmanual Shinwell, and culminated in the George Square riot in Edinburgh of 1919 that practically ensured the Labour Party’s national victory in the General Election of 1922.

Also, the matter of Ireland became a serious trouble to the confidence of a seemingly-united Great Britain. The war had presented the opportunity the Irish nationalists had been waiting for since the postponement of the Home Rule Act of 1914. When they seized their opportunity to attack British rule in Ireland, the execution of many of their leaders following the Easter Monday Rising in Dublin (1916), made reconciliation between the two countries impossible since the British government failed to separate its important Irish prisoners.

Finally, an internment camp at Frongoch, in North Wales, later known as “Sinn Fein ” University, brought together many who would later become key figures in the fight for independence, including Michael Collins (later to become Director of Intelligence as well as chief organizer) and Richard Mulcahy (later to become Chief of Staff). Prisoners were inspired by hearing the Welsh language all around the camp declare a republic in which Gaelic would be the national language. In 1918, following the General Election, the successful Sinn Feiners refused their seats at Westminster and formed the Dail Eireann that proclaimed the Irish Republic on January 21, 1919.

2.2.2. International affairs.

Regarding international affairs, the war produced one large-scale battle and a few smaller engagements. At sea, the first British actions (1914) resulted in the German fleet heading for home, allowing the Royal Navy to continue to dominate the sea routes, to supply new fronts in the Eastern Mediterranean (with limited successes), and to impose an economic blockade upon Germany and her allies. Yet, in reply, Germany showed the strengths of a new kind of weapon: the submarine, which was followed by the sinking of the Lusitania off Kinsale Head, Ireland in May 1915. This new weapon would have enormous consequences for the later stages of the war as the entry of the United States in the warfare in 1917.

In 1915 Lloyd George and Winston Churchill designed the Gallipoli campaign for three main reasons: to attack weaker spots of the enemy’s front by combining military and naval forces; to force Turkey to abandon her support of Germany, circumvent Bulgaria’s entry into the war, and bring Greece into the side of the allies. In the campaign, they failed to co-ordinate their activities, and all the objectives of the bold but totally mismanaged campaign were lost. As a result, a feeling of hostility was felt in the attitude of Australia and New Zealand (still evident today in their progress towards republican status, despite lingering affection for the mother country). On the other hand, the Western front allied losses also caused great concern.

By the end of 1916 (late December), Lloyd George took charge of a coalition ministry so as to get things done in a time of great crisis, for instance, the conduct of the war, the losses incurred, and the difficulties in Ireland which needed drastic measures (the brutal suppression of the Easter Rising almost turned Ireland against Britain though national loyalty to the Crown might have been kept). In addition, this coalition ministry provided a new test of character of the British people on accounting for military deadlock, successful U-boat offensive and the onset of revolution in Russia.

The introduction of an organized convoy system set a barrier in the success rate of the German submarines in sinking allied supply ships. British efforts were rewarded by the entry of the United States into the War in April, 1917. It is worth remembering that before this date the great majority of Americans were firmly neutral and determined to avoid intervention (both in thought and action) unle ss American rights and interests were violated (an official proclamation of neutrality was proclamated in 1915). Yet, in April 6, 1917 the United States was finally drawn into the war against Germany and its allies due to the unrestricted German submarine warfare on Atlantic shipping.

The United States contribution was decisive in the outcome because of its military superiority both in armament and people. Hence it provided Britain with the ships to overcome the submarine threat and also, with the American Expeditionary Force on September 1918 to France. As a result, this military power inclined the balance on the western front and helped to end the war in November 1918. As a result, the Armistice of 1918 set the first order of the day in peace terms for the victorious allies (Britain, France, the USA, Italy, Japan and to a lesser extent Russia) and also for the defeated powers (Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey and Hungary).

Next year, the United States was also influential in the writing of the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the war in June, 1919. At Versailles, Britain was represented by Lloyd George

Britain who pressed for severe penalties against the Germans, and came up against the idealism of President Wilson (USA), anxious to have his plans for a League of Nations implemented; and France was represented by Clemenceau of France, who wished for even more severe recriminations against Germany.

2.3. The inter-War years (1918-1939).

Yet, the period of inter-wars (1918-1939) was, according to Albert (1990:507), “overshadowed by the two World Wars –the after-effects of the first and the forebodings of the second. After the Treaty of Versailles [1919] attention in England was still mainly concentrated on foreign affairs- the growing pains of the new League of Nations, uncertainty in the Middle East, and troubles in India and Ireland. The Treaties of Locarno (1925) diminished, at least temporarily, anxieties in Europe, and home affairs began again to dominate English political thought.”

As stated above, the final treaty of Versailles marked the beginning of the inter-War period and therefore, the reparations in all the nations which took place in the war. Yet, the “war-guilt” clauses were later seen as a future cause of discontent since they later became an excuse for Herr Hitler to begin his efforts to countermand them. The United States did not ratify the treaty, and the disunity that prevailed after its signing did not bode well for the future of Europe. Eventually, the United States and Russia did not join the League of Nations that met for the first time in Geneva in November, 1920.

Broadly speaking, the inter-War period is namely characterized by three main factors: economic weakness, social conflicts and political reorganization. Hence it is regarded as a period of rehabilitation, grave economic conditions for the British Empire and the introduction of new economic measures to improve social welfare; social conflicts (social agitation, the introduction of new social statements), and politically, the reorganization of the Commonwealth and Irish problems.

2.2.1.1. The 1920s.

In the 1920s the government policy was namely focus on home affairs. Actually, the Anglo- Irish war began in 1920, lasting until December 1920 when atrocities and counter atrocities by both sides finally led to the Government of Ireland Act. This Act divided Ireland into Northern Ireland (the largest part of Ulster) and Southern Ireland, giving both parts Home Rule, but

reserving taxation powers for the Westminster Parliament. It seemed that no one in Ireland was satisfied and guerrilla warfare intensified. Then the coalition government in London was finally convinced that a policy of reconciliation was needed and a truce in July, 1921 was followed by the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December.

The Irish delegation was somehow persuaded by Lloyd George to accept the offer of Dominion status within the Commonwealth rather than hold out for an independent republic, and the Irish Free State came into being (6 December,1922). Actually, a basic condition was established by British: the six counties of Northern Ireland (mainly Protestant) should not be coerced into a united Ireland (that is, the other 32 counties, mainly Catholic).

However, one of the participants in the Easter Rising who had escaped from Lincoln Gaol (Eamon De Valera) objected to the oath of allegiance to the Crown and formed a new party, the Republican Party, which was against the government of Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins. This meant the beginning of a bitter civil war which ended in April 1923 when De Valera, who had been elected President of the Irish Free State in 1919, ordered a cease fire. As a result, Eire was finally declared a republic in April 1948, with Northern Ireland remaining as part of the United Kingdom.

In the meantime, the British economy had undergone a major downturn due to the not-so-far World War I and the more recent Anglo-Irish war. The Government did not fulfill its promises of a better society in which there would be a higher standard of living and security of employment and as a result, there was a high public and foreign debt together with a serious problem of unemployment. Yet, one of the main factors was that productivity rate fell rapidly since many countries, which had been dependent upon British manufactured goods, were now making their own. In other words, the traditional industries of cotton, coal mining and shipbuilding found it difficult to compete in world markets and to adapt to more modern methods. As a result, millions of workers were unemployed.

Moreover, after 1922 the Liberal Party began to lose its standing in the polls despite the fact that it had allivated conditions of poverty and had improved social conditions. The main reason is to be drawn from the increasing social security measures that the political program of the Labour Party advocated (a national minimum wage, the nationalization of basic industries -coal, railways and electricity- , the imposition of higher taxation to pay for social welfare, and to reduce the burden of the National Debt). Hence the “dole”, commonly known as the unemployment benefit, allowed workers to survive while unemployed.

So, in October 1924 Britain once more turned to the Conservatives under Stanley Baldwin. Despite the fact that in these days the National Trades Union Congress approved a General Strike in support of miners caused by the reduction of wages, it proved ineffective to handle the nation’s industrial problems as had Labour. Moreover, in 1925 Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill returned Britain to the gold standard, which meant that the pound was devalued, British goods (coal, steel, machinery, textiles, ships, cargo rates and other goods and services) became over-priced, and Britain’s share of the world export market declined rapidly.

The resulting unemployment and wage cuts caused serious repercussions in the industrial areas, where strikes became common. Actually, a general strike took place in 1926 but the government took no action to bring about the reoganization of the iron, steel, coal, cotton and ship building industry and in 1927 passed a statute that declared sympathetic strikes illegal. Then, under the Conservative government of Stanley Baldwin, only a modest program of social reform took place, mainly to appease workin g class opinion. The Widows, Orphans and Old Age Health Contributory Pension schemes extended the Act of 1911 and insured over 20 million people.

In 1928, all women over twenty one were given the vote by the Equal Franchise Act. Also, under Health Minister Neville Chamberlain, the Local Government Act of 1929 reduced the number of local government authorities and extended the services they provided. There was still lacking a coherent policy to deal with the relief of unemployment. A Labour government, ele cted in 1929, came to power at the beginning of a world-wide depression triggered by the Wall Street Crash, but could do little to remedy the situation at home, and eventually, its government ended in 1931.

2.2.1.2. The 1930s.

So, in the 1930’s and, particularly, from 1931 to 1945 the Conservative Party had electoral success and things improved a little under a national government comprised of members from all parties, led by Ramsey MacDonald. So, a series of decisions made this government recover in some areas, for instance, the abandonment of the gold standard and the decision to let the pound find its own value against the American dollar made British export prices more competitive in world markets; agriculture was aided by the adoption of a protective tariff and import quotas in 1931; also, a building boom followed the increase in population which made possible new health measures; old industries were replaced by newer ones such as automobiles, electrical appliances, chemicals, steel, textiles; and finally, there were also changes made in the

relationship of Britain to her colonies. As a result, unemployment was controlled before 1941, that is, before the World War II.

Regarding the British colonies, it must be borne in mind that the white-settled colonies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa had been virtually independent of Britain since the Durham Report of 1839. Yet, the Statute of Westminster (1931) removed much legal inferiority not addressed in 1839, and Great Britain had to suppress the legislative limitations over the colonial countries and establish cooperation among the members of the Commonwealth. So, the independence of the Dominions was now established, and the Crown remained as a symbol of the free association of the members of the British Commonwealth. Eventually, in July 1932 the Imperial Economic Conference met in Ottawa (Canada) to hash out the problems of Dominion economic policies and to settle the matter of their exports to Britain.

At the conference, Britain agreed to abandon free trade and, in turn, the Commonwealth nations were to provide markets for British exports, including textiles, steel, cars and telecommunications equipment. Yet, in 1932, King George initiated the Christmas Day radio broadcasts that served to link the Commonwealth countries to England, but their loyalty was to be actually proved in World War II during the reign of George VI¹. Then, in the late 1930’s Britain’s foreign policy was overshadowed by problems at home. While domestic policies still had to find a way out of the unemployment mess, it was vainly hoped that the League of Nations would keep the peace, and while the aggressive moves by Germany, Italy and Japan may not have been totally ignored in Westminster, their implications were not fully grasped.

In Germany, Hitler proclaimed the Third Reich in March 1934 by means of which his regime was given dictatorial powers and the Nazis opened their first concentration camp for Jews, gypsies and political prisoners. On July 30 he had become Chancellor on a rising tide of nationalism and economic unrest and in August, he became President of the Reich at the death of Hindenburg. Also, early in 1935 he announced open conscription in defiance of the conditions laid down at Versailles. Unencumbered by obsolete equipment and even more obsolete thinking that hindered the British and the French, the German republic was able to dominate Europe in the following years.

Actually, Germany and Italy, headed by their respective dictators, Hitler and Mussolini signed the pact known as the Rome-Berlin Axis, through which both leaders supported General

¹ Notice that George had come to the throne in 1936 after the abdication of his older brother Edward VIII since he had to renounce the throne because he wanted to marry the American divorcee Mrs. Simpson.

Franco’s fascists in the Spanish Civil War (1936- 39). Britain and France then stood back for fear of precipitating a general European war and protested, but they embolded Hit ler to such extent that his troops marched into Austria (1938), then surrounded Bohemia and also demanded modifications to the Czech frontier (Sudetenland). On trying to avoid a catastrophic war, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain along with the French Premier agreed in handing over the Sudetenland to Germany, but soon they realized Hitler’s plans: to dominate Europe, which was a guarantee of immediate war.

2.4. The World War II (1939-1945).

Since then a string of successes followed: on September 3, 1939 Britain declared war on Germany; two days after Hitler’s armies had invaded Poland; France followed Britain by declaring war on Germany; Stalin also took advantage of the situation to attack Finland; Britain then prepared for total war²; British beaches were mined; tank traps and other obstacles to invading forces appeared everywhere; air raid shelters were dug in back gardens and London subway stations prepared for their influx of nightly sleepers. Yet, Hitler’s legions occupied Denmark and then brushed aside a Franco-British force sent to help Norway, and soon German forces controlled France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway and Romania, leaving Britain alone in the West to face the Nazi hordes.

