1901-1960

The Modern Era

About

Period of great artistic change due to world wars.

Reached its peak between the two world wars.

During this time people began doubting the principles on which the Victorians based their social code.

Politics, society, and an escape from Victorian past and beliefs were some of the many ideas authors had.

Styles and Genres

Greatly influenced through ideas: Romanticism Political Writings----Karl Marx Psychoanalytic theories of subconscious----Sigmund

Freud Impressionism

Poetry

Poetry for the most part during the modern era was greatly affected by the war.

It summed up what the war generally was: catastrophe, needless waste, and destruction of humanity.

Poets

Rupert Brooke

Wilfred Owen

Siegfried Sassoon

Herbert Read

Wilfred Gibson

Rupert Brooke: Born in 1887.English poet known for his war sonnets during WWI. At the start of WWI he enlisted in the Royal Naval Division . His most famous work, a sonnet sequence “1914 and Other Poems” were made public in 1915. Later in the year while taking part in an expedition he died of blood poisoning from a mosquito. A symbol of the tragic loss of talented youth during war.

Wilfred OwenBorn in 1893In 1915 his interest in WWI increased and he enlisted in the Artist’s Rifles Group.In 1917 he was wounded and sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital where he met poet Sigfried Sassoon.Through Sassoon he was introduced to Robert Graves and H.G. Wells.During this time he wrote some of his most famous poems:

“Anthem for Doomed Youth”“Dulce et Decorum Est”

Not patriotic poems like Brooke’s but Owen’s depicted horrors of war, surrounding physical landscapes, and human body in relation to that.Killed November 4th, 1918 while on a mission.One of the most admired poets of WWI.

Siegfried Sassoonborn in 1886.His poetry before the war was hardly recognized.At outbreak of war he joined the cavalry.After being wounded in 1917 he was sent back to England.The British’s armies tactics made Sassoon angry and he published “A Soldier’s Declaration”.His poetry reflected his opinions of war as well.Through the war he took on a harsh satirical style which he used to attack incompetence and inhumanity of senior military officers.Caused controversy with “The Old Huntsman” and “Counter-Attack”.Continued to fight in the war.Died in 1967.

Herbert ReadBorn in 1893.Served as a captain of the Yorkshire Regiment during WWI.Military Cross for bravery.2 volumes of poetry on his war experiences.

Songs of ChaosNaked Warriors

Died in 1968.

Wilfrid GibsonBorn 1878.Close friends with Rupert Brooke.Joined the British Army but remained in England.Wrote poetry from the point of view of an ordinary foot soldier.After the war he wrote poetry and plays.His work focused on the poverty of industrial workers and village laborers.Volumes of poetry included:

Collected Poems 1905-1925The Island StagWithin Four Walls

Died in 1962.

Authors John Buchan James Joyce D.H. Lawrence Virginia Woolf A A Milnes George Orwell J.R.R. Tolkein Ian Fleming

Novels

The Thirty-Nine Steps Ulysses Sons and Lovers To The Lighthouse Winnie the Pooh Animal Farm The Hobbit Casino Royale

The Thirty-Nine Stepsby: John Buchan

Born in Perth, Scotland on August 26, 1875.

He spent summers with his Grandparents in the Scottish Borders where he loved the local scenery and wildlife. Featured in many of his writings.

Attended University of Glasgow. There he studied classics, wrote poetry, and became a published author.

Moved to London in 1900.

2 yrs. Later at the end of the Boer War he took a post as private secretary to Lord Milner.

With him he traveled through refugee camps and colonies of South Africa.

In 1903 back in London he partnered with Thomas Arthur Nelson, a publisher.

Wrote Pester John in 1910.

When WWI started he went to write for the British war Propaganda Bureau and wrote as a correspondent in France for the Times.

1915 he published his most famous work The Thirty-Nine Steps.

A year later he enlisted in the British Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps.

In 1935 accepted the position as Canada’s Governor General.

On Feb. 6th, 1940 Buchan suffered from a fainting spell while shaving striking his head, causing a concussion and swelling.

An embolism had formed and after 3 brain operations he died on Feb. 11th, 1940.

The Thirty-Nine Steps Published in 1915.

First of the 5 novels featuring Richard Hannay.

Spy-thriller set prior to WWI.

The story combined personal and political dramas.

Described as a shocker which the events in the story are unlikely to happen and reader is only just able to believe they really did.

Richard Hannay is the protagonist and narrator.

After an American (Schudder) comes to him for help and afraid for his life he tells Hannay of an anarchist plot to destroy Europe, starting with a plan to kill Karolides a Greel premier on his visit in London.

He lets the man stay at his flat and the next day he finds another man shot dead in the same building. 4 days later he finds Schudder dead with a knife through his heart.

Hannay fears that he will be murdered next and cannot ask the police for help due to being imprisoned. He leaves for Scotland.

He takes on Schudders cause of protecting Karolides.

The story continues on as him on the run from the police and trying to stop the destroy of Europe at the same time.

