The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain's famous novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer won the hearts of millions of readers, both young and old. Mark Twain wrote about his book as follows: "Most of the adventures in this book are real. One or two were my own experiences, the rest of boys' who were my schoolfriends. Becky Thatcher is Laura Hawkins, Tom Sawyer is largely a self-portrait but Tom Blankenship, who lived just

Doctorate ['doktsnt] of Letters — степень доктора литературы

 

over the back fence, is the immortal Huckleberry Finn who slept on doorsteps in fine weather and in empty hogsheads in wet. John Biggs was the real, flesh-and-blood version of Joe Harper, the Terror of the Seas. My book is mainly for boys and girls to enjoy, but I hope, men and women will also be glad to read it to see what they once were like".

The plot is full of adventures of smart youngsters and is full of sparkling humour. With Tom's adventures we learn about the life on the Mississippi and that of the provincial town of the USA in the 19th century.

Tom Sawyer, a plain American boy, lives with his younger brother Sid and aunt Polly in St Petersburg, a remote town on the banks of the Mississippi river. Sid is an obedient boy, and he is satisfied with his school and the life of the little town. Tom is quite the opposite of his brother. His close friend is Huck Finn, a boy left by his drunkard of a father. Tom does not like school because of the teachers who beat the pupils. He misses lessons, plays tricks on his teachers, fights his brother Sid. Tom is tired of aunt Polly who wants to make a decent boy of him. From books about Robin Hood, robbers and hidden treasure Tom Sawyer has created an imagi­nary world which differs from the one he lives in. The novel com­bines the elements of realism and romanticism. The realistic pic­ture of the small town with its stagnant life is compared with the romantic world of Tom and his friends. The author praises human­ism, friendship, courage and condemns injustice, narrowminded-ness and money worship.

Vocabulary

obedient [a'bMjsnt] а послушный plain [plem] а простой remote [n'msut] о отдаленный self-portrait ['self'point] n автопортрет smart [smart] а умный sparkling ['spa:klirj] а блестящий stagnant ['staegnant] а инертный worship ['\V3:Jip] n поклонение youngster ['JAnsta] n подросток

condemn [кэп'ёет] v осуждать decent ['di:snt] а хороший drunkard ['drAnkad] n пьяница fence ['fens] n забор hogshead ['Irngzhed] n бочка immortal [i'mo:tl] а бессмертный largely [ 'lard^i] adv в значительной

степени narrowmindedness ['naereu'mamdidnis]

n ограниченность

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a story of a little tramp. His father is a drunkard. When he becomes so violent that Huckleberry fears him, the boy runs away from him. Huck finds a canoe and gets into it and paddles to an island on the other side of the river. He thinks he is alone on the island, but he meets there a young Negro slave Jim. Huck is glad to see him there because he always considers him to be his friend. But when he learns that Jim has run away from his owner, he is very sad because it is a sin to help a runaway slave. But Huck promises not to tell anybody about him.

Huckleberry and Jim are the main characters of the book. They sail down the Mississippi, passing big and small towns, numerous villages and farms. The author and his heroes critically view everything they see. They seldom meet good people. Most of all they come across are robbers, murderers, rogues. They do not wish to earn their living honestly.

The white boy and young Negro become very good friends. They help each other in all the troubles. Huck finds Jim to be a kind, brave and good man.

Mark Twain compares the friendly relations between Huck and Jim with the corruption they see in the towns and villages on the shores.

The raft on the Mississippi

It is to Twain's credit that he has depicted Jim as an honest, kind, sincere and selfless man at the time when the Negroes were

 

considered inferior to the white people. From the time Jim enters the story in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the book becomes a social novel. It is a judgement of a certain epoch in America.

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain used his wit and humour to show the social evils of his day. The novel marked the growth of Mark Twain's realism.

Mark Twain began writing as a humorist, but later became a bitter satirist. Towards the end of his life he grew more dissatisfied with American mode of life. In his later works his satire becomes very sharp.

Vocabulary

credit ['kredit] n заслуга rogue ['гэид] п мошенник

inferior [in'frarra] а низший (по положе- sin [sin] n грех

нию) violent fvaistant] а жестокий
judgement ['djufemant] n мнение, взгляд

The Prince and the Pauper and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

Both books showed contemporary American problems against the historical background.

The Prince and the Pauper is a beautiful fairy-tale about justice and injustice. According to Mark Twain the contrast between poverty and luxury is unjust; the idea that the people from the lowest strata of society are inferior is wrong. He showed that they have as much common sense and wit as their social superiors. The second theme Mark Twain deals with is the corruptive influence of money and flattery on good people.

"Tom Canty liked clothes and ordered more of them. 400 servants he found not enough and made them thrice as many. The flattery of courtiers sounded music to him".

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a fantastic novel, a parody on the medieval romance.

Placing a Yankee from the 19th century America into the England of the 6th century the author could compare the Middle Ages and the

contemporary bourgeois system and appreciate the progress made, but he leads us to the conclusion that the main laws are the same — the same power of church, ignorance, the same contrast between the oppressed masses of people and the ruling classes.