Hence in May 1940, Norway faced the German attack and, after a long, bloody war, it eventually emerged victorious. In Britain, the old and retired (playing the role of plane spotters, air-raid wardens and night watchmen) and namely single women (the so-called Women’s Land Army working as radar operators, mechanics, truck drivers and pilots in non-combat roles) had a major role in armed services. Then, when France signed an armistice (June, 1940), Mussolini entered the war and supported Germany, believing that Britain was doomed and that he could pick up rich spoils in Africa. When France fell, the British army was forced to evacuate the continent at Dunkirk, but trained millions of new soldiers to defend its Empire. In the meantime, Soviet troops entered the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to incorporate them into the USSR.

The Royal Navy destroyed the French fleet anchored at Oran in North Africa after France formed a Vichy government under Marshal Petain. In the Atlantic, German U-boats were destroying thousands of allied shipping, but Britain waited patiently for the situation to change.

_{Actually, Hitler expected Britain to come to terms, but Churchill’s rejected it. As a result, Hitler}

² _{Cities were blacked out, rationing was imposed and rigidly enforced; children from the larger cities were moved}

into the countryside, clouds of barrage balloons filled the English skies, housewives turned in their pots and pans for

planned to destroy the Royal Air Force on an invasion of England since the English coast was only a few minutes away from conquered France. In fact, the Battle of Britain began in July 10,

1940, with an attack of German bombers on England, and all that stood between the German armies and the planned invasion of Britain was the Fighter Command of the Royal Air Force.

Hitler attacked London by air, concentrating mainly on airfields and radar installations, but the German pilots lost their way and missed their intended targets. Then, when British planes bombed Berlin to retaliate for bombs dropped on London, Hitler was determined to take revenge but he miscalculated the resilience of the Royal Air Force. So, on ordering the Luftwaffe to destroy London, he made a grave error. The British Air Force used a secret new weapon: the Radar, which gave them a decided advantage over incoming German airplanes.

So, the RAF fought on in what was a war of attrition in the air. Eventually, after many losses Hitler postponed the invasion of Britain on September 17, 1940 and turned his attention to Russia. In June 1941, Hitler delayed his assault on Russia since he feared a British attack against his flank from Greece. Next, in September 1940, German boats sank 160,000 tons of British shipping after a total blockade of the British Isles. Yet, British merchant ships were set out into the Atlantic to bring supplies from America as if nothing had happened. Then, their courage in carrying on business as usual relayed to the United States by radio commentators and had a profound effect upon American opinion, especially upon the President.

This is the reason why President Roosevelt came to the aid of the beleaguered island nation despite that fact that America was neutral in the war and still at peace with Europe. Then he ordered his fleet to sink German submarines on sight and in November, British ships destroyed the Italian fleet at Taranto, which helped the Royal Navy manage to keep control of the Mediterranean throughout the war. Yet, on December 7, 1941 Japan, which had concluded a pact with the Axis powers in order to fulfil her designs on the Pacific three months before, attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and, almost at once, Roosevelt directed organization of the Nation’s manpower and resources for global war.

Four days later (December 11) Germany’s and Italy’s declarations of war against the United States brought the nation irrevocably into the war. Japanese forces then captured the British possessions of Malaya, Burma, Hong Kong and Singapore, the great symbol of the British Empire, and then advanced practically unopposed to the borders of India in the West and Australia in the South. Roosevelt then became the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces

_{and felt that the future peace of the world would depend upon relations between the United}

scrap, iron fences, railing and gateposts disappeared into blast furnaces, gas masks were issued to every single person,

including babies; total blackout was imposed and rigorously enforced by air Draid wardens

States and Russia. So, he devoted much thought to the planning of a United Nations, in which, he hoped, international difficulties could be settled.

He moved to create a great alliance against the Axis powers through “The Declaration of the United Nations” on January 1, 1942, in which all nations fighting the Axis agreed not to make a separate peace and pledged themselves to a peacekeeping organization (now the United Nations) on victory. The United States and its allies invaded North Africa in November 1942 and Sicily and Italy in 1943. The D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches in France on June

6, 1944, were followed by the allied invasion of Germany six months later. By April 1945

victory in Europe was certain and on May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered. The War in Europe came to an end on May 8, 1945, but the War in the Pacific ended four months later, on August

14, 1945, when Japan surrendered after the American Airforce dropped atomic bombs on

Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

3. A LITERARY BACKGROUND: THE MOST REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORS.

In Chapter 3, with this historical overview in mind, we shall provide a literary background of the period which ranges from the inter-War years to the end of the World War II with the aim of going further into the most representative authors and their masterpieces within the three main literary forms: poetry, drama and prose. The two periods are to be characterized by the dominance of the novel as a vehicle for the sociological studies which attracted most of the great artists, and the rebirth of drama, which appeared after more than a hundred years of insignificance since the time of Shakespeare. Like the novelists, most of the important dramatists were namely concerned with the contemporary social scene, and though, towards the end of the period, there are signs of a revival of poetic drama, and prose continues as the normal medium.

Yet, the period of inter-wars (1918-1939) and the World War II (1939- 1945) was, according to Albert (1990:507), “overshadowed by the two World Wars –the after-effects of the first and the forebodings of the second. After the Treaty of Versailles, attention in England was still mainly concentrated on foreign affairs- the growing pains of the new League of Nations, uncertainty in the Middle East, and troubles in India and Ireland. The Treaties of Locarno (1925) diminished, at least temporarily, anxieties in Europe, and home affairs began again to dominate English political thought.”

The thirties was a period of great distress, since there was mounting tension abroad due to the rise to power of the Nazis in Germany from 1934 until 1939, and also at home, where spiritually the period saw the immediate post-War mood of desperate gaiety. Also, determined frivolity gave way to doubt, uncertainty of aim, and a deeper self-questioning on ethical, social, and political problems, until the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, followed by the critical situation after the evacuation of Dunkirk, which enabled the nation to achieve a new unanimity of purpose.

Therefore, we shall start by providin g first an overview of the (1) main features of the inter-war years and World War II; and second, (2) the main literary forms and their most reprentative authors. Therefore, within (a) poetry, we shall examine the life, works and style of Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973) in England, Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) in Wales, W.B. Yeats (1865-

1939) in Ireland, and also, out of Britain, the relevant American poets T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

and Ezra Pound (1885-1972).

Secondly, within (b) drama we include Sean O’Casey (1884-1964) in Ireland, Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973) and J.B. Priestley (1894-1984) in England, and the first American dramatist of international significance, Eugene O’Neill (1888- 1953); and, finally, within (c) prose, we shall review the following authors: David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930), Virginia Woolf (1882-

1941), Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), Edward Morgan Forster (1879-1970), Evelyn Waugh

(1903-1966), George Orwell (1903-1950), and Graham Greene (1904-) in England, and James

Joyce (1882-1941) in Ireland.

3.1. Main features of the inter-war period and WWII.

The main features of literature in the inter-war period and WWII are summed up in five key concepts: the breakdown of established values, the resurgence of poetry, the variety of technical experiments in most literary genres, the influence of radio and cinema, and the speed of life. Thus,

(1) a breakdown of established values because of the perplexity and uncertainty which sprang from the post-War situation. Many different reactions regarding spiritual values were equalled by a great variety of literary work.

(2) Hence the resurgence of poetry whereas the novel and drama were the protagonists in the previous years. Actually, the pre-War years had seen relative eclipse of poetry, and the dominance of the novel and drama as literary forms, but a new and living poetical

tradition was demanded and was met between the Wars in his own work and in that of the new poets (T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Cecil Day Lewis, Louis MacNeice). Following Albert (1990:508), “poetry again became a vital literary form closely in touch with life, and if it did not oust the novel from its primacy it certainly outstripped the drama”.

(3) Also, there was a desire for new forms and methods of presentation, and in all the major literary genres the age produced revolutionary developments thanks to two important inventions of the twentieth century: the radio and the cinema.

(4) Actually, the radio and the cinema had an enormous impact on the rapid development of the media and also, had important effects on the literature of the time, which applied these two media techniques. It must be borne in mind that this novelty reduced the time devoted to reading (prose) and going to the theatre (drama) since the radio brought literature at home and the cinema brought a new form of leisure activity. In the form of broadcast stories, plays, films, or literary discussion, a new field was opened for authors who applied film techniques to a number of experiments in the novel.

(5) Finally, since people lived in a new atmosphere of fear and restlessness, the demand was “for more and faster action, stronger and more violent stimulus, and the general atmosphere thus created was by its very nature inimical to the cultivation of literary pursuits, which necessarily demand a degree of calmness of spirit and leisure of mind (Albert, 1990:509).”

3.2. Main literary forms.

3.2.1. Poetry.

Broadly speaking, the hopes for a new world quickly disappeared in people’s minds after the World War I and even less during the WWII, which caused a general feeling of disillusionment and despair. Writers witnessed how culture disintegrated with no positive values to replace it and soon they felt the need for a new world, for a new outlook on life. Following Albert (1990), the overall impression of this inter-war years coincide with a new awareness of sociological factors which affect poetry, for instance, developments in poetic technique, the difficulty of modern poetry, the combination of psychology and politics, the rise of surrealism and new traditionalism, and the quest for stability. Thus,

developments in poetic technique were soon demanded to show a more realistic way to face up to those difficult years. So, there was a change from old poetic forms to free

verse, and also to sprung rhythms, complex verba l patterns, and disregard for normal syntax.

The emphasis on the evolution of new forms gave way to a great difficulty of modern poetry, thus the dominance of form on content and the use of eccentric themes. Hence this difficulty caused an increase in the use of ‘vers libre’ and obscurity to appeal the complex states of mind. This trend was encouraged by the popularity of the metaphysical conceit, which accompanied the rebirth of symbolism (Yeats, French Symbolistes) and the imitation of allusiveness (Eliot). Poetry reflected the situation of those inter-war years: complexity, a refined sensibility, and the use of allusive and indirect language.

Psychology and politics tried to come together under the figures of Sigmund Freud and

Karl Marx, respectively, so as to find a solution to the world problems. Already in the

1920s psychological research made poets turn their attention to the investigation of the hidden impulses of man, and the development of techniques such as the internal monologue and the stream of consciousness in characters. On the other hand, political ideas took up the cause of the masses, whose lives they studied with genuine sympathy and often with striking realism. The Republican support to the Spanish Civil War together with a proletarian sympathy was seen by contemporary England in the form of cheap satire.

The rise of surrealism and new traditionalism also contributed to poetry writing, for instance, the former as an over-simplification of a complex and constantly shifting situation which meant the escape from the complex problems of contemporary life by means of experiments; the latter as the expression of the individual emotional development and their reactions to their environment. Poetry was then characterized by a detailed observation and lucid phraseology, concise expression, ironic style, stirred by love and sex, out of the scope of experiments, and also on the line of dramatic monologue.

Finally, the quest for stability increased as there was still no strongly established poetic tradit ion to compare in stability with that of the Victorian age, but a constructive approach to life. During the inter-War years we find a great proportion of didactic verse, and the numerous attempts to find a solution to the problems of a perplexed generation through the use of lyric poetry.

3.2.2. Drama.

As for poetry, the situation of the inter-War years was deeply felt in the English theatre, and therefore, in Ireland within the Irish Literary Revival Drama. Following Albert (1990), after the

war the sociological factors which affected this literary form were, broadly speaking, the conditions in the theatre, the decline of realism, the development of comedy, the popularity of the history play, the revival of poetic drama and the experiments abroad and at home. Thus,

By the 1920s the conditions in the English theatre was defined as poor since there were no worth productions since Shaw’s Pygmalion (1913). The increasing demand for light and escapist entertaintment for troops had made spectacle and musical comedy supreme on the London stage. It must be borne in mind that in the early part of this period the cause of serious drama in England depended almost entirely on a few enlightened individuals (Lilian Baylis, Sir Barry Jackson, Sir Nigel Playfair). In addition, the arrival of the cinema constituted a new threat to the theatre since it quickly became the main way of entertainment of the masses. The cinema was a powerful competitor as it is today due to the ability to offer sensation, spectacle on a scale impossible in the theatre, and the novelty of a new art form.

Other hopeful aspects of dramatic activity are found under the growth of the amateur dramatic movement regarding the British Drama League (1919) and the Scottish Community Drama Association, both created to stimulate drama. Yet, it must be born in mind that and this growth of repertory in England and Ireland (1890-1918) was promoted by the arduous struggle to create an audience for the new drama (troops). This led to seek additional support in the provinces, and thus came into being the repertory movement³, whose chief aim was to encourage the writing of realistic problem plays in the new tradition, and among the dramatists who there came to the fore were St John Ervine (1883-1971), W. Stanley Houghton (1881-1913) and Allan Monkhouse (1858-

1936).

Repertory companies of distinction were founded in Liverpool (1911) and Birmigham (1913). But most important of the theatrical developments outside London was the creation of the Irish National Theatre in Dublin. Of the dramatists who wrote for this theatre, Yeats and Synge looked on the drama as a thing of the emotions, and, reacting against realism, sought their themes among the legends, folklore, and peasantry of Ireland.

The decline of realism takes pla ce after the 1920s, that is, after realism and naturalism

_{had dominated the work of most English dramatists. Yet, the movement from realism is}

³ A season of Shaw repertory was given in 1904 at the Court Theatre under the Vedrenne-Barker management, and in 1907 Miss A.E.F. Horniman (1860-1937) abandoned her active interest in the Abbey

Theatre, Dublin to found “Miss Horniman’s Company,” which, at the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester,

developed into the Manchester Repertory Company.

the keynote of the inter-War period and is namely reflected in the greatest new inter- War dramatist, O’Casey, though he bases his plays on a truthful picture of Dublin slum life, and has the ability to transform his works into real poetry, where the new literary trends are sentimentalism and the concern with the after-life.