An example of a man who puts his countries safety before his own.

Widely popular with the men in trenches during WWI.

The adventure continues throughout 4 more books. Greenmantle Mr. Standfast The Three Hostages The island of Sheep

Was adapted into Alfred Hitchcock’s 39 Steps.

UlyssesBy: James Joyce

Born Feb. 2nd, 1882 in Dublin, Ireland.

In 1898 he entered the University College, Dublin.

Joyce's Irish experiences are essential to his writings and provide all of the settings for his fiction and much of their subject matter.

His first publication was an essay on Ibsen's play When We Dead Awaken. It appeared in the Fortnightly Review in 1900. At this time he also began writing lyric poems.

At the start of WWI he moved with his family to Zurich.

There he started his first chapters of Ulysses.

In March of 1923 he started his second major work Finnegan’s Wake.

Some considered Finnegan’s Wake a masterpiece while others found it incomprehensible.

After France’s fall in WWII, he returned to Zurich.

James Joyce died on January 13th, 1941 still disappointed with Finnegan’s Wake.

Ulysses Published Feb. 2nd, 1922.

First published in France due to censorship problems in Great Britain and the U.S., didn’t became legally available there till 1933.

Said to be one of the most important pieces of modernist literature.

Been called "a demonstration and summation of the entire movement".

Chronicles the passage of Leopold Bloom through Dublin during an ordinary day.

Title parallels and alludes to Odysseus, the hero of Homer’s Odyssey.

Stream of consciousness technique, careful structuring, puns, parodies, and allusions makes the novel highly regarded in the Modernist genre.

Made up of 18 chapters or episodes. Each has a theme, technique, and correspondences between the characters and those in the Odyssey.

Sons and LoversBy: D.H. Lawrence

David Herbert Richards Lawrence

Born September 11th, 1885 in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire.

The tension between him and his parents and his working class background provided raw material for a number of his early works.

In 1908 he left his home for London.

While there he worked as a teacher in Davidson Road School where he contd. writing.

A London publisher became interested in his work and his profession as an author grew.

White Peacock his first published novel appeared in 1910.

In 1911 he worked on the first drafts of Sons and Lovers.

When pneumonia struck and he recovered he abandoned his teaching post and became a full time author.

Married to Frieda Weekly. During the war the two lived in near destitution and were viewed suspiciously due to Frieda’s German parentage and Lawrence’s open contempt for militarism.

Lawrence’s The Rainbow was suppressed after an investigation into its alleged obscenity in 1915.

They were accused of spying and signaling to German submarines.

After his experiences during the war he traveled, a time of voluntary exile.

He even traveled to the U.S. where he bought land in New Mexico in exchange for the manuscripts of Sons and Lovers.

A near fatal attack of malaria and tuberculosis required him to return to Europe.

He died from complication of tuberculosis in France on March 2nd, 1930.

Sons and Lovers Published in 1913.

His earliest masterpiece.

Semi-autobiographical.

Tells the story of Paul Morel, a young and budding artist.

The female protagonist Gertrude Morel reflects the sense of his mothers wasted life, her unfortunate marriage, and also his admiration.

Gertrude Coppard meets a rough-hewn miner at a Christmas dance and falls into a whirlwind romance. But soon after her marriage to Walter Morel, she realizes the difficulties of living off his meagre salary in a rented house. The couple fight and drift apart and Walter retreats to the pub after work each day. Gradually, Mrs. Morel's affections shift to her sons beginning with the oldest, William. As a boy, William is so attached to his mother that he doesn't enjoy the fair without her. As he grows older, he defends her against his father's occasional violence. Eventually, he leaves their Nottinghamshire home for a job in London, where he begins to rise up into the middle class. He is engaged, but he detests the girl's superficiality. He dies and Mrs. Morel is heartbroken, but when Paul catches pneumonia she rediscovers her love for her second son.

To the Lighthouse by: Virginia Woolf

Born January 25, 1882.

An English novelist. She was a feminist.

Known as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the 20th century.

Between the wars she was a well known figure in the London literary society and also a member of the Bloomsbury Group.

At the age of 13 when her mother and her sister both died she had her first breakdown.

When her father died in 1904 she was institutionalized.

Her breakdowns and common depressive periods were also influenced by the sexual abuse her and her sister endured by their brothers.

Though all this affected her social life her literary productivity contd. With few breaks up until her society.

Due to another onset of depression on March 28th she committed suicide by drowning herself in the river near her home. Her body was not found until April 18th.

To The Lighthouse Published May 5, 1927.

A landmark novel of high modernism.

A novel that manipulates temporality and psychological exploration.

Novel centers on the Ramsay family and their visits to the Isle of Sky.

Takes place between 1910 and 1920.

Has little dialogue and is mostly thoughts and observations made by characters.

Starts out with the Ramsay’s at their summer home with friends visiting them. How the characters interact and affect one another. Next it goes to a second part “Time Passing” where Woolf tells of time passing and explains the absence of certain people. In the last section “The Lighthouse” the Ramsay’s that are remaining return to the Isle of Sky. Mr. Ramsay plans to take the trip to the Lighthouse he promised his son 10 years earlier. The story ends with the reflection and gratitude to Mrs. Ramsay.