Mark Twain proves that there is as little or even less freedom and respect for the rights of man in his own days than there was in the times of feudal despotism.

Mark Twain makes the king travel among the people in the disguise of a peasant. It is the same device used in The Prince and the Pauper when the king comes to see by himself how bitter the life of the people was.

Mark Twain was a very good short-story writer as well. The most popular stories are: Running for Governor, An Encounter with an In­terviewer, A Chinaman's Letters and some others. They contain sharp criticism of the political life of the country, of the American system of election and the morals and manners of the reactionary press.

Mark Twain was a very good narrator and he wrote as he talked.

ignorance ['ignarsns] n невежество medieval [^medi'iival] о средневековый narrator [пэг'геПэ] п рассказчик peasant ['pezsnt] n крестьянин sound [saund] v звучать strata ['strata] pi от stratum stratum ['straitsm] n слой (общества) superior [sjix'pisna] n превосходящий другого

Vocabulary

appreciate [s'prkjieit] v ценить contemporary [кэп 'temparen] а со­временный corruptive [кэ'глрйу] а развращающий device [di'vais] n прием (зд. литера­турный) disguise [dis'gaiz] л измененный костюм in disguise of a peasant переоде­тый крестьянином flattery ['flffitsn] n лесть

Questions and Tasks

1. Speak about Samuel Clemens's childhood.

2. When did he have to earn his living?

3. Where did he work?

4. Comment on the years Samuel Clemens spent piloting on the Mississippi.

5. When did the writer take the pen-name "Mark Twain"?

6. What does this term mean?

 

7. What did Clemens do when the Civil War stopped the traffic on the Mississippi?

8. When did Clemens's career as a journalist really begin?

9. What story made him famous?

 

10. Name Mark Twain's first important book. Comment on it.

11. What novels did he write in the period from 1874 to 1885?

12. What was his last short novel?

13. What Mark Twain's novels won the hearts of millions of readers?

14. What can you say about the plot and the main characters of the The Adventures of Tom Sawyer?

15. Give a brief summary of the contents of the The Adventures of Huckle­berry Finn.

16. Why can The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn be called a social novel?

17. Analyse the novel The Prince and the Pauper and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

18. Speak on Mark Twain's activities as a short-story writer.

19. What else did he write in the last years of his life?

20. Speak on Mark Twain's place in American and world literature.

O. Henry (1862-1910)

O. Henry is one of the most popular short-story writers. His real name was Wil­liam Sidney Porter fwiljam 'sidni 'porta]. He was bom in Greensbore, a little town in North Carolina.

His mother died when he was little. His
father spent all his time on inventions of.
various kinds. His aunt had a private school
and she encouraged him to read. His fa­
vourite authors were: Brontes, Walter
Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, Byron and
others. His schooling was short. He left
school when he was fifteen and worked
in his uncle's drugstore as a clerk. In nine- o. Henry

teen Porter went to Texas.

He changed a variety of jobs, working as a cowboy, miner, clerk and then a teller of a bank. While working at a bank Porter was falsely accused of embezzlement and he left the bank. He went

to Houston where he worked for a Houston newspaper and founded a humorous journal, which he called The Rolling Stone. He worked on the newspaper for nearly a year. Then William porter had to return to the Texas capital Austin to start trial for the embezzlement at the bank. He was not guilty. However, the case was so confused that he considered it better not to go there and he went to South America.

In 1897 he returned to his dying wife to the USA and was arrested on the old charge, tried and sentenced to imprisonment. He spent five years in the Ohio State prison. While in prison he started writing stories. He used the pen-name of O. Henry — from the name of the captain of the prison guard, Orrin Henry.

When O. Henry was released from prison, he went to New York where he continued writing stories. The first of his volumes of short stories was Cabbages and Kings (1904). It was followed by The Four Million (1906), The Trimmed Lamp (1907), Heart of the West (1907), The Voice of the City (1908), The Gentle Grafter (1908), Roads of Destiny (1909), Options (1909) and Strictly Business (1910). The years of hard work and privations had undermined the writer's health and he died in 1910.

O. Henry worked out the various kinds of the short story: the monologue, the dialogue, the adventure story, the anecdote, the psychological story. O. Henry wrote about 150 stories with a New York background. His stories depict the lives of people belonging to different layers of society from businessmen to beggars. Most of his stories are romantic portrayals of the lives of shop girls, poor artists, unhappy lovers. Social criticism in O. Henry's stories is very mild. The writer's interest is not in the social scene but in some unusual incident in the lives of his heroes.

O. Henry's stories are based on plot. Mood and character are of less importance. He was an entertainer, his aim was to amuse and surprise his readers rather than to analyse a human situation. Never­theless, his stories.attract the readers to this day. He is still a living author. His love for humanity, for the common people, his critical attitude towards injustice appeal readers. O. Henry's works had a great influence on American literature of the 20th century. The most popular O. Henry's stories are: The Ransom of Red Chief in which the two crooks who kidnap a boy for ransom cannot stand his pranks and

 

are forced to pay his father two hundred and fifty dollars to get rid of
him; The Gift of Magi, the story of Jim and Delia, a young couple, whose
only treasures are Delia's beautiful long hair and Jim's gold watch.
Jim sells his watch to buy Delia a comb for her hair, and she sells her
hair to buy a chain for his watch; A Service of Love, the story about a
young couple, Joe Larrabee and Delia Caruthers, who love each oth­
er very much. Each has a favourite hobby. He likes drawing, and she
likes music and plays the piano. Soon they lack money to pay for their
lessons, so Delia is going to give music lessons, and Joe too decides to
earn money. Delia pretends to give lessons to a general's daughter
and Joe pretends that she has sold a sketch. One evening Delia comes
home with her right hand tied up with a rag. When Joe sees the band­
age, the truth comes out that they have been working in the same
laundry. They are happy because Joe says: "When one loves one's
Art no service seems —"; The Last Leaf is about an old painter, Behr-
man, who is a failure in art. He protects the two young artists, two girls,
Sue and Johnsy. Johnsy gets very ill and believes she will die when the
last leaf of the tree falls down. The old painter saves Johnsy by paint­
ing on the wall the last leaf. But he catches cold and dies of pneumo­
nia; The Cop and the Anthem, in which a tramp does everything possi­
ble to be arrested and put to prison because winter is approaching
and he is homeless. „

O. Henry's stories are related with skill, humour and feeling.

Vocabulary

accuse [s'kjuiz] v обвинять appeal [э'рк1] v привлекать bandage ['basndicfe] n бинт charge [tfa:u^] n обвинение confused [k3n'fju:zd] а запутанный crook [kruk] n проходимец drugstore fdrAgsto:] n аптекарский ма­газин embezzlement [im'bezlmant] n растрата kidnap ['kidnsep] v похищать детей laundry ['b:ndn] n прачечная layer ['1ею] п слой pneumonia [nju: 'тэгяу'э] п воспале-

prank [praerjk] n шалость

rag [raeg] n тряпка

ransom ['raensam] n выкуп

release [n'li:s] v освобождать

rid [rid] v (rid; ridden) освобождать

to get rid of smb избавиться от кого-л. sentence [ 'sentgns] v приговаривать teller ['tela] n кассир в банке trial ['traial] n суд

to stand trial предстать перед судом undermine [^Ands'mam] v разрушать

ние легких

Г

Question and Tasks

1. Where was William Porter born?

2. What do you know about his parents?

3. When did he leave school?

4. What professions and jobs did he have before he became a writer?

5. What happened when he worked at a bank in Texas?

6. Was he guilty?

7. When was he arrested?

8. When did O. Henry begin writing stories?

9. Why did he take this pen-name?

 

10. What was the first of his volumes of short stories?

11. What kinds of short story did O. Henry work out?

12. Characterize O. Henry's stories.

13. Name the most popular of them and retell their contents.

Jack London (1876-1916)

Jack London, the famous American nove­list and short-story writer, was born in San Francisco, California, on January 12,1876. He was the son of astrologer William Henry Chancy and Flora Willman. When Jack was eight months old, his mother left Chancy, and married John London, whom the boy grew to love more than his own father. Jack took his foster-father's name and this is the one by which history remembers him.

London called his childhood years the hungriest period of his life. So hungry was he that once he stole a piece of meat from a girl's lunch basket. Years later he wrote about his childhood: "I had been poor. Poor I had lived. I had gone hungry on occasion. I had never had toys of playthings like other children. My first memories of life were pinched by poverty. The pinch of poverty had become chronic... And only a child, with a child's imagination, can come to know the meaning of things it has long been denied."

^^^^■^^^^^^^^^^■■^^himhhihhhhhHBH

But soon Jack discovered the world of books. In 1885, he was borrowing books from the public library and read everything he could. He read books of adventure, travel and sea voyages. But as John London was often out of work, Jack had had to work since his early childhood to help his father support the family. He got up at 3 a. m. to deliver newspapers, after which he went to school. After school he delivered evening papers. On week­ends he worked as a porter or on an ice wagon. Because of fi­nancial difficulties, Jack got only a grammar school education. At the age of 13 he continued working as a newspaper boy and performed some other odd jobs. When he had some spare time from his work, he spent on the waterfront. The sea attracted him,

But family affairs went from bad to worse: John London was seriously injured, and now Jack had to provide his family. He found work in a cannery. His pay was very low, and he had to work overtime, standing at his machine for 18 and 20 hours a day. For several months he continued working there but then he joined the oyster pirates and was a sailor on board a schooner bound for Japan. In 1893 he returned to San Francisco. The only job he could find was in a jute mill where he earned one dollar for ten hours a day. After a<lay's work at the factory Jack was very tired and sleepy, but it was at this time that he managed to pub­lish his first story: the newspaper San Francisco Call offered a prize for a descriptive article. Jack's mother made him try for it. The attempt was successful. The first prize was given to Jack'Lon­don's 5fory of a Typhoon Off the Coast of Japan (1893). His suc­cess in the competition turned his thoughts to writing, but he had to earn his living. He got a job at a power plant, but soon he left the plant and joined an army of the unemployed. He tramped from San Francisco to Washington. Like many others he was arrested and spent a month in jail.

These hardships influenced his outlook. He began thinking of the necessity of improving his education. In 1896, after 3 months of preparatory study, he entered the University in California, but left before the year was up to support his mother and foster-father by working in a laundry. At the same time he decided once again

to try his skill in literature. Working day and night, Jack London wrote poetry, essays and stories, sending them to magazines, but receiving only rejection letters.

Then gold was discovered in the Klondike and Jack set sail for the Alaskan gold fields. He hoped to get money to be able to devote himself to literature. London mined no gold during his year's stay in the Klondike, but his contacts with many different people and his observations gave him a lot of material for many stories.

In 1889 he arrived home to find his father dead.

Jack returned to day labour, and at the same time he was trying to continue his literary work. He felt that in order to be­come a writer there were two things he had to acquire: knowledge and skill in writing. His reading continued: Kipling and Steven­son were his literary gods. At the cost of tremendous hardships his efforts were rewarded with success. His story To the Man on Trail (1898) was published in the Overland Monthly. In the course of the next four years London published his collection of northern stories (The Son of the Wolf (1900), The God of His Fathers (1901), Children of the Frost (1902), A Daughter of the Snows (1903) and The Call of the Wild (1903)), which brought the writer wide popularity.

London knew the North very well. He had met his characters in real life and knew their aspirations and troubles very well that's why all his personages are so realistically depicted.

In 1902 Jack London visited the capital of England. Out of that experience came the terrible picture of poverty, one of Lon­don's most popular books — The People of the Abyss (1903). The writer drew a realistic picture of the misery and suffering of the poor people who lived in the slums of London. The Russian Revolution in 1905 influenced London greatly and led London to a better understanding of class struggle. His new outlook was expressed in his books The War of the Classes (1905), The Iron Heel (1907) and Revolution and Other Essays (1910).

The years 1905- 1910 were the highest point in his political activity.

 

"

deliberately [di'libantli] adv умышленно deny [di'nai] v отрицать descriptive [dis 'kriptiv] а описатель­ный effort ['efat] n усилие foster-father ['fo:sta,fa:5a] n приемный отец

In 1905 Jack London went on a lecture tour of the country, and made a voyage to the Hawaii. On the deck of his yacht the Snark he began writing Martin Eden, the finest novel he ever wrote.

The years of 1906—1909 were the prime of London's creative work. He wrote some of his best works: The White Fang (1906), The South Sea Tales (1907), Martin Eden (1909) and many other works that brought the author great fame.

Many novels of his later period show that he made a compromise with those whom he had exposed in his previous books. These were his new works The Valley of the Moon (1914), and The Little Lady of the Big House (1916).

During the sixteen years of his literary activities Jack Lon­don wrote 19 novels, 18 books of short stories and articles, 3 plays and 8 autobiographical and sociological works. His work is very unequal. He expresses widely differing views of life. However, Jack London must be judged by the books in which he showed all his great talent, the books which brought fame to London's name all over the world.

On November 22, 1916, Jack London was found dead near Santa Rosa, California. Doctors explained his death as an over­dose of morphine. It is believed that it may have been taken de­liberately as during the year 1916 London felt very ill. He suf­fered from an incurable disease.

Jack London is one of the most popular writers in the world. He is still widely read. It is his realism and humanism that keep his writings living and fresh today as they were at the beginning of the century.

Vocabulary

acquire [a'kwaia] v приобретать aspiration Laespa'reijan] п стремление autobiographical [,o:tau,baiau'greeiikal]

а автобиографический cannery ['кгепэп] л консервный завод compromise ['ктлпргэтатг] v пойти на

компромисс

 

pinch [pintf] л сжатие; v мучить pinch of poverty тиски нужды pirate t'paiant] л пират porter ['po:taJ л носильщик power plant f'pauaplcunt] л электро­станция prime [praim] n расцвет schooner ['sku:na] л шхуна slum [sLun] л обыкн. pi трущобы sociologicol Csausja'lrxfcikal] а социо­логический tramp [trasmp] v совершать путеше­ствие пешком unequal [An'i:kwal] а неравноценный waterfront f/vratafrAnt] л порт yacht fjot] л яхта

hardship fha:djip] л обыкн pi трудности

incurable [m'kjuarabl] а неизлечимый

injure ['mdja] v ранить

jail [dseil] n тюрьма

judge [d$Ad3] v составлять мнение, оце­нивать

jute [dju:t] n джут

mine [mam] v добывать

morphine ['mo:fi:n] n морфий

occasion [a'kerjan] л случай

odd [t>d] а случайный

outlook ['autluk] n точка зрения; круго­зор

overdose fauvadaus] л слишком боль­шая доза

oyster ['oista] л устрица

Martin Eden

Martin Eden is an autobiographical novel in which London tells of his struggle to overcome his lack of knowledge and to turn himself from a plain sailor into an educated person. But this is a social novel as well. It shows the fate of a young man who comes from the working class and becomes a famous writer in bour­geois society.

The main characters of the novel are Martin Eden, Ruth Morse and her family. Martin saves in a hand-to-hand fight with a group of hooligans a young man named Arthur Morse. Arthur introduces Martin to his family, and he falls in love with his sister Ruth. Martin thinks the Morses to be the realm of spiritual beauty and intellectual life, and he considers Ruth to personify all these qualities.

It becomes Martin's desire to be her intellectual equal and to join the society she belongs to. He decides to educate himself to be worthy of Ruth. Martin Eden studies grammar, reads a lot of books. His swift development surprises and interests Ruth. She realizes that she is in love with Martin, but her parents have other plans for her. When Martin runs out of money he sets out as a

... ■■iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Martin feels awfully tired. He refuses to write another word. Martin thinks there is no cure for him except to escape from this world and sail on a liner to the South Seas. Before his departure he feels that it is useless. The only thing he wants is rest, and finally he understands that only death will give him peace, and he commits suicide, he drawns himself. Having developed the best traditions of the American criti­cal realism of Mark Twain, O. Henry and others, Jack London became one of the most significant classics of world literature. His talented, realistic works were highly appreciated by many progressive-minded people all over the world, and they inspired his contemporaries and many writers who came after him.

Speak about Jack London's childhood. When was his first story written? Why did Jack London go to the Klondike? How did his stay in the Klondike influence on his writings? Name Jack London's northern stories.

common sailor in a ship bound for the South Seas. While on board, a great idea comes to his head — to become a writer. That is a career that will help him to win Ruth.

On his return to Oakland, Martin devotes every minute of his time to writing and studying. He works from early morning till dark and sends the manuscripts to various magazines. His first stories are returned by the publishers, but he keeps on sending them.

In the meanwhile Martin and Ruth are engaged to be married. It is a great blow to Ruth's parents because Eden is a rough sailor. Wishing to have encouragement in his work, Martin shows some of his stories to Ruth. But she has little faith in his power as a writer. Ruth persuades him to give up writing and accept a job at her father's office.

But Martin continues sending his stories to various magazines.
His visits to the Morses convince him that he has been under the
wrong impression about the high society. He begins to under­
stand that Ruth also shares its narrowness. Under the pressure of
her parents Ruth breaks off the engagement. She agrees that
they are not made for each other. It is a terrible blow to Martin,
and he stops writing. But he continues to send his old rejected
stories to the printing houses. And soon they are accepted, one
after another. •»

Through unbearable hardships Martin manages to realize his dream. He becomes a famous writer. His stories and novels are now in great demand. Eden becomes rich and popular, but he is not happy. When he gets into "high society" he understands how shallow and hypocritical these people are. He can't understand that those who despised him before his books become popular, now invite him to dinner.

The Morses, hearing of Martin's brilliant career, are not against his union with Ruth. She even visits Martin to reconcile with him. "She is aware of her humiliation but she does not care. However all her efforts are in vain. The charm of love is gone. There is nothing in common between the youth, who was madly in love with Ruth, and the famous writer, tired, exhausted and indifferent. He cannot bring himself to feel sympathy for Ruth and is as unresponsive as a stone."

Vocabulary

aware [s'wes] а знающий

to be aware сознавать, отдавать себе отчет charm [tja:m] n очарование convince [kan'vms] v убеждать despise [dis'paiz] v презирать encouragement [т'клпс&тэпГ] п под­держка engagement [m'geictjmsnt] n помолвка exhausted [ig'zo:stid] а измученный humiliation [hju^mili'eijgn] n унижение hypocritical Lhipa'kntikal] а лицемерный inspire [m'spara] v вдохновлять lack [laek] n нехватка narrowness [ пэегэипв] п ограниченность overcome ['эшэклт] v(overcame; over­come) преодолеть

Questions and Tasks

personify [p3:'sDnifai] v олицетворять

progressive-minded [pre'gresiVmamdid] а прогрессивно настроенный

realm [relm] n сфера

reconcile freksnsail] v помириться

rough [rAf] а грубый

run out [глп aut] v кончаться

shallow ['/эе1эи] а ограниченный; пустой

share Цеэ] v разделять

spiritual ['spmtjusl] о духовный

unbearable [лп'ЬеэгэЫ] а невыносимый

unresponsive ['Anns'ponsiv] а не реа­гирующий

vain [vein] о напрасный in vain напрасно

worthy ['\V3:6i] а достойный

6. What novel was written after his visit to London?

7. When was the prime of London's creative work?

8. What works were written in this period of time?

9. Characterise Jack London's literary activities.

 

10. When did he die?

11. What was the reason of his death?

12. Analyse the novel Martin Eden.

13. What are the main characters of the book?

14. Give a summary of the contents of Martin Eden.

15. Describe the character of Martin Eden.

16. Comment on Jack London's place in American and world literature.

American Literature

Between 1917 and World

War II

The radical economic and social changes in American life dur­ing the twenties and thirties marked a fruitful time for critical realists. The writers reflected the new realities of American life. New themes, plots and heroes appeared in the novels and stories of the realistic writers.

Together with the books, the only purpose of which was to entertain the reader and try to avoid social problems, books ap­peared the purpose of which was to show the necessity of chang­ing the social order (for example Theodore Dreiser).

The fiction of the critical realists is distinguished by a great interest in social conflicts, attacks on accepted values and criti­cism of the American way of life.

Among the most outstanding American realists who revealed in his works the truth of American life, showed the tragic fate of young Americans after World War I, reflected the struggle with fascism, exposed industrial conditions and spoke out warmly

reflect [rn'flekt] v отражать reveal [n 'vi:l] v показывать; откры­вать

in defence of labour and depicted the spiritual emptiness of Ameri­can Society were Theodore Dreiser, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Willliam Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway.

Vocabulary

emptiness ['emptmis] n пустота expose [iks'pauz] v показывать fruitful ['fruitful] о плодотворный

Questions and Tasks

1. How can you characterize American life during the twenties and thirties of the 20th century?

2. What books appeared in this period?

3. Comment on the fiction of the critical realists.

4. Name the most outstanding American realists of that time.

5. What did they show in their works?

Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945)

Theodore Dreiser ['Giado: 'draiza], no­velist, was born in the little town of Terre Haute, Indiana into the family of a bankrupt small businessman. His childhood was a hard one, and he knew poverty and want. His father was a strict Catholic, narrow-minded and despotic. He made the future writer hate religion to the end of his days.

Theodore Dreiser

At the age of 16 Theodore had to leave school and support himself by doing odd jobs. He worked as a waiter, a dish-washer, a rent-collector, a laundry-worker.

In 1888 Theodore entered the univer­sity. But after a year he had to leave the university because of money difficulties.

In 1892 Dreiser turned to journalism working as a newspaper reporter and editor in Chicago, St Louis, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Then he moved to New-York, where he got work as a magazine editor.

The first significant work by Dreiser was his novel Sister Car­rie (1900). The book describes the life of a poor country girl who goes to Chicago in search of work. Hardly had the book ap­peared when it was pronounced immoral and was withdrawn from print. However, in 1907, it became impossible to conceal it from the public, and it then appeared in an American edition. Only in ten years in 1911 was Dreiser's second novel Jenny Ger-hardt published. It is a life-story of a girl. The book roused fur­ther storm of criticism from readers and publishers who declared it immoral.

The Financier [fai'nsensia] (1912) and The Titan [ 'tartan] (1914) together with The Stoic (published posthumously in 1947) form The Trilogy of Desire. Its purpose was to show the ways of Ameri­can big business at the end of the 19th century. The chief charac­ter of all the three novels, Cowperwood, is a typical representative of that big business.

The Genius (1915) is the tragic story of a young painter who breaks down under the cruel injustice of bourgeois America.

An American Tragedy (1925) is Dreiser's best known novel. It is the story of a young American who is corrupted by the morals of American capitalist society and he becomes a criminal and murderer. The novel shows the American way of life with its con­trast of poverty and wealth.

In 1927 Theodore Dreiser visited the Soviet Union. In 1928 he published the book Dreiser Looks at Russia. It was one of the first books that told the American people about the Soviet Union.

Dreiser supported the working-class movement in America and wrote some publicist works — Tragic America (1931) and America Is Worth Saving (1941). During the last years of his life he worked at the novels published posthumously— The Bulwark (1941) and The Stoic (1947).

In June 1945 Theodore Dreiser joined the Communist Party of the United States.

 

With the force of a true realist, Dreiser portrayed the world of American capitalism. Yet however severe that world appeared be­fore him, he never lost faith in "the greatness and dignity of man".

Vocabulary

conceal [kan'si:l] v скрывать rouse [rauz] v поднимать

dignity ['digniti] n достоинство withdraw [wi6 'dro:] v (withdrew; with-

posthumously ['pnstjumgsli] aoV посмер- drawn) забирать; снимать

тно withdrawn [wi6'dro:n] p. p. от withdraw
publicist ['pAbhsist] n публицист

An American Tragedy

The novel speaks of the fate of a common American, Clyde Griffiths. His parents are Kansas City street evangelists. They are good people, but very narrow-minded. Clyde is not happy at home. Clyde suffers because of poverty in which he has lived from his early childhood.

Sincerely believing that wealth alone makes people happy, he determines to pave his way to fortune.

Clyde begins life as% bell-boy in a large hotel. The duties of a bell-boy are to answer when anyone living in the hotel rings a bell and run on different small errands. Clyde thinks he is very lucky to get this situation. He is often given a tip when he is sent on an errand, and he learns that sometimes money can be earned very easily. His employment in the hotel is the beginning of Clyde's corruption. One day an incident happens which greatly influences his character.

When 18 years old, Clyde, together with some other boys, goes out for a good time in a motor-car that one of the boys has "borrowed" from his employer for this purpose. On their way back they run over and kill a child, and Clide is obliged to leave Kansas City secretly. He roams about the country, works as a salesman, coachman, dish-washer, and, finally, as a messenger boy in a large hotel in Chicago. Here, by a lucky chance, he meets his uncle, Samuel Griffiths, a prosperous manufacturer in Lycurgus. Samuel

Griffiths has not seen his brother, Clyde's father, for 25 years; the wealth of one and the poverty of the other has separated them. Clyde is in need of work, and his uncle gives him a small job as an ordinary worker. One of the girls, Roberta Alden, attracts him, and after a time he falls in love with her. But Clyde's attention is soon transferred to another girl, the wealthy and socially prominent Sondra Finchley. Clyde begins to think that marrying Sondra he will solve all his problems. At this critical moment Roberta discovers she is about to become a mother but Clyde refuses to marry her and doubles his attention to Sondra. At that moment he reads a news account of a boating accident in which a girl is drowned while the companion's body is not found. Horrified at his own thoughts, he decides to free himself by ending Roberta's life. He plans a crime. He takes Roberta for a boat-ride on a distant lake. The boat is capsized and Roberta is drowned. Clyde does nothing to save the girl. The crime is discovered and Clyde is arrested. He is accused of her murder.

The whole of the second book deals with the court trial of Clyde's case. The judges pronounce Clyde guilty.

But after he is found guilty and is waiting for his execution, Clyde begins to understand the moral meaning of his act. Encouraged by his mother, he looks upon his death as a necessary punishment for his moral cowardice.

Dreiser showed that the tragic fate of the individual was an integral part of American society.

Vocabulary

integral f'mtigral] а неотъемлемый manufacturer Lmaenju'faektfara] n пред­приниматель oblige [э'ЫакЩ v обязывать to be obliged быть вынужденным pave [peiv] v мостить to pave the way прокладывать путь tip [tip] n чаевые transfer [trans'f3:) v переносить

capsize [kaep'saiz] v опрокидываться

(о лодке) cowardice ['kausdis] n трусость determine [di't3:mm] v решать double ['алЫ] v удваивать employer [im'pbia] n хозяин evangelist [i'vaena^ilist] n евангелист execution [.eksi'kjuijan] n (смертная) казнь horrify ['rronfai] v ужасать

 

Questions and Tasks

1. What family was Theodore Dreiser born?

2. What can you say about his childhood?

3. What did he do before he became a journalist?

4. What was Dreiser's first significant work?

5. What is the theme of his novel 5/s/er Carrie¹?

6. Name some other works of Theodore Dreiser.

7. What novel is Dreiser's masterpiece?

 

8. Give a brief summary of the contents of American Tragedy.

9. What theme did Dreiser touch upon in the novel?

 

10. What book did he write after his visit of the Soviet Union?

11. What novels did Dreiser work at during the last years of his life?

12. Why is Dreiser considered one of the leading writers of the first ha the 20th century?

Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)

Francis Scott Fitzgerald ['fra:nsis 'skot.fits'cfcerdd] is one of the most outstand­ing American writers of the lost genera­tion, a generation for whom "all the bat­tles have been fought" and "all the gods were dead". They are empty people, they cannot fight against the corruption of the rich. They try to fill their spiritual empti­ness with all kinds of entertainments.

Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born in St Paul, Minnesota into the family of a busi-

__, „...,, Francis Scott Fitzgerald

nessman. The family inherited money

from Fitzgerald's grandmother who was a wealthy grocer.

Fitzgerald attended Princeton, a university for rich Ameri­cans.

At that time the spirit of competition ruled at the university. Fitzgerald was influenced by it and tried to join the most fashion­able clubs, enjoying their aristocratic, idle atmosphere. Money gave him independence, privileges, style and beauty. Poverty

was mean and narrow. It is much later that Fitzgerald understood the falseness of his belief.

He left Princeton without a degree because of illness. His literary career began at the university. He wrote essays to the university magazine The Tiger. In 1917 he joined the army but he was not sent to the war in Europe. At the same time he fell in love with Zelda Laure, the daughter of a wealthy lawyer from Alabama [, aela'baeim]. He married two years later when his first work The Side of Paradise was published and was a success. Zelda did not want to marry a poor unknown man. The fact that the rich get the most beautiful girl made Fitzgerald think of social injustice. But he had no consistent world outlook. He viewed the world of the rich with a sense of admiration and contempt. His wife's demands for fashionable life abroad in Paris, the expensive hotel suites and endless parties led Fitzgerald into hack-writing for popular magazines, and this ruined his talent. How­ever, he managed to write some serious novels and stories.

His major novels appeared from 1920 to 1934: This Side of Paradise (1920), The Beautiful and Damned (1922), Great Gatsby ['gaetsbi] (1925) and Tender is the Night (1934).

Fitzgerald's best stories have been collected in the volumes: Tales of the Jazz Age (1922), All the Sad Young Men (1926) and some others. The main theme of almost all Fitzgerald's works is the corrupting force of money. He thought that the rich were a special race and only gradually he found out their corruption inhumanity, spiritual emptiness and futility. He found it out to­gether with his heroes who are largely autobiographical.

Vocabulary

major ['meicfcg] а главный mean [mi:n] а жалкий narrow ['пэегэи] а ограниченный privilege ['pnvilic^] n привилегия suite [swi:t] n номер-люкс (в гостинице) uphold [лр 'hould] v (upheld; upheld) оказывать моральную поддержку world outlook ['w3:ld'autluk] n миро­воззрение

consistent [kan'sistsnt] a соответству­ющий emptiness femptiras] n пустота entertainment [^ents'temmsnt] л раз­влечение futility [fju:'tiliti] n несерьезность hack-writing ['haekraitirj] n халтура idle ['aidl] а праздный idolize ['aictalaiz] v боготворить

 

envelop [m'vebp] v охватывать faulty ['fo:lti] о неправильный income ['ткэт] п доход mansion ['тгепГэп] п особняк rumour ['пхтэ] л слух

The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald's best work The Great Gatsby tells the life story of Jay Gatsby [ d3ei' gaetsbi], the son of a poor farmer, who falls in love with a rich and beautiful girl Daisy Fay [' deizi' fei]. She answers his love while his uniform conceals for a time his poverty. When war is over Daisy marries the rich Tom Buchanan ['torn 'bjuiksnan].

Gatsby does everything he can to get money and social position to be worthy of Daisy. He devotes all his life to it. But he can achieve it only by bootlegging and doing some other dubious things.

When later Gatsby meets Daisy again, she believes the rumours of his large fortune, rich mansion and fashionable parties. She tells him she will leave Tom. But once, driving Jay back from New York to Long Island in his car, she runs over and kills Myrtle Wil­son ['imitl wilsan], her husband's mistress. Tom persuades Myrtle's husband that Gatsby was driving the car. He follows Jay and kills him.

Daisy, having learned about Gatsby's dubious source of in­come, leaves him even before his death, in spite of the fact that Gatsby takes the fault of Myrtle's death on himself.

The story is told by Daisy's cousin Nick, who at the begin­ning despises Gatsby for his vanity, vulgar parties, ill-taste, faulty language. He gradually,understands the greatness of his roman­tic dream and the tremendous energy with which he achieves his aim. At the same time Nick sees the shallowness of Gatsby's dream, as the society he tries to get is cynical, vicious and violent. Gatsby is contrasted to hypocritical, disillusioned and corrupt members of upper society like Tom and Dasy.

Gatsby's fanatic attempt to reach his dreams is contrasted to the disillusioned life of the cynical members of upper society who do not know what to do. Satire in the portrayal of the empty pleas­ures of the rich is combined with lyrical atmosphere enveloping Gatsby's romantic dream.

Vocabulary

bootlegging ['bu:tlegirj] n тайная тор­говля спиртными напитками conceal [kan'si:!] v скрывать

despise [dis'paiz] v презирать disillusion Ldisi'lusan] v разочаровывать dubious ['djuibjas] а сомнительный

shallowness [ 'Jeetaums] n ограничен­ность ума upper ['лрэ] о высший vanity ['vseniti] п тщеславие vicious fvijas] а порочный violent ['varctant] а ожесточенный

Questions and Tasks

1. Relate the main facts of Fitzgerald's life.

2. What was his first work?

3. When did his major books appear?

4. Name his notable novels and the best collections of stories.

5. What theme did he touch upon in almost of all his works?

6. Give a brief summary of the contents of The Great Gatsby.

7. What features of Fitzgerald's outlook are revealed in The Great Gatsby?

8. Speak on Fitzgerald's place in American literature.

William Faulkner (1897-1962)

William Faulkner

William Faulkner [ 'wiljam 'fo:kna], one of the leading American 20th centu­ry novelists, was born in New Albany, Mississippi, in an impoverished aristo­cratic family. Faulkner was in the eleventh grade of the Oxford High School, when World War I broke out. His war experi­ences played an important part in the for­mation of his character. He enlisted as a cadet in the Canadian branch of the Royal Flying Corps in 1918. He was trained as a pilot, but the war was over before he fini­shed his studies.

After the war Faulkner returned to Oxford and worked as a postmaster at the University of Mississippi. At the same time he took some courses at the University and began writing. At first he wrote poetry and then stories.

 

impoverished [im'pnvsnjt] а бедный legislative flec&istotiv] о законодательный measure ['тезэ] п мера mood [mu:d] n настроение psychological [parks'1гх1з1кэ1] а психо­логический violence ['vaiabnsl n ожесточенность

His first published work, a volume of poems entitled The Mar­ble Faun (1924) was not successful. Then he wrote his novel Soldier's Pay (1926) which was close to the moods of the lost gen­eration. He showed the tragedy of people who returned to peace­time life crippled both physically and spiritually. The novel was not a great success, but it established Faulkner's reputation as a creative writer.

From 1925 to 1929 he continued working as a carpenter and housepainter writing novels at the same time. In 1927 he pub­lished Mosquitos and in 1929 Sartoris. In the same year Faulkner published The Sound and the Fury which brought him fame in literary circles. After that he devoted himself to full-time writing. His work Sanctuary (1931), a story of murder and violence created a sensation and brought its author financial independence.

In the thirties Faulkner wrote his horror novels: As I Lay Dying (1930), Light in August (1932) and Absalom, Absalom! (1936). In 1942 Faulkner published a collection of stories entitled Go Down, Moses, and Other Stories. It includes one of his best stories The Bear. In 1948 he wrote