The development of comedy caught the atmosphere of the later twenties and therefore was quite popular. Yet, there were not major comedy writers as in the novel.

Similarly, the popularity of the history play was only second to that of comely. Yet, the vogue of this genre in modern times began witht he work of John Drinkwater (1882-

1937), who was one of the founders of the Birmingham Repertory Company, where

numerous history plays took place.

The revival of poetic drama is another development of the inter-War period which, according to Albert (1990:556) “illustrates the dissatisfaction with realism and the tradition of naturalistic prose dialogue.” Many experiments in verse drama followed, but their success on the commercial stage was very limited. Thus,, T. S. Eliot’s plays attracted considerable attention and also those of James Elroy Flecker. Yet, as in the pre-War period, the real spirit of poetic drama was caught by one whose normal medium was prose. Even apart from his ‘expressionist’ experiments, we may say that O’Casey’s works show more of the genuine poetic fire than that of any of the dramatists here mentioned except T.S. Eliot.

Finally, the experiments abroad and at home also affected the literary forms. The reaction against realism was felt on the Continent before it was felt in England. By 1920 there was experimental drama being written in Russia, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Italy, and France. Expressionism was the most influential experiment since drama was concerned not only with society but also with man. “It aimed to offer a deep, subjective, psychological analysis, not so much of an individual as of a type, and it made much of the subconscious” (Albert, 1999:557). In addition, the expressionists threw the conventional structure in favour of an unrestricted freedom, full of a mix between verse and prose, symbolic figures, embodiments of inner, secret impulses so as to make clear the psychological complexities of character.

The most outstanding expressionist dramatists were the American Eugene O’Neill and

Elmer Rice. In England the influence of expressionism is to be seen in O’Casey, Priestley, and James Bridie.

3.2.3. Prose.

There is no doubt that the Victorian era was the age of the English novel, namely realistic, thickly plotted, crowded with characters, and long. By the end of the period, the novel was considered not only the premier form of entertainment but also a primary means of analyzing and offering solutions to social and political problems, only challenged by the revival of drama towards the last two decades. This king style, the novel, is presented with a political, philosophical or social overtone since was the ideal form to describe contemporary life and to entertain the middle class.

Yet, the twentieth century witnesses the development of the novel into new revolutionary techniques as well as the genres of poetry and drama. Thus, we shall examine the novel in relation to, for instance, the new approach as an interpreter of life, experiments in the evolution of a new technique, the influence of pshychology, the lack of popularity of the new novelists, writers in the established tradition, war books, satire, escapist novels, the autobiographical- novel-sketch comedies, and the growth of the American novel under the figures of the lost generation.

The novel was regarded as an interpreter of life since it reflected the disillusionment, cynicism, despair, and bewilderment in face of the crumbling of established moral values which characterize the post-War world and even the WWII. These features, combined with its form and content, made the inter-War generation look to the novel for an interpretation of the contemporary scene. According to Albert (1990:521), we may distinguish three main groups of novelists: first, those who attempted to replace the old values for new ones; second, those who portrayed the complexities of inter-War life; and finally, those who focused attention on the impact of life on the individual consciousness and on characters rather than action.

This practice is closely connected to impressionism which gives way to expressionistic techniques based on experiments, which establish a clear difference between the pre- War novel (Henry James) and that of the inter-War years (James Joyce). Namely the novel develops from having a controlled, finished, artistic form to have a more loose, fluid, and less coherent one; from presenting an outward appearance to inner realities of life; from a simple chronological development of plot to a complex and discontinuous one. Apart from James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Aldous Huxley, other who experimented in this way included Dorothy Miller Richardson and May Sinclair.

Yet, the most representative technique of this period is drawn from the influence of pshychology so as to present the mind of the characters: the stream of consciousness,

the use of the interior monologue, the detailed tracing of the association of ideas, and an allusive style. The rapid development of the science of psychology did much to deepen and enrich the study of human character in the early years, but its full impact came with the works of Sigmund Freud about the study of personality. This opened the way to the exploration of the vast fields of the subconscious and the unconscious so as to dwell the mind of characters, which meant a breakdown of Victorian moral attitudes.

The lack of popularity of the new novelists is not surprising, according to Alfred (1990:524) as their concern with the subtlest shades of motive and inner impulse called for readers while the preoccupation of some with the morbid mental states provoked distaste. So, it is not surprising either that writers in the Established tradition were inevitably more popular since they wrote after the manner of an earlier generation. Among these writers we find Sir Hugh Walpole (1884-1941), William Somerset Maugham (1874- 1965), John Boynton Priestley (1894-), Sir Compton Mackenzie (1883-1972), Francis Brett Young (1884- 1954), and Robert Graves (1895-), among others.

“Another reflection of the disillusionment of the post-War generation is to be found in the literature on the War itself, which began to appear once the catastrophe was sufficiently remote”. Among the War writers we include Edmund Blunden (1896- 1974), Robert Graves (1895-), and C.E. Montague (1867-1928), among others.

Satire was also common as a form of fiction. Satirist writers are Rose Macaulay (1881-

1958), Ronald Firbank (1886-1926), and Cyril Connolly (1903-1974).

Another genre was escapist novels, characteristic of all periods of great emotional and moral tension. This type of novel was highly demanded in the 1920s, which was partly met by imaginative, fantastic, and light writing. Among the most representative writers we include Norman Douglas, Walter de la Mare, and David Garnett.

We also find autobiographical-novel-sketch comedies with tragic implications which particularly show the after-war situation in the 1930s. Thus, popular writers are Christopher Isherwood, Richard Hughes, and Leopold Hamilton Myers, among others. Finally, it is worth mentioning the growth of the American novel since it is one of the most striking features of the period. Following Albert (1990:528), “since the turn of the century, not only has the U.S.A. given encouragement and shelter to artists whose work met with opposition in this country, but Americans have been among the boldest so far as experiments in technique are concerned. The basis of most of their work was realism, the depiction of the contemporary scene no matter how unlovely, the exposure of corruption and lack of moral values in organizations and in people , the consideration of

emotional crises and moral dilemmas at all levels of society, and the portrayal of the individual and the depths or heights with which he can be faced”.

3.3. Most representative authors.

3.3.1. In poetry.

Among the poetry figures of this period (Geoffrey, 1996), we may mention Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844- 1889), Stephen Spender (1909-1977), C. Day Lewis (1904-1972), Louis MacNeice (1907-1963), and Dame Edith Sitwell (1887-1964), among others. Yet, we shall particularly focus on the most representative ones in Great Britain: Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-

1973) in England, Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) in Wales, W.B. Yeats (1865-1939) in Ireland,

and also, out of Britain, the relevant American poets T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) and Ezra Pound

(1885-1972).

3.3.1.1. Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-1973).

Following Albert (1990:538-540), he was the son of a doctor and “was educated at Gresham’s School, Holt, and Oxford. On leaving the university he spent some time in Germany. During the Spanish Civil War he served with the Republican forces in non-combatant capacities, and his interests in Spanish politics was reflected in one of his finest poems, Spain . He left England for the U.S.A. in 1939, became a citizen of that country, and lived there until 1972, save for the period when he was Professor of Poetry at Oxford.”

“Though still a young man, he was accepted as a leading poet, and one whose influece was felt in much contemporary verse. It has been said that he merely followed the fashion; rather, in his day he set the fashion. He came under the influence of Hopkins and Eliot, and, like the latter, he was deeply aware of the hollowness of a disintegrating civilization during ‘A time of crisis and dismay’, to quote his own words. But, unlike Eliot, Auden found his solution to the world’s problems in left-wing political ideologies. A spokesman of the masses (whom he contemplated with warm understanding, compassion, and deep insight), Auden showed clearly in his early poetry a faith in violent social upheaval as a means to a better order.”

“Yet he was outspokingly anti-Romantic, and, like others in his group of writer-friends, stressed the importance of ‘clinical’ and ‘objective’ attitudes. At times he over-simplified issues for the

sake of emphasizing his radical views, often he swept on in generalizations; but he had the ability to experience and express the spirit of the age, the questionings and hopes and dreads of a generation about to confront fascism. However, the frequent image of a lone wanderer in an empty landscape makes one consider whether Auden himself had any sure faith in the creeds which were supposedly his guides. His later poems revealed a new note of mysticism in his approach to human problems. The change resulted partly from his living in the U.S.A. away from the European war and partly from a new stirring towards Christianity; this concern with religion and the effect it had on his poetry may be compared with T.S. Eliot. The best poetry in this later style is to be found in Nones (1951).”

“He attempted, with considerable success, to prevent poetry from becoming exclusively

‘highbrow’, and found subjects among the everyday, often sordid, realities of a diseased social order. Modern influences strongly felt in his work were those of the psychologists, particularly of Freud; and Auden was profoundly conscious of sex and its importance in human relationships. His approach to everything around him was that of the intelligent intellectual, and he followed Eliot in his partiality for the poetry of the Metaphysicals, especia lly in their use of allegory and of detailed images unified into a pattern.”

“It is therefore not unexpectedly that one finds much of his best work in exquisite and often movingly tender lyrics, songs and sonnets, where he is least concerned with sociological theories. Nor should one forget that he was a poet of landscape –sometimes the wild, empty hills and barren places, sometimes the industrial scene with its crowded figures; this latter, perhaps, offered him the greater attraction, for it showed Man at his fines as the inventor and the reshaper of Nature. Technically, Auden was an artist of great virtuosity, a ceaseless experimenter in verse form, with a fine ear for the rhuthm and music of words.”

“Essentially modern in tone, Auden had a wide variety of styles –often he wrote with a noisy jazziness and gaiety, often in a cynically satirical vein, and on occasions he could be slangily

‘tough’. But usually he showed a delight in elliptical thought and closely packed imagery, and,

if his proletarianism sometimes led him into flaws of taste, it alsoled him to exploit more fully than any of his predecessors the riches and vigour of everyday idiom and vocabulary.”

“His best poetry is to be found in Poems (1930), The Orators (1932), Look, Stranger (1936), New Year Letter (1941), The Age of Anxiety (1948), Collected Shorter Poems 1930 -1944 (1950). His two anthologies –The Poet’s Tongue (1935) with John Garrett, and The Oxford Book of Light Verse (1938) – greatly stimulated interest in popular literature which is a sincere expression of emotion even though it cannot be dignified by the name of poetry.”

3.3.1.2. Dylan Thomas (1914-1953).

Dylan Marlais Thomas was born on October 27, 1914 in Swansea, Glamorganshire (Wales). He was educated at Swansea Grammar School and became well-known for his neurotic personality, obscure poetry and amusing plays and prose. Since he preferred reading on his own, his favourite books were those of D.H. Lawrence’s poetry who impressed him due to Lawrence’s descriptions of a vivid natural world. Fascinated by language, he excelled in English and reading, but neglected other subjects and dropped out of school at sixteen.

From 1931 to 1932 he worked as a reporter for The South Wales Daily Post, in Swansea, and as a free-lance writer from 1933. Between May and October 1934, Thomas’ poems first appeared in the Sunday Referee in a feature column called the “Poets’ Corner,” where he won a prize for the second of seven poems called “The Force that through the Grass Fuse Drives the Flower.” Then, when Thomas was only nineteen, he published his first book, a volume of poetry called Eighteen Poems (1934) as a result of this prize. In the same year he published a prose work, Notebooks (1934).

This work was followed by Twenty -five Poems (1936), a period of poverty in England and Wales, and his marriage to Caitlin Macnamara (1937). Then he began to concentrate on prose, with such works as Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (1940), The Doctor and the Devils (1953), Quite Early One Morning (1954), A Child’s Christmas in Wales (1954), Under Milkwood (1954), A Prospect of the Sea (1955), Adventures in the Skin Trade, and Other Stories (1955), Letters to Vernon Watkins (1957), The Beach of Falesá (1964), Collected Prose (1969), and Early Prose Writings (1971).

He had wanted to serve in World War II, but was rejected. So, during the war, he worked with a documentary film unit. By this time, he also published many short stories, wrote film scripts, broadcast stories and talks, did a series of lecture tours in the United States and wrote Under Milk Wood (1954), the radio play for voices. In 1949, he began frequent visits to the US, touring colleges to read poetry. In 1950 Thomas first visited America and had reading tours in the United States, which did much to popularize his poetry. It is worth mentioning that Thomas did not sympathize with T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden’s thematic concerns with social and intellectual issues, since his writing has more in common with the Romantic tradition (intense lyricism, highly charged emotion).

Thomas was the archetypal Romantic poet of the popular American imagination: he was flamboyantly theatrical, a heavy drinker, engaged in roaring disputes in public, and read his work aloud with tremendous depth of feeling. So, during his fourth lecture tour of the United States in 1953, he had a particularly long drinking bout in New York City after his thirty-ninth

birthday. As a result, he collapsed in his New York hotel and died from alcoholism on November 9th at St Vincents Hospital, in the same year in which he received the Foyle Prize. Then his body was sent back to Laugharne, Wales, where his grave is marked by a simple wooden cross.

He became a legendary figure, both for his work and the boisterousness of his life. Thomas was a man with a Keatsian style and manner, being both energetic and vivid when it came to his imagery. He was Welsh and his voice brought many to enjoy poetry through his readings, he also used words not just for the denotation or connotation meaning, but also for the sound of the word and the meaning that sound creates. The key to Dylan Thomas is reading him aloud, slowly, hitting every vowel and consonant, and worrying about what it all means later.

3.3.1.3. W.B. Yeats (1865-1939).

William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin, Ireland, in a cultured Irish family (his father was a well-known Irish painter, John Butler Yeats). He spent his childhood in County Sligo and was educated in London, but he returned to Dublin in 1880 (at the age of fifteen) to continue his education and study painting. Soon afterwards he discovered he preferred poetry and embarked on a literary career. In 1891 he became member of the Rhymer’s Club, he began writing plays, and, as a strong adherent to the Nationalist Movement, he did much to assist in the creation of a national theatre. Actually, in 1902 the Abbey Theatre (Dublin) came under management of the Irish National Theatre Company.

Since he was born into the Anglo-Irish landowning class, Yeats became involved with the Celtic Revival, a movement against the cultural influences of English rule in Ireland during the Victorian period, which sought to promote the spirit of Ireland’s native heritage. Yeats was deeply involved in politics in Ireland, and in the twenties, despite Irish independence from Engla nd, his verse reflected a pessimism about the political situation in his country and the rest of Europe, paralleling the increasing conservativism of his American counterparts in London, T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound.

His work after 1910 was strongly influenced by Pound, becoming more modern in its concision and imagery, but Yeats never abandoned his strict adherence to traditional verse forms. In later years his interest in the cause of Irish freedom led him first to an active participation in the disturbances of 1916 and then to a public career which culminated in his election to the Senate of the Irish Free State (1922-1928). Yet, he is remembered as an important cultural leader, as a major playwright (he was one of the founders of the famous Abbey Theatre in Dublin), and as

one of the very greatest poets of the century. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Some years later, he died in the South of France (1939) at the age of 73 and his body was interred in Ireland in 1948.

Following Albert (1990:483- 485), his poetry was affected in his early years by the spiritual barrenness of his age and the sordid materialism and later by a new positive deal and the Pre- Raphaelites. “Yeats sought to escape into the land of ‘faery’, and looked for his themes in Irish legend and the simple, elemental impulses of man’s primitive nature. The best remedy for the emptiness of the present seemed to lie in a return to the simplicity of the past. To this period belong his narrative poem The Wanderings of Oisin (1889), which first established his reputation, Poems (1895), The Wind among the Reeds (1899), and The Shadowy Waters (1900); and it was in these early days that he wrote many of the lyrics, whose simplicity of style and melodic beauty have found them a place in numerous collections of modern verse, out of which the best-known is The Lake Isle of Innisfree (written in 1893).

Between 1900 and 1910 Yeat’s poetry “shows a gradual movement away from the escapism of his early work, and a steadily growing courage in grasping the nettle of contemporary reality. The increasing realism of this period is clearly seen in The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910) and Responsibilities (1914), which strike a more personal note. It was, however, the impact of the 1914-18 war, and even more of the Irish troubles of 1916, which brought him face to face with the need to grapple with the realities of life.” It must be borne in mind that he had a strong interest in mysticism and the occult, which was off-putting to some readers, but he remained uninhibited in advancing his idiosyncratic philosophy, and his poetry continued to grow stronger as he grew older.

Hence “his mystical and philosophical studies and his excursions into spiritualism led to the promulgation of a new philosophical system, and much of the poetry of this period was devoted to the expounding of his theories, which are most fully stated in his prose work A Vision (1925). In 1919 he published The Wild Swans at Coole , a collection of poems similar to those in Responsibilities, but with the added force of a new maturity which is most clearly to be seen in the poems dealing with his own experiences.”

Yet, “the peak of his achievement is reached in The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and other Poems (1933), in which he handles philosophical themes with a compact precision of style and a great mastery of rhythm and language. He continued to write with undiminished vigour until his death, and to his last period belong the Crazy Jane poems, some of which had appeared in The Tower and The Winding Stair. In them his philosophy, hidden beneath a mask of childlike simplicity, is put into the mouths of such characters as The Fool. They appeared in New Poems (1938) and Last Poems (1939).”

The qualities of his poetry are to be found in his philosophy, his use of symbols, and his artistry. First of all, regarding his philosophy, Yeats’s “preoccupation with the attempt to formulate a philosophical system which could replace the scientific materialism of his age underlies most of his la ter verse” makes him difficult to read. “After his brief period of Pre-Raphaelite escapism he gradually evolved his own positive faith. His trust was in the imagination and intuition of man rather than in scientific reasoning, and his attempt was to reach back, through the study of Irish folklore and legend, to the primitive impulses of human life.” Moreover, we cannot forget that “Yeats believed in fairies, magic, and other forms of superstition, and his later thought was much influenced by his study of Indian and other mystical philosophies andthe excursions into spiritualism, which became more frequent after his marriage in 1916.”

Regarding his symbolism, “Yeats’s philosophy is often expressed through a carefully devised system of symbols, some purely private, others drawn from his study of philosophy or his reading in the works of the French symbolistes, or of earlier symbolical poets, particularly Blake and Shelley. The reader’s difficulties arise mainly from Yeats’s use of the same symbol to represent a variety of things; thus the Tower may represent, among other things, an intellectual refuge, or the soul’s yearning for the world of the spirit. Others of his well-known symbols are the moon, the swan, and Byzantium.”

Finally, his artistry is characterized by his mastery of language and rhythm. “From the Pre- Raphaelite aestheticism of his early verse, with its quest for beauty, its conscious, often sentimental, simplicity, and its languid, melodic grace, he developed a more direct and virile expression. There is the same delicacy of workmanship, and the gorgeous phrase still flashes among the everyday language and personal direct expression of his maturity. Always he uses the traditional verse forms, modified sometimes to suit his own needs, but now his rhythms approach more closely to those of ordinary speech.”

3.3.1.4. T.S. Eliot (1888-1965).

Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1888, but the became a naturalized British subject in 1927. As an adult, his influence on poetry was enormous during the 1930s since he is considered to have given a new impulse to the poetic field. Son of Henry Ware Eliot, president of the Hydraulic -Press Brick Company, and Charlotte Champe Stearns, a former teacher, he was brought up in commerce and academic traditions. Following Albert (1990:533-

538), he entered Harvard in 1906, Paris in 1910-1911, and Oxford in 1912. “After a brief experience of teaching at Highgate School, he entered business (1916), and spent eight years in Lloyd’s Bank in the City”.

“At this time he was assistant editor of The Egoist (1917-1919), and in 1923 began his career as editor of The Criterion. Later he became a director of Faber and Faber, the publishers. Among the many literary honours bestowed upon him mentioned may be made of: Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard (1932-33), President Classical Association (1944), Nobel Prize for Literature (1948), and Order of Merit (1948). At various times he received honorary degrees from twelve universities in Europe and America.”

Since he was a prolific author, he experienced all fields of literature: poetry, drama and prose (hence we cannot establish a clear cut literary field). So, he produced seven dramas: Sweeney Agonistes (1926-27), The Rock (1934), Murder in the Cathedral (1935), The Family Reunion (1939), The Cocktail Party (1949), The Confidential Clerk (1953), The Elder Statesman (1958). They contain some of the best dramatic poetry since the Elizabethans, and mark definite stages in Eliot’s emotional growth, yet mostly lack the essential qualities of drama.

Regarding his prose, his first collection of essays, The Sacred Wook (1920)was published in the

1920s whereas the greater part belongs to the 1930s. “His main concern is literary criticism, though The Idea of a Christian Society (1939) is a significant indication of the direction of his development. Among the more frequently stated of his fundamental ideas are: the essential oneness of the Western literary tradition and its influence on the modern writer; the importance of poetic form and its ability to convey meaning through the feelings as much as through the mind; the need for the poet to reduce to universal significance his individual experiences. Eliot’s prose style is remarkable for ist compact lucidity and precision. Among his prose workd mention may be made of the following: For Lancelot Andrewes (1928), Selected Essays 1917-

1932 (1932), The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (1933), Elizabethan Essays (1934),

After Strange Gods (1934), Points of View (1941), and What is a Classic? (1945).”

Yet, he is better known as a great poet because of his style, which is characterized by its difficulty and imagery. First of all, “the nature and cause of this difficulty have changed during his career. In his earlier poetry the obscurity seemed to result from a technique deliberately cultivated. A condensed and often oblique expression, in which necessary links were frequently omitted, Eliot acquired from the French Symbolistes, and his admiration of Pound and the Imagist theories strengthened this”. He was extremely allusive and deliberately vague and ambiguous and in his later poetry, the difficulty of subjects increased (states of mind and experiences incapable of precise formulation and, therefore, difficult to understand).

Yet, his imagery is essential to understand his work. “Like the Imagists, he is always concrete, and his pictures are clearly realized and based on close and accurate observation. Many images,

such as those of the sea, appear time and again with different effects, and in Four Quartets the development of the poem can best be traced in the changing significance of recurrent images. Eliot show a particular fondness for the metaphysical conceit with its subtle blend of emotion and intellect” as well as for the striking images.

With this in mind, we can now review his poetry works. “Eliot’s first volume of verse, Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), portrays in contemptuous, and often wittily ironical, satire, the boredom, emptiness, and pessimism of its own day. The poet tries to plumb the less savoury depths of contemporary life in a series of sordid episodes. The irregularities of rhyme scheme and line length in his verse form, the pressure of his condensed and often vividly contrasted images, the skilful use of rhythmic variations, and the restrained power of his style distinguished Eliot as a gifted, original artist.”

“Poems (1920) is in much the same mood, but, as often happens in Eliot, the verse form is completely changed, the irregular verse paragraph giving place to a four-line stanza rhyming abcb. The difficult monologue Gerontion in this volume shows Eliot’s free adaptation of the blank verse of the later Elizabethan dramatists.” Yet, “his much-discussed poem The Waste Land (1922) made a tremendous impact on the post-War generation, and is considered one of the most important documents of its age. The poem is difficult to understand in detail, but its general aim is clear. Based on the legend of the Fisher King in the Arthurian cycle, it presents modern London as an arid, waste land.”

“The poem is built round the symbols of drought and flood, representing death and rebirth, and this fundamental idea is referred to throughout. Other symbols in the poem are, however, not capable of precise explanation. In a series of diconcertingly vivid impressions, the poem progresses by rather abrupt transitions through five movements –“The Burial of the Dead,” “The Game of Chess,” “The Fire Sermon,” “Death by Water,”·and “What the Thunder Said.” Throughout appears the figure of Tiresias, whose presence helps to give the work unity. Its real unity, however, is one of emotional atmosphere. The boredom of his earlier poetry gives way to a mood of terror in face of an outworn and disintegrating civilization, a terror deeply felt, even when hidden beneath the surface irony of some parts of the poem.”

“The style shows a typical compression of clearly visualized, often metaphysical imagery, a vocabulary essentially modern, and a subtly suggestive use of the rhythms of ordinary speech. One of its greatest difficulties lies in the numerous allusions to out-of-the-way writers, and the notes which Eliot himself provided are often inadequate. But, in spite of its complexities and

apparent ambiguities, the poem is a powerfully moving presentation of sterility and disruption.

Poems 1909-1925 adds only “The Hollow Men” to his earlier work.”

“His next major work, Ash Wednesday (1930), is problably his most difficult. It marks the beginning of a new hase in the poet’s development, in which he finds hope in the discipline of the Christian religion, though, as yet, the old outlook persists in his mind and constantly comes to the fore. Consonant with this new attitude are his use of medieval mysticism and allegory, his imagery from the Old Testament prophets, and the allusions to the offices of the Church. Obscure images and symbols and the lack of a clear, logical structure make the poem difficult. Its six parts are six impressions of a mental and emotional state.” This work is more lyric al in spirit where it worth noticing the use of repetition, assonance, internal rhyme and musical suggestiveness.

During the 1930s he namely wrote poetical drama and literary criticism, hence “Four Quartets (1944) contains his next and most recent non- dramatic poetry. The four pems in this work appeared separately: Burnt Norton (1936), East Coker (1940), The Dry Salvages (1941), and Little Gidding (1942). In them we become aware of the intensity of Eliot’s search for religious truth, which leads finally to a new hope in the Christian idea of rebirth and renewal. The poems are again difficult, but this is now owing to subject matter rather than technique. The main theme of this deeply serious meditation is the consideration of Time and Eternity; other themes are Eliot’s exploration of the artistic consciousness,and of the potentialities and significance of words.”

“The mood of the poems is one of restrained but deeply emotional contemplation. Their general tone is mellower and the underlying experiences more varied. The thought is closely woven, but the style is less involved. As the title of Four Quartets suggests, each poem is built on a musical pattern; it has five movements, in which the themes stated in the first are developed through variations to a resolution in the last, and the inner structure of all four poems is very similar. The accentual verse, which he began to use in The Hollow Men, is now seen in its most flexilble form.”

3.3.1.5. Ezra Pound (1885-1972).

Ezra Pound was born in Hailey, Idaho, in 1885. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1905. After teaching at Wabash College for two years, he travelled abroad to Spain, Italy and London,

where he lived from 1908 to 1920. There he worked as the literary executor of the scholar Ernest Fenellosa, became interested in Japanese and Chinese poetry, married Dorothy Shakespear in 1914 and became London editor of the Little Review in 1917. During this period he wrote A Lume Spento (1908), Personae (1909), Exultations (1909), Provenca (1910), Canzoni (1911), Lustra and Other Poems (1917), Quia Pauper Amavi (1919), and Umbra: Collected Poems (1920).

In 1924, he moved to Italy and stayed there until 1945. During this period of voluntary exile, Pound became involved in Fascist politics, and his admiration of Mussolini resulted in his being charged with treason at the end the Second World in the USA. “His life in Italy was largely devoted to writing The Cantos which appeared part by part and were always in the process of being revised, and eventually, they remained unfinished. Thus, he wrote Cantos I-XVI (1925), Cantos XVII-XXVII (1928), A Draft of XXX Cantos (1930), A Draft of Cantos XXXI-XLI (1934), Homage to Sextus Propertius (1934), The Fifth Decade of Cantos (1937), and Cantos LII-LXXI (1940). The Cantos were a vast survey of history from his own point of view and were extremely erudite, highly allusive and expressive of personal, fragmented experiences which referred to foreign languages and literatures.

In 1946, he was acquitted, but declared mentally ill and committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. During his confinement, the jury of the Bollingen-Library of Congress Award recognized his poetic achievements (despite his political involvement), and awarded him the prize for the Pisan Cantos (1948), an attractive work due to the sympathy, humanity and beauty of its words. When in prison awating trial, he was deprived of books, but he was forced to rely on his own mind and personality for emotional sustenance. Two years later he published Patria Mia (1950) and after continuous appeals from writers won his release from the hospital in 1958. Pound returned to Italy and settled in Venice, where he died in 1972. His last poetry works were Annotated Index (1958) and the last twenty-one The Cantos (1972), regarded as an encyclopedic epic poem.

Following Albert (1990), “He was always a centre of controversy because of his iconoclastic views on everything from poetry to economics” and is said to have promoted a modernist aesthetic in poetry: Imagism. In the early teens of the twentieth century, he opened a seminal exchange of work and ideas between British and American writers, and was famous for the generosity with which he advanced the work of such major contemporaries as Marianne Moore, W.B. Yeats, Robert Frost, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, and especially T.S. Eliot.

“To him poetry was the embodiment of melody, images, and provocative thought –basics of most good poetry- but they produced an ‘originality’ in Pound’s verse which Eliot considered lacking in most poetry of the past century.” His own significant contributions to poetry begin

with his promulgation of Imagism, a movement in poetry which derived its technique from classical Chinese and Japanese poetry (stressing clarity, precision, and economy of language, and foregoing traditional rhyme and meter).

Among this prose works we many mention Gaudier Brzeska (1916), Pavannes and Divisions (1918), Instigations (1920), Indiscretions (1923), Antheil and the Treatise on Harmony (1924), Imaginary Letters (1930), How To Read (1931), Prolegomena: Volume I (1932), ABC of Economics (1933), Make It New (1934), The ABC of Reading (1934), Social Credit and Impact (1935), Jefferson and/or Mussolini (1935), Polite Essays (1936), Digest of the Analects (1937), Guide to Kulchur (1938), What is Money For? (1939), The Spirit of Romance (1953), Literary Essays (1954), and the posthumously published Selected Prose: 1909 -1965 (1973). In them we may appreciate Pound’s confused political ideas through a personal and elliptical language.

3.3.2. In drama.

Among the drama figures in the English theatre and within the Irish Literary Revival Drama, the most representative figures are, among others: Sean O’Casey (1884-1964) in Ireland, Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973) and J.B. Priestley (1894-1984) in England, and the first American dramatist of international significance, Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953). Other less notorious drama writers which contributed to the growth of repertory in England and Ireland were James Bridie (1888-1951), William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), St John Ervine (1883-1971), Miss A.E.F. Horniman (1860-1937), and Allan Monkhouse (1858-1936), among others.

3.2.2.1. Sean O’Casey (1884-1964).

Following Albert (1990:548- 550), Sean O’Casey “was born in Dublin, and worked as a labourer, living in the crowded tenements of Dublin’s slums, which he describes so vividly in his early plays. After his early stage successes he made literature his career, and in 1926 received the Hawthornden Prize. O’Casey’s first play, The Shadow of a Gunman, was produced at the Abbey Theatre in 1923. Its setting is the slum tenements of Dublin, in their crowded squalor, and it is an unflinching study of the Anglo-Irish War of 1920, capturing well all the bloodiness and violence of the struggle and the dangerous intensity of the lives of the participants, his characters”.

“O’Casey, as later, uses the device of a mouthpiece character, who here gives an ironical commentary on the events. The chief heroic character is a woman, as in Juno and the Paycock (1924), an infinitely more mature play, and his masterpiece. Again the setting is the Dublin slums: the time now the civil disturbances of 1922. It is a vivid and intensely powerful play, in which rich, almost grotesque humour covers yet emphasizes the underlying bitter tragedy”.

“Three of O’Casey’s finest creations figure here –the deeply pitying Juno, her worthless husband, the ‘Paycock’, and his boon companion, Joxer Daly. The Plough and the Stars (1926), a tragic chronicle play dealing with the Easter rising of 1916, is equally realistic in its exposure of the futility and horror of war. There is the same blend of grotesque humour and deep tragedy, and once again O’Casey makes use of the mouthpiece character”.

“His next play, The Silver Tassie (1929), was refused by the Abbey Theatre and failed on the boards, though some have described it as the most powerful tragedy o our day. War is still the theme, now the 1914-1918 War. O’Casey gives an impassioned and bitter picture of the footballer hero retuning paralysed from the trenches. It is unflinching in its truthfulness, and the suffering in the play is intense –perhaps there is too much suffering and too little action. It is of particular interest because here O’Casey experiments with the mingling of the realistic and expressionistic types of drama”.

“His introduction of a symbolic technique is seen in the blending of prose and rhythmic chanted verse, which gives tremendous power to the second act in particular. How far his experiments have, as has been thought, subdued his great gifts it is difficult to say, but his later plays Within the Gates (1933), The Star Turns Red (1940), Purple Dust (1940), Red Roses for Me (1946), Oak Leaves and Lavender (1946), and Cockadoodle Dandy (1949), do not have the intense life of his best three, though the magic of his language remains”.

“Juno and the Paycock, The Plough and the Stars, and The Silver Tassie marked O’Casey out as the greatest figure in the inter-War theatre. His own experience enabled him to study the life of the Dublin slums with the warm understanding with which Synge studied the life of the Irish peasantry, and, like Synge, he coud draw magic from the language of the ordinary folk he portrayed. His dialogue is vivid, racy, and packed with metaphor, and his prose is rhythmical and imaginative. He had, too, Synge’s gift of mingling comedy with the tragedy that is his main theme. In O’Casey the mood changes rapidly. Comedy is seldom long absent, yet one can never forget the grim, underlying sadness. He draws what he sees with a ruthless objectivity and an impressionistic vividness of detail.”

3.2.2.2. Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973).

Noël Coward was born in London and was privately educated at Chapel Road School, in Clapham. Since he had an active personality, he studied acting at the Conti Academy in Liverpool in his early years, and later on, he served the British Information Service and entertained the troops during the Second World War. Hence he is said to be an actor, a night- club entertainer, a composer, a lyricist, a short story writer, and a prolific writer, among others.

Actually, it was as a dramatist that he achieved his commercial success. He began with light comedy, for instance, I’ll Leave It to You (1920), The Young Idea (1923), and The Rat Trap (1924) and continued with a group of plays which made him notorious since they “exposed the emptiness and triviality of the smart set, and satirized county society, the new rich, and conventional morality” (Albert, 1990:550), for instance, The Vortex (1924), Fallen Angels (1925), Hay Fever (1925) and Easy Virtue (1926). These frivolous-cum-sentimental works were followed by more easily acceptable works, thus Bitter Sweet (1929), Private Lives (1930), Cavalcade (1931), Design for Living (1933), Conversation Piece (1934), Blithe Spirit (1941), Present Laughter (1943), and This Happy Breed (1943).

“His popularity rested on the brilliance of a sophisticated but rather shallow wit, blasé and cynical, which produced a dialogue of scintillating epigrams; the appeal to sentiment popular at the moment; the effervescent excitement which was the dominant mood of many of his later plays; and above all his superb theatrical technique. He made the most of all the possibilities of stage and actors, and the handling of some of his plays by such an expert man of the theatre as C.B. Cochran increased the popular appeal still further” (Albert, 1990:550).

In fact, Coward did not move towards a revolutionary theatre as Beckett or Shaw did, but intended to emphasize entertainment and not message. He is regarded as one of the great masters of the “drawing-room comedy” and the “well-made” play. In his plays he has an often nostalgic and sentimental style with a naive cynicism that keeps the effect from being cloying. Hence his works may appear brittle and trivial. Yet, he was a craftsman at combining malice and cynicism with a touch of sexual spice.

3.2.2.3. J.B. Priestley (1894- 1984).

John Boynton Priestley was a British prolific novelist, playwright, and essayist which published over one hundred and twenty books, usually light and optimistic in their tone. His prolific

production continued nearly sixty years, and even between the age of 70 to 84 he produced 21 books. Born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in the north of England, lost his mother when he was an infant and his father, Jonathan Priestley, was a prosperous schoolmaster. As a child, Priestley attended Bradford Grammar School, but left his studies at the age of sixteen to work as a junior clerk in a firm (1910- 1914). It was in Bradford that Priestley began to write poetry for his own pleasure and contribute articles to local and London papers (The Chapman of Rhymes, 1918).

During the First World War Priestley served with the Duke of Wellington’s and Devon regiments, and survived the front lines in Flanders. From 1919 he studied literature, history and political science at Bradford and at Cambridge, where he first wrote literary criticism as a student, producing thereafter such celebrated volumes as The English Novel (1927) and Literature and Western Man (1960). After his graduation in 1921, he worked as a journalist in London, starting his career as an essayist and critic at various newspapers and periodicals, including the New Statesman. By then he had written Balconninny, and Other Essays (1921), which was followed by his first collection of essays, Brief Diversions (1922) and Papers from Lilliput (1922).

After the outbreak of World War II Priestley gained fame as the voice of the common people since he was a patriotic radio broadcaster. At the early stage of the Cold War, he became known for his support for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and in 1946-47 he was a U.K. delegate to UNESCO conferences. Priestley married three times between 1919 and 1953, for instance, for the first time with Emily Tempest; then with Mary Wyndham Lewis; and finally, with the archaeologist and writer Jacquetta Hawkes. They lived in Warwickshire in Kissing Tree House, situated near Stratford-upon-Avon until he died on August 14, 1984.

This extraordinarily prolific writer worked in a variety of genres. His many novels include I for One (1923), Figures in Modern Literature (1924), The English Comic Characters (1925), his autobiography J.B. Priestley (1926), Thomas Love Peacoc (1927), The English Novel (1927), Adam in Moonshine (1927), Apes and Angels (1928), Too Many People (1928), English Humour (1929), the novel which made him gain international popularity, The Good Companions, a tale about the adventures of a troop of traveling players; and Angel Pavement (1930), which depicted the people of London and what happens when an adventure comes to them in the person of the mysterious Mr Goldspie.

Other books are English Journey (1934), a seminal work in arousing social conscience in the

1930s; Literature and Western Man (1960), a survey of Western literature over the past 500

years, and his memoirs; Margin Released (1962). Priestley’s novel The Magicians (1954)

showed the influence of the Swiss analytical psychologist Carl Jung; he last of his nove ls was Found, Lost, Found (1976), which is an old-fashioned fairy tale and love story in a modern setting.

As an essayist Priestley wrote for the middle brow audience with a wide range of topics and themes. In his pamphlet Letter to a Returning Serviceman (1945), Priestley shared the common sentiment that Britain was obliged to rebuild after the war along socialist lines. Also, in Britain and the Nuclear Bomb (1957) he argued for the moral superiority that unilateral nuclear disarmament would bring. In Disturbing (1967) he criticized contemporary playwrights for creating works that sought to disturb a reading public already disturbed by their own problems, and in Particular Pleasures (1975) he stated that works of art should meet some need, and not be evaluated on programmatic grounds. In addition, we include Priestleys highly The Toy Farm (1929), an enjoyable essay which tried to answer why toys enchant even adults.

As a playwright Priestley started in the 1930s and wrote more than thirty plays since he began with Dangerous Corner (1932). In style, Priestley is considered a reformer which showed much of his typical Yorkshire humour in his works. According to Albert (1990:551), “his characters are soundly drawn, the dialogue is pungent, and his plays are always good theatre. His chief lack is of poetic insight, which alone can make the greatest drama out of the metaphysical problems that engaged his mind in his experimental work.” Among his more conventional and popular comedies, we include a well-made theatrical piece, Laburnun Grove (1933), which is an unmasking of hypocrisy.

Among other comedies we find Eden End (1934), When We Are Married (1938), and Time and The Conways (1937), in which Priestley draws his ideas of Time from the works of J.W. Dunne and Ouspensky, who led him to numerous experiments in construction (expressionist forms and psychological themes). Other similar works are I Have Been Here Before (1937) and An Inspector Calls (1946). The last named is possibly his most interesting, for the unexpected time- shift is used to illustrate his humanitarianism and his disgust at social pretence. Priestley also founded his own production company, English Plays, Ltd., and in 1938-39 he was director of the Mask Theatre in London, where he produced “the stimulating but commercially unsuccessful Johnson Over Jordan, a modern morality play in which he uses the techniques of expresionism” (Albert, 1990:551).

Other works worth mentioning were written in the 1940s when he became heavily allegorical and symbolic , with a loss of dramatic interest, for instance, They Came to a City (1943), Desert

Highway (1943), The Linden Tree (1948). Thoughts in the Wilderness (1957), and The Happy Dream (1976). His works of history include The Edwardians (1970) and Victoria’s Heyday (1972). His reminiscences, published between 1962 and 1977, cover the full spectrum of British

20th Century culture.

3.2.2.4. Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953).

Eugene Gladstone O’Neill was “the first American dramatist of international significance” (Albert, 1990:552) who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936, and Pulitzer Prizes for four of his plays: Beyond the Horizon (1920); Anna Christie (1922); Strange Interlude (1928); and Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1957). This American playwright was born in a Broadway hotel room in New York City on October 16, 1888, and was the son of James O’Neill, one of nineteenth-century America’s most popular actors.

Hence young Eugene spent much of his early years in a great variety of occupations, among which was going on national tours with his father. In 1906 he entered Princeton University but was soon expelled. In the next six years he married, had a son, and was divorced. By 1912, O’Neill had worked as a journalist, gold prospector in Honduras, clerkman, as a merchant seaman, and had become a regular actor at New York City’s cheap saloons, which gave him the experience of real life, so valuable in his plays. By 1913 he became ill with tuberculosis, and was inspired to become a playwright while reading during his recovery. In fact, he wrote his first play and was produced by the Provincetown Players. In 1920 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

O’Neill’s career as a playwright is said to consist of three periods: early realism, expressionism and late realism. First of all, he began in the realist tradition in which his early plays utilize his own experiences, especially as a seaman. Yet, in the 1920s , after publishing The Emperor Jones (1920), Beyond the Horizon (1920), The Hairy Ape (1922) and Anna Christie (1922), a strongly realistic work dealing with the redemption of a prostitute, he rejected realism in an effort to capture on the stage the forces behind human life.

In his second period, his expressionistic plays were influenced by the ideas of philosopher Freidrich Nietzsche, psychologists Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg, who made him experiment unceasingly with new techniques of presentation, new dramatic forms, and original dialogue. Thus, Strange Interlude (1931) illustrates his use of aside and soliloquy, be means of which the action of the play is carried on at two levels.

Similarly, Desire under the Elms (1924), All God’s Chillun got Wings (1924), The Great God

Brown (1926), and Lazarus Laughed (1927).

During his final period O’Neill returned to realism. We may observe that his later works depend on his life experiences for their story lines and themes. He used the revival of the chorus, stylized speech and confusing masks. Sometimes his originality led to obscurity, but he achieved scenes of immense force and powerful imagination, obtaining then a real sense of theatre. Regarded as a serious dramatist, he was concerned with major issues of his time, thus religion, philosophy, psycho-analysis, and scientific thought and, therefore, the basis of many of his works. Thus, Dynamo (1929), Mourning Becomes Electra (1931), Ah! Wilderness (1933), and Days Without End (1934), this latter being twice the length of a normal play whereas his latest play, The Iceman Cometh (1946), contains ten acts.

O’Neill continued to write until 1944 when he was stricken with a debilitating neurodegenerative disease which prevented further work. Despite his illness, O’Neill lived his life to the fullest. A revival of his work in 1956 lead to the first production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night, for which he won his final Pulizer Prize posthumously in 1957.

3.3.3. In prose.

The novel was regarded as an interpreter of life since it reflected the disillusionment, cynicism, despair, and bewilderment in face of the crumbling of established moral values which characterize the post-War world and even the WWII. These features, combined with its form and content, made the inter-War generation look to the novel for an interpretation of the contemporary scene. According to Albert (1990:521), we may distinguish three main groups of novelists: first, those who attempted to replace the old values for new ones; second, those who portrayed the complexities of inter-War life; and finally, those who focused attention on the impact of life on the individual consciousness and on characters rather than action.

This practice is closely connected to impressionism which gives way to expressionistic techniques based on experiments, which establish a clear difference between the pre- War novel (Henry James) and that of the inter-War years (James Joyce). Namely the novel develops from having a controlled, finished, artistic form to have a more loose, fluid, and less coherent one; from presenting an outward appearance to inner realitie s of life; from a simple chronological development of plot to a complex and discontinuous

one. Apart from James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Aldous Huxley, other who experimented in this way included Dorothy Miller Richardson and May Sinclair.

Yet, the most representative technique of this period is drawn from the influence of pshychology so as to present the mind of the characters: the stream of consciousness, the use of the interior monologue, the detailed tracing of the association of ideas, and an allusive style. The rapid development of the science of psychology did much to deepen and enrich the study of human character in the early years, but its full impact came with the works of Sigmund Freud about the study of personality. This opened the way to the exploration of the vast fields of the subconscious and the unconscious so as to dwell the mind of characters, which meant a breakdown of Victorian moral attitudes.

The lack of popularity of the new novelists is not surprising, according to Alfred (1990:524) as their concern with the subtlest shades of motive and inner impulse called for readers while the preoccupation of some with the morbid mental states provoked distaste. So, it is not surprising either that writers in the Established tradition were inevitably more popular since they wrote after the manner of an earlier generation. Among these writers we find Sir Hugh Walpole (1884-1941), William Somerset Maugham (1874- 1965), John Boynton Priestley (1894-), Sir Compton Mackenzie (1883-1972), Francis Brett Young (1884- 1954), and Robert Graves (1895-), among others.

“Another reflection of the disillusionment of the post-War generation is to be found in the literature on the War itself, which began to appear once the catastrophe was sufficiently remote”. Among the War writers we include Edmund Blunden (1896- 1974), Robert Graves (1895-), and C.E. Montague (1867-1928), among others.

Satire was also common as a form of fiction. Satirist writers are Rose Macaulay (1881-

1958), Ronald Firbank (1886-1926), and Cyril Connolly (1903-1974).

Another genre was escapist novels, characteristic of all periods of great emotional and moral tension. This type of novel was highly demanded in the 1920s, which was partly met by imaginative, fantastic, and light writing. Among the most representative writers we include Norman Douglas, Walter de la Mare, and David Garnett.

We also find autobiographical-novel-sketch comedies with tragic implications which particularly show the after-war situation in the 1930s. Thus, popular writers are Christopher Isherwood, Richard Hughes, and Leopold Hamilton Myers, among others. Finally, it is worth mentioning the growth of the American novel since it is one of the most striking features of the period. Following Albert (1990:528), “since the turn of the century, not only has the U.S.A. given encouragement and shelter to artists whose work met with opposition in this country, but Americans have been among the boldest so far

as experiments in technique are concerned. The basis of most of their work was realism, the depiction of the contemporary scene no matter how unlovely, the exposure of corruption and lack of moral values in organizations and in people, the consideration of emotional crises and moral dilemmas at all levels of society, and the portrayal of the individual and the depths or heights with which he can be faced”.

Among the most relevant writers we mention Erners Hemingway (1898-1962), William Faulkner (1897-1962), F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896- 1940), J. Steinbeck (1902-1968), John Dos Passos (1896-1970), and Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945), among others.

Therefore, among all the prose figures of this period⁴, such as the War writers we include Edmund Blunden (1896-1974), Robert Graves (1895-), and C.E. Montague (1867-1928), among others. Yet, we shall particularly focus on the most representative ones in Great Britain and Ireland: David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930) , Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), Edward Morgan Forster (1879- 1970), Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), George Orwell (1903-1950) , and Graham Greene (1904-) in England, and James Joyce (1882-1941) in Ireland.

3.3.3.1. David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930).

Following Albert (1990:509- 512), “D. H. Lawrence was the most striking figure in the literary world between the Wars. He was born at Eastwood, in Nottinghamshire, the son of a miner, and was educated at Nottingham High School. On leaving school he had a brief experience of business life, and then became a pupil teacher in his native village. He trained for the teachers’ certificate at University College, Nottingham, and then was for some time a teacher in Croydon, but, on the publication of The White Peacock (1911), he abandoned teaching for literature.”

“He married Fireda Weekley, a German, and previously wife of a Nottingham Professor. Because of his attitude toward the War and his wife’s nationality, he was cruelly persecuted, and this, with the suppression of The Rainbow (1915) as obscenen, and the banning of an exhibition of his paintings by the police, made Lawrence try to leave England. His passport was withheld, however, and it was 1919 before he got away. From then on his life was a continuous

_{search, in many parts of the world, for a society more suited to one of his ideals –Italy, Malta,}

⁴ Among other inter-war representative figures we may mention Rebecca West (1892-) with The Judge (1922); Theodore Francis Powys (1875-1953), with Mr Weston’s Good Wine (1927); his brother John Cowper Powys (1872-

1963), with A Glastonbury Romance (1932); Wyndham Lewis (1884-1957), wit h Time and Western Man (1927); Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973), with The Death of the Heart (1938); and Ethel F. Robertson (1870-1946), with The Fortunes of Richard Mahony (1917-1929), among others.

Ceylon, Australia, California, and New Mexico were among the places where he lived. In 1929 he returned finally to Europe, and in the following year died of tuberculosis at Vence in France.”

He was a prolific writer in prose and poetry. As a poet, Lawrence contributed to magazines (1919) in his early years and later on he continued to write poetry throughout his life. In it his most striking feature is its fundamental similarity to prose, and even in the themes (what man has made of man, passionate belief in the primitive and elemental impulses, acute sensitivity to natural beauty). His collection includes Love Poems and Others (1913), Amores (1916), Look! We have come through (1917), New Poems (1918), Tortoises (1921), Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1923), Collected Poems (1928), Pansies (1929), and Last Poems (1933).

Regarding his prose production, “Lawrence is another example of the prolific modern writer. In the nineteen years between his first published novel and his death he produced over forty volumes of fiction (novels and short stories), poetry, plays, treatises, and essays, and not a year passed withouth the publication of something from his pen. It is, however, as a novelist that he is chiefly remembered. The White Peacock (1911) is a story of unhappy human relationships set in the area he knew so well, and, if the book lacks the depth and seriousness of his later work, it already reveals his concern with one of his chief themes, the conflict between man and woman, and much of his remarkable gift for fine description and lyric emotion.”

“A slighter work, The Trespasser (1912), was followed by the largely autobiographical Sons and Lovers (1913), an extremely powerful novel of deep sincerity, which studies with great insight the relationship between son and mother. By many it is considered the best of all his work. Then came The Rainbow (1915), suppressed as obscene, which treats again the conflict betweeen man and woman. Not until 1921 was he able to find a publisher for its sequel, Women in Love, an important novel for the student of Lawrence’s views upon human life.”

“Equally significant is Aaron’s Rod (1922), a more mature work of greater stylistic quality. From his experiences during the War and his later visit to Australia sprang Kangaroo (1923), which he called a “thought adventure.” The discussion of the world situation at times overweights the novel, but, both in this and in The Boy in the Bush (1924), Lawrence depicts the Australian background with striking vividness. This same faculty for capturing the spirit of a country is one of the better features of The Plumed Serpent (1926), an over-lengthy work which deals with Mexican life, and which is typical of Lawrence in its stress on the values of the primitive as opposed to the civilized. Two years later appeared in Florence Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1928), a novel in which sexual experience is handled with a wealth of physical detail and

uninhibited language which until 1960 caused its supression in this country. It is Lawrence’s last embittered fling at what he felt to be the prurience of mind which sheltered behind conventional notions of sex.”

“Lawrence was also a short story writer of considerable power, and he published many collections, among which are The Prussian Officer (1914); England, my England (1922); The Ladybird, The Fox, The Captain’s Doll (1923); St Mawr, together with The Princess (1925); The Woman who Rode Away, and other Stories (1928); The Virgin and the Gipsy (1930); and The Lovely Lady (1933). Of his essays and travel books mention may be made of Twilight in Italy (1916); Sea and Sardinia (1921); Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine (1925); and Mornings in Mexico (1927).”

His novels are namely characterized by its themes, the theme treatment, style and characters. First of all, regarding his themes, he shows his own interpretation of life, “concerned with the basic problems of human existence, man’s relationships with his fellows and with the universe beyond himself. He combined a violent hatred of the values of modern mechanized civilization with a love of the primitive and natural, and a passionate belief in the importance of the development of each unique individuality.”

Regarding his treatment of his themes, he “shows little concern with the novel as an art form, and the reader is less impressed by his technical skills than by the verse and passionate intensity of his writing.” He mixes extravagances of violent over-earnestness, poetical utterance and direct statements. His style is said to be vivid and spontaneous, where he achieves a perfect naturalness of diablogue, which is seen particularly in his masterly handling of the coarse dialects of Australia. Finally, his characters show “bitterness and darkness of spirit, and like him they live passionately and fully. They are creatures of strong impulse and pr imitive emotions, and they are studied with a remarkable depth of understanding and keeness of insight.”

3.3.3.2. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).

Following Albert (1990:515-517), she was the daughter of an eminent Victorian critic and scholar, Sir Leslie Stephen. Hence Virginia Woolf was born into a circle of friends where standards of culture, taste, and intelligence were of the highest. “From the reading and conversations of her formative years she acquired an unusually wide literary background and a cosmopolitan culture. She began her writing career as a contributor to literary journals, and,

after her marriage (1912) to Leonard Woolf, she shared in the activities of the Hogarth Press, which published the work of many rising men and advanced thinkers.”

“Though her first novel appeared in 1915, her reputation was originally made as a critic of penetration and independent judgment. In fact, it was only with Orlando: a Biography (1928) that she scored anything like a popular success, and she is likely to remain a nove list for the few.” Among her most representative works, we shall mention her first novel, The Voyage Out (1915) which was told “in the conventinal narrative manner, but with a concentration of interest upon character and delicacy of touch typical of all her work.”

“The same emphasis on character-analysis and the same lack of incident characterize Night and Day (1919), another study of personal adjustment and development. Then came her first really mature work, Jackob’s Room (1922), in which her distinctive technique is fully used for the first time. By a series of disconnected impressions, revealed mainly through the consciousness of people with whom he came into contact, we are made aware of the personality of Jacob. These momentary impressions, which shift and dissolve with the bewildering inconsequence of real mental processes, are revealed by the use of the internal monologue, and from them we are intended to build up gradually a complete conception of the young man.”

“This same method, handled with greater firmness, is again used in Mrs Dalloway (1925). Though what little ‘event’ there is occupies only one day, Virginia Woolf is enabled to create not only the lives of her chief characters, which are studied with a penetrating subtlety, but even the London background. To the Lighthouse (1927) shows a still firmer mastery of the ‘stream of consciousness’ technique, and is by many accounted her finest work. Its study of the rela tionships of the members of the Romney family achieves a greater artistic unity than is found in her previous novels, and yet preserves all her usual subtlety of analysis.”

“The ultimate development of her method appears in The Waves (1931), from which plot, in the normally accepted sense, is almost entirely lacking. It is a symbolic work of great poetic beauty, in which the consciousness of the six characters is studied in a series of internal monologues. An ambitious, and clealry an experimental, work, it is remarkable for its sensitive perception of changing moods, and the skill with which the six characters are distinguished. It has been well described as a prose-poem. Flush (1933), The Years (1937), in which she again deals with family relationships, and the unfinished Between the Acts (1941) show her usual delicacy of touch and brilliant technical mastery, but the first two fall below the level of her major works, while of the last it is difficult to attempt an assessment.”

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“Standing alone among her novels, and therefore last to be considered here, is the fantasy,

Orlando, a Biography (1928), which may be said to have established her reputation with the wider reading public. With a verve and spirit utterly different from the movement of her other novels, it traces from Elizabethan to modern times the life of Orlando, who not ony appears as a number of different people, but even changes sex in the middle of the story. It is full of vivid colour and striking evocations of historical peridos and settings. In addition to her novels, Virginia Woolf wrote a number of essays on cultural subjects, which appear in Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown (1924); The Common Reader (1925); A Room of One’s Own (1929); the Second Common Reader (1932); Roger Fry (1940); The Death of the Moth (1942); and The Moment (1947). They reveal her as a critic of penetrating insight and superb stylistic gifts.”

Much has been said about her themes, her technique, her characters and her style. Thus, regarding her themes, she reacted against the novel of social manners as produced by writers like Arnold Bennett, and she was none the less concerned with the realities of life, which were inward and spiritual for her rather than outward and material. These inner realities are the recurrent themes of her novels; regarding her technique, she used the ‘stream of consciousness’ and the analysis of mental states; moreover, her characters seem to be disconnected and incoherent in appearnace, but penetrating and subtle inside; finally, her style is that of a cultured woman, charming and poetic, rhythmic and musical, precise and delicate.

3.3.3.3. Aldous Huxley (1894-1963).

Following Albert (1990: 519- 521), he was the “descendant of the famous scientist, T.H. Huxley, and was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, where he began his literary career as a poet. In 1917 he was editor of Oxfor d Poetry, and he was a contributor to the Sitwell anthology, Wheels. Under the pseudonym Autolycus, he wrote for The Athenaeum when he left the University. He was a man of the widest culture, with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and he travelled widely. In 1939 he settled in California, where he stayed for the rest of his life.”

“To trace the development of Huxley’s writing from the romantic tone and artistic finish of The Burning Wheel (1916) and The Defeat of Youth (1918), or the blasé cynicism and sensuality of Leda (1920) –the three volumes which contain his youthful verse – to the point where he writes Eyeless in Gaza (1936) is to watch a steadily growing seriousness of manner, and a deeper concern with the attempt to show the barrenness of contemporary values, and to present a positive ideal which will serve a disenchanted and hopeless world.”

“The lighthearted satire on contemporary society found in Crome Yellow (1921) gives way to the equally lively, but more sensational and more daring, study of post-War disillusionment and immorality in Antic Hay (1923). In Those Barren Leaves (1925) a more earnest note enters in the discussions of moral problems. It was followed by his most successful piece of fiction, Point Counter Point (1928), which is technically of interest as Huxley’s attempt “to musicalize fiction,” and is even morer striking as a mordant, unflinching picture of a disillusioned, frustrated society, in which the healthy life of the senses has been paralysed by the bonds of an inhibiting ethical code.”

“Brave New World (1932) gives a satirical picture of what he imagines the world would be under the rule of science –no disease, no pain, but no emotion, and, worse, no spiritual life. Technically this novel leaves much to be desired, but it provokes much frightening thought. In Eyeless in Gaza (1936) Huxley’s faith in the life of the spirit, which first became evident in Those Barren Leaves, again finds expression. Whole portions of the book, particularly toward the end, consist of little more than dissertations on moral themes. After settling in America, he produced two satirical novels int he witty, daring manner of his early works, though both have obvious links with his more philosophical books. These two, After Many a Summer (1939) and Time must have a Stop (1944), were followed by The Perennial Philosophy (1946), which stated his views on the importance of spiritual integrity directly and seriously.”

“Huxley’s prime importance is as a reflector of the feelings of his age. As a novelist he has limitations; he has no deep characterization, and his novels are slight in plot, but, like those of T.L. Peacock, they provide plenty of opportunity for conversation and discussion. The subjects discussed reveal him to be a man of great knowledge and wide culture. He is, above all things, a satirist, whose tone can vary from jovial irony to biting malice, and the striking incisiveness of his satire springs from an easy, polished style, a great gift for epigram, a ready wit, and an alert mind.”

3.3.3.4. Edward Morgan Forster (1879-1970).

Again, following Albert (1990:518519), Edward Morgan Forster was born in a cultured family, and was educated at Tonbridge. He was also an intellectual and Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, and he is regarded as the most cosmopolitan men of his day. “His novels are only five in number. After the early Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), with its well-drawn characters, its comedy, and the typical concern with the conflict between two different cultures,

comes The Longest Journey (1907), a less attractive work, which does, however, show the same skill in characterization.”

“A Room with a View (1908), like his first novel, is set in Italy, and contains excellent comedy very delicately handled. Then come his two masterpieces, Howards End (1910), and much later, A Passage to India (1924), both of which deal with the misunderstandings which arise in relationships, between individuals in the one case, and between races in the other.” Note that the latest of his novels is unrivalled in English fiction in its presentation of the complex problems which were to be found in the relationships between English and native people in India, and in its portrayal of the Indian scene in all its magic and all its wretchedness.”

“But though his output was small, the quality of his work was such as to place him among the foremost writers of the period. As well as his novels he published three collections of short stories, The Celestial Omnibus (1911), The Story of the Siren (1920), and The Eternal Moment (1928), and two critical works, Aspects of the Novel (1927) and Abinger Harvest (1936). A collection of miscellaneous essagys, lectures, and talks, some on political and others on artistic themes, appeared in 1951 under the title, Two Cheers for Democracy.”

“Basically a moralist, concerned with the importance of the individual personality, the adjustments it must make and the problems it must solve when it comes into contact with a set of values different from its own, he is the advocate of culture, tolerance, and civilization against barbarity and provincialism. He studies the complexities of character with a subtlety of insight and an appreciation of the significance of the unconscious which mark him as a modern. His characters are rounded and vital. He has great gifts for telling a story, but he disregards conventional plot construction and frequently introduces startling, unexpected incidents.”

“His craftsmanship is of the highest order. With a cool, often ironic, detachment, he presens the problems arising from his imagined situation with fairness and breadth of outlook, though he is to some extent lacking in emotional fire and human warmth. He has an excellent faculty for capturing the very feel and tone of his background –A Passage to India offers a good example of this. Though his best novels often touch tragedy, his true field is comedy, whimsical, delicate, and biting, which is never long absent from his work. He combines a stule as easy and cool as his general attitude toward his problems and characters, with a gift for good dialogue, maaarked descriptive powers, lightness of touch and precision, and conciseness of presentation.”

3.3.3.5. Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966).

Following Albert (1990:567-568), Evelyn Waugh “became the outstanding satirist of the thirties. Educated at Lancing and Oxford, he was very much a man of intellect who could stand aside and castigate a world which had no values except the need to make money and have fun; his main characters were snobs, and one of the cardinal sins was vulgarity. His heroes were virtuous but naïve young men who suffered embarrassment and hardship because they failed to understand or defeat the many exponents of vice.”

“Quite impersonally, Waugh treated everything with a lack of seriousness; he did not even show any indignation at the unfairness which beset his characters. The novels were strings of hilarious incidents and effervescent dialogue by which he poked fun even at the class to which he belonged. Examples are Decline and Fall (1928), Vile Bodies (1930), Black Mischief (1932), Scoop (1938), and Put Out More Flags (1942). A sign of his growing seriousness and disillusion was The Loved One (1948), a savage satire on American funeral customs and the two-faced affluent society of that country.”

“Partly as a result of his Army experiences and partly because of his conversion to Roman Catholicism, Waugh’s later novels, beginning with Brideshead Revisited (1945), had a new feeling of concern, though still illuminated by wit and sardonic comment; in them was a nostalgic sympathy with a world that had ended, and which, for all its foolishness, had been more joyous and less harmful than the present. The characters were drawn with warm understanding and developed in depth; the structure too showed careful planning and far greater complexity.”

“The later style was seen at its best in the Sword of Honour trilogy –Men at Arms (1952), Officers and Gentlemen (1955), and Unconditional Surrender (1961) –which treated of the loss of ideals as men faced war with its savagery, muddle, cynicism, inefficiency, and incongruosness. He gradually ceased to believe in all that the central figure stood for, as if he no longer believed in himself or his class in post-War society. The mood became sombre and resigned, but to the end there was a vein of rich comedy which lit up the enveloping darkness.”

3.3.3.6. George Orwell (1903-1950).

George Orwell, the pseudonym for Eric Hugh Blair, was a typical product of the inter-War years. His proletarian sympathies and his contempt for the upper-middle -class society from which he sprang were shown in the sardonic Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936). Yet there was a

love-hate attitude towards the idea of Empire and the White Man’s Burden in Burmese Days (1934); and in The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), a picture of squalor and hopelessness during the Great Depression, he seemed to despise the very type he represented, the left-wing intellectual striving to identify himself with the victims.”

“It was only after the Second World War that Orwell became a figure of outstanding importance, and then it was because of Animal Farm (1945), an expression of his own disillusion. This was a closely knit allegory on the degeneration of communist ideals into dictatorship, expressed in an incisive, witty, deceptively simple style reminiscent of Voltaire. Utterly different was Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), a terrifying prognostication of the hatred, cruelty, fear, loss of individuality, and lack of human love that the future would bring. The common man whom Orwell admired was reduced to a political and social nonentity; human dignity and decency were dead because of mass apathy and tolerance of evil.”

3.3.3.7. Graham Greene (1904-).

Following Albert (1990:565-566), Graham Greene is probably the best-known novelist of the period under consideration. He also came from the professional classes and after public school went up to Oxford University. He has written a considerable number of novels which, while popular, have none the less pleased the critics because of the tautness of their construction and their imaginative exploration of character. Whatever he writes seems to be topical, not just in subject-matter and location but in the emotions stimulated, for Greene has the gift of evoking the atmosphere of a period as well as giving an accurate depiction of the surroundings.”

“The world is brutal and humourless; in it his characters pursue or are pursued. Usually they are insignificant people with a little authority who are forced to make a choice and to suffer the pangs of indecision and conscience. Greene’s Roman Catholicism has encouraged him to see action as a series of moral dilemmas; he depicts not right and wrong but fundamental good and fundamental evil; his characters seek after evil sometimes on principle and sometimes from lack of initiative to do otherwise, and in doing so they acknowledge the reverse of evil. By accepting the Devil they believe in God. The settings of hisnovels range from West Africa to Cuba, England to Viet Nam; by selecting significant details he sketches in a background that looks authentic and then, by symbolic touches, draws one’s attention to matters of special importance.”

“The most noteworthy of Greene’s novels are It’s a Battlefield (1934), England Made Me (1935), Brighton Rock (1938), The Power and the Glory (1940), The Heart of the Matter (1948), The End of the Affair (1951), The Quiet American (1955), A Burnt-Out Case (1961), The Comedians (1966), and Travels with My Aunt (1969). Graham Greene’s short stories have become increasingly popular; recent collections are May We Borrow Your Husband? (1967) and Shades of Greene (1976). He has also written what he calls ‘entertainments.’ These are stories of crime and retribution, but they too are concerned with moral difficulties bedevilling people in a confused and violent world. The best of these books are A Gun for Sale (1936), The Ministry of Fear (1943), The Third Man (1950), and a satire on contemporary spy novels, Our Man in Havana (1958).”

3.3.3.8. James Joyce (1882-1941).

Following Albert (1990:513-515), James Joyce was born in Dublin and was the son of middle – class Irish parents. “He was educated in Jesuit colleges and at the Royal University. He abandoned the idea of taking orders, however, and shortly after the turn of the century he left Ireland for France. In Paris he studied medicine and thought of becoming a professional singer. During the 1914-1918 War he taught languages in Switzerland [since he was medically unfit for service], and afterward returned to Paris, where he settled down to a literary life, struggling continually against ill-health and public opposition to his work”.

Regarding his literary contribution, he used a straightforward narrative technique in his first work, Dubliners (1914) so as to achieve an objective, short story study of the sordid Dublin slums. The result was a powerful written prose which, though simple, has a distinct individual flavour. “Set in the same city is A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), an intense account of a developing writer torn between the standards of an ascetic, religious upbringing and his desire for sensuousness. Though the work is largely autobiographical (Stephen Dedalus is Joyce), the writer preserves a cool detachment in the precise analysis of his hero’s spiritual life. His handling of the sexual problems involved is particularly forthright.”

“An earlier version, much more conventional in style, was Stephen Hero, which was not published until 1944. The artistic dilemma of Stephen-Joyce was re-expressed in his unsuccessful play Exiles (1918). Stephen Dedalus appears again in Ulysses (1922), a study of the life and mind of Leopold and Mrs Bloom during a single day. It is modelled on the Odyssey of Homer, but it is set in the squalor of Dublin’s slums. There are parallel characters in the two

works, and the structure is in each case the same; these likenesses are deliberately invoked to stress the sordid meanness of modern life as contrasted with life in the heroic age”.

“The ‘stream of consciousness’ technique and the internal monologue are used with great power, and Bloom has been described as the most complete character in fiction. The material is handled objectively and with a frankness that caused the book to be banned as obscene: the style shows clearly Joyce’s mastery of language, his ingenuity, brilliance, and power. Published in the same year as The Waste Land [1922], it presents a similar view of the hopeless dilemma of man in the post-War world. It appeared in The Little Review in America, but was banned after the fifth instalment, and this ban was not lifted in England until 1933.”

“Joyce’s only other novel was Finnegan’s Wake (1939), parts of which had appeared as early as

1927 and 1928 as Work in Progress and Anna Livia Plurabelle. In it he has developed his technique to a point where subtlety of the history of the human race from its earliest beginnings, as seen in the incoherent dreams of a certain Mr Earwicker. The use of an inconsecutive narrative and of a private vocabulary adds to the confusion, but it cannot conceal the poetic furor, the power, and brilliant verbal skill of the work”.

Among his novels’ features we shall examine his subjects, his technique and his style. First of all, regarding his subjects, Joyce is regarded as a “serious novelist, whose concern is chiefly with human relationships –man in relation to himself, to society, and to the whole race. This is true also of his latest work, though his interest in linguistic experiments makes it difficult to understand his meaning. Acutely aware of the pettiness and meanness of modern society, and of the evils which spring from it, he is unsurpassed in his knowledge of the seamy side of life, which he presents with startling frankness. He is a keen and subtle analyst of man’s inner consciousness, and, in common with the psycho-analysis of his day, he is much preoccupied with sex”.

Regarding his technique, Joyce is said to be a pioneer in the quest of a new technique to present the contemporary human dilemma. “He was a ceaseless experimenter, ever anxious to explore the potentialities of a method once it was evolved, and in his use of the ‘stream of consciousness’ technique, and in his handling of the internal monologue, he went further and deeper than any other. His sensitiveness, his depth of penetration into the human consciousness, give to his character-study a subtlety unparalleled in his day, and if, in his attempts to catch delicate and elusive shades of feeling and fix them in words, he has frequently become incomprehensible, the fact remains that a character like Leopold Bloom is a unique and fascinating creation”.

Finally, his style has been defined as a change from an early straightforward and simple writing to a complex, allusive and original one in his last years. In this latter, Joyce uses a broken narrative, with abrupt transitions, the omission of logical sentence links and a new vocabulary. This produces a pure writing which is often private in significance, that is, a writing in which words are coined by the breaking up of one word and the joining of its parts to parts of other words similarly split, and roots of words from many languages.

“Joyce’s interest in language and his eager experimentation are unequalled in any period of our literature. He has a sensitive ear for verbal rhythms and cadences, and uses language in his books as part of an elaborately conceived artistic pattern, in which much of the unity of his work lies. With the beauty of language for its own sake only he is usually little concerned, yet his writing is often of great imaginative power and has a musical quality which enables even his incomprehensible passages to be read aloud with considerable pleasure.” In short, he preferred the comic to the tragic view of life, and his humour may be comic, intellectual and even sardonic in tone.

4. EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS IN LANGUAGE TEACHING.

Literature, and therefore, literary language is one of the most salient aspects of educational activity. In classrooms all kinds of literary language (poetry, drama, prose –novel, short story, minor fiction-, periodicals) either spoken or written, is going on for most of the time. Yet, handling literary productions in the past makes relevant the analysis of literature in the twentieth century, and in particular, British literature for our purposes. Yet, what do students know about the inter-War and WWII authors? At this point it makes sense to examine the historical background of Great Britain within the twentieth century so as to provide an appropriate context for these poets, dramatists and novelists in our students’ background knowledge and check what they know about them.

Since literature may be approached in linguistic terms, regarding form and function (morphology, lexis, structure, form) and also from a cross-curricular perspective (Sociology, History, English, French, Spanish Language and Literature), Spanish students are expected to know about the history of Britain and its influence in the world. In addition, one of the objectives of teaching the English language is to provide good models of almost any kind of literary productions for future studies.

Currently, action research groups attempt to bring about change in classroom learning and teaching through a focus on literary production under two premises. First, because they believe learning is an integral aspect of any form of activity and second, because education at all levels must be conceived in terms of literature and history. The basis for these assumptions is to be found in an attempt, through the use of historical events, to develop understanding of students’ shared but diverse social and physical environment.

Learning involves a process of transformation of participation itself which has far reaching implications on the role of the teacher in the teaching- learning relationship. This means that literary productions are an analytic tool and that teachers need to identify the potential contributions and potential limitations of them before we can make good use of genre techniques: the stream of consciousness, the kaleidoscopic point of view, and the presentation of different scenes, among others. We must bear in mind that most students will continue their studies at university and there, they will have to handle successfully all kind of genres, especially poetry, drama and fiction ones within our current framework.

Moreover, nowadays new technologies (the Internet, DVD, videocamera) and the media (TV, radio, cinema) may provide a new direction to language teaching as they set more appropriate context for students to experience the target culture. Present-day approaches deal with a communicative competence model in which first, there is an emphasis on significance over form, and secondly, motivation and involvement are enhanced by means of new technologies and the media. Hence literary productions and the history of the period may be approched in terms of films and drama representations in class, among others, and in this case, by means of books (novels: historical, terror, descriptive) and drama (opera, comedies, plays), among others.

But how do twentieth-century British literature tie in with the new curriculum? Spanish students are expected to know about the British culture and its influence on Europe since students are required to know about the world culture and history. The success partly lies in the way literary works become real to the users. Some of this motivational force is brought about by intervening in authentic communicative events. Otherwise, we have to recreate as much as possible the whole cultural environment in the classroom by means of novels, short stories, documentaries, history books, or their family’s stories.

Hence it makes sense to examine relevant figures in and out Great Britain so as to understand how their relevant works are known not only in their countries, but also in Europe and the rest of the world through the media: TV, films, radio, books, and magazines, among others. Who has not read or seen at the cinema Lawrence’s Lady Shatterley’s Lover (1928); Woolf’s Mrs

Dalloway (1925), Huxley’s Brave New World (1932), Forster’s A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910), and much later, A Passage to India (1924); Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945); Greene’s Brighton Rock (1938), The Third Man (1950), or The Quiet American (1955)?

This is to be achieved within the framework of the European Council (1998) and, in particular, the Spanish Educational System which establishes a common reference framework for the teaching of foreign languages where students are intended to carry out several communication tasks with specific communic ative goals, for instance, how to locate a literary work within a particular historical period. Analytic interpretation of texts in all genres should become part of every literary student’s basic competence (B.O.E., 2004).

In addition, one of the objectives of teaching the English language is to provide good models of almost any kind of literary productions for future studies. Following van Ek & Trim (2001), ‘the learners can perform, within the limits of the resources available to them, those writing (and oral) tasks which adult citizens in general may wish, or be called upon, to carry out in their private capacity or as members of the general public’ when dealing with their future regarding personal and professional life.

In short, the knowledge about British culture (history and literature) should become part of every literary student’s basic competence (B.O.E., 2004). There are hidden influences at work beneath the textual surface: these may be sociocultural, inter and intratextual. The literary student has to discover these, and wherever necessary apply them in further examination. The main aims that our currently educational system focuses on are mostly sociocultural, to facilitate the study of cultural themes, as our students must be aware of their current social reality within the European framework.

5. CONCLUSION.

On reviewing the issue of Great Britain in the inter-War years and during the World War II, we have examined the life, works and style of the most representative authors in this period, but before we have offered a historical background for this period in Great Britain regarding social, economic and political changes so as to provide an overall view of the context in which the most representative authors lived and produced their works. So, we have analysed the situation before the First World War, during the First World War (1914-1918) in terms of home and

international affairs; during the inter-War years (1918-1939), and finally, the period during the

World War II (1941-1945).

In Chapter 3 we have provided a literary background of the period which ranges from the inter- War years to the end of the World War II with the aim of going further into the most representative authors and their masterpieces within the three main literary forms: poetry, drama and prose. First, Therefore, we have approached the main features of the inter-war years and World War II; and second, the main literary forms and their most reprentative authors. Then, within poetry, we have presented the life, works and style of Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-

1973) in England, Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) in Wales, W.B. Yeats (1865-1939) in Ireland,

and also, out of Britain, the relevant American poets T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) and Ezra Pound

(1885-1972).

Secondly, within drama we have included Sean O’Casey (1884-1964) in Ireland, Sir Noël Coward (1899-1973) and J.B. Priestley (1894-1984) in England, and the first American dramatist of international significance, Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953); and, finally, within prose, we have reviewed the following authors: David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930), Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), Edward Morgan Forster (1879-1970), Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966), George Orwell (1903-1950), and Graham Greene (1904-) in England, and James Joyce (1882-1941) in Ireland.

In Chapter 4 have analysed the main educational implications in language teaching regarding the introduction of this issue in the classroom setting. At the moment we are offering a brief conclusion to broadly overview our present study, and Chapter 6 will present all the bibliographical references used to develop this account of Great Britain literature in the twentieth century.

Having lived in the same period, all these authors transmitted their vision of reality. The impact of the war made them change their way of writing and expression, and paved the way for subsequent generations of writers. Then, on escaping from reality, these authors provided a new direction to British literature and began to lose their fear to the Victorian puritanical morality. So, they introduced new techniques in fiction which were drawn from psychological analysis (stream of consciousness, verse music, satirical language) with more emphasis on the form than on the story, special use of time in which past, present and future were mixed together as in a dream. The World War II brought about a new period of anger and disillusionment as the first one.

So far, we have attempted to provide the reader in this presentation with a historical, literary and cultural background on the vast amount of literature productions in the twentieth century literature in Great Britain. This information is relevant for language learners, even ESO and Bachillerato students, who do not automatically establish similiarities between British and Spanish literary works. So, learners need to have these associations brought to their attention in cross-curricular settings through the media . As we have seen, understanding how literature reflects the main historical events of a country is important to students, who are expected to be aware of the richness of English literature in all English-speaking countries.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Albert, Edward. 1990. A History of English Literature. Walton-on-Thames. Nelson. 5^th edition (Revised by J.A. Stone).

B.O.E. 2004. Consejería de Educación y Cultura. Decreto N.º 116/2004, de 23 de enero. Currículo de la

Educación Secundaria Obligatoria en la Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia.

B.O.E. 2004. Consejería de Educación y Cultura. Decreto N.º 117/2004, de 23 de enero. Currículo de

Bachillerato en la Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia.

Council of Europe (1998) Modern Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. A Common European

Framework of reference.

Magnusson, M., and Goring, R. (eds.). 1990. Cambridge Biographical Dictionary. New York: Cambridge

University Press.

Palmer, R. 1980. Historia Contemporánea, Akal ed., Madrid.

Sanders, A. 1996. The Short Oxford History of English Literature. Oxford University Press. Rogers, P. 1987. The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature. Oxford University Press.

Speck, W.A. 1998. Literature and Society in Eighteenth-Century England: Ideology Politics and Culture

1680-1820. Book Reviews.

Thoorens, Léon. 1969. Panorama de las literaturas Da imon: Inglaterra y América del Norte. Gran

Bretaña y Estados Unidos de América. Ediciones Daimon.

van Ek, J.A., and J.L.M. Trim, 2001. Vantage. Council of Europe. Cambridge University Press.

Other sources:

Enciclopedia Larousse 2000. Editorial Planeta.