Winnie the Pooh by: A.A. Milne

Alan Alexander Milne born Jan. 18th, 1882.

His father was a schoolmaster at the Henley House where Alan did get his first education. He continued his education at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in mathematics in 1903.

When WWI began Milne joined the army. In 1916 he left the front lines due to fever. In 1919 he left the army and focused on writing plays.

His first children’s poem “Vespers” was published in Vanity Fair and featured his son Christopher Robin.

In 1924 after the success of Vespers, Milne published a book ‘When We Were Very Young’ which is a collection of children’s poems. Includes a poem about a chubby Teddy Bear. This was Pooh Bear’s unofficial fist appearance. Over 50,000 copies sold within the first week.

A bedtime story about Pooh and his adventures for his son turned into Milne’s next book ‘Winnie the Pooh’.

In 1952 Milne went under a brain operation which left him invalid. He survived and lived out the rest of his life in Sussex. After a long illness he died on January 31st, 1956.

Winnie the Pooh Published in 1926.

Started out as a bedtime story for his son Christopher Milne.

Milne named the character Winnie-the-Pooh after teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne, who was the basis for the character Christopher Robin. His toys also lent their names to most of the other characters, except for Owl and Rabbit, as well as the Gopher character, who was added in the Disney version.

Tells of Pooh and his friends adventures in the Hundred Acre Woods.

Animal Farm by: George Orwell

Born June 25, 1903.

English novelist and journalist.

Works are keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense revolutionary opposition to totalitarianism.

Had a passion for clarity in lang. and had beliefs in democratic socialism.

Best known for his novels 1984 and a satirical novel Animal Farm.

On Jan. 21st an artery burst in his lung killing him at age 46.

Animal Farm Published on August 17, 1945.

The book is a reflection of the events leading up to and during the time of Stalin.

Being a democratic socialist and a member of the Independent Labour Party for years he was a critic of Joseph Stalin and suspicious of Moscow directed Stalinism.

It presents the corruption of revolution by leaders and how indiffernce, greed, and ignorance ruined any possibility of a Utopia.

Old Major a boar on the farm calls the animals for a meeting and compares the humans to parasites. When he dies 3 days later two of the younger pigs Snowball and Napoleon take up command and lead a revolt which drives Mr. Jones from the farm renaming it Animal Farm.

The Hobbit By: J.R.R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkein (1892-1973)

A major scholar of the English language. Specialized in Old and Middle English.

Twice professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford. There he wrote many stories including the two most famous works by him “The

Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings”.

Spent 4 months fighting in the war and from experiences and people he used for ideas in his stories.

He retired from writing in 1959 and died in 1973.

The Hobbit Published in 1937.

Originally written for his 4 children who loved every aspect of the story.

Though it is a children’s story adults are drawn to it. Its packed full of plot, dialogue, and history.

Many aspects of the adventure that takes place within the story is based off of Scandinavian myths.

Bilbo Baggins is visited by Gandalf the Wizard and 13 dwarves who are on an adventure. They need someone to be a thief for them so they can steal the treasure from Smaug the Dragon. Though Bilbo is not interested in the mission he is roped into it any way which begins his adventure.

Set in a prehistoric time in an invented version of the world which Tolkien called by the Middle English name “Middle Earth” that was populated by men, women, elves, dwarves, trolls, and goblins.

Casino Royale By: Ian Fleming

Born in 1908. Grew up as a rare member of Englishmen whose every option was open.

Attended Eton for 2 years but left and attended Sandhurst a military academy which also did not last very long. He found his place in a small Austrian town of Kitzbuhel where his education was changed drastically.

After a short time being a journalist he went to work as a banker supposedly not happy with his job he took on an assignment with the Times to return to the Soviet Union to report on a trade mission. Here the whole time he was spying for the Foreign Office.

Worked with the Naval Intelligence Service. Became a right hand man to Britain’s top spymaster. This career helped him really tap into his imagination.

In 1952 he wrote his first draft of Casino Royale. Continued 12 years with James Bond stories.

He died on August 12th, 1964 at the age of 56 from heart failure.

Casino Royale Published in 1953.

The first James Bond novel.

Monsieur Le Chiffre, the treasurer of a Soviet-backed trade union in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, is running a baccarat game in the casino at Royale-les-Eaux, France, in order to recover union money he lost in a failed chain of brothels.Expert baccarat player James Bond is assigned the defeat of Le Chiffre, in the hope that his gambling debts will provoke Soviet espionage agency SMERSH to kill him.

Many incidents throughout the story were based on incidents that happened throughout his naval career.

11 more novels that follow.

Has been made into numerous movies today.

Sources

http://www.indepthinfo.com/tolkien/hobbit.shtml

http://www.klast.net/bond/flem_bio.html http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jsassoo

n.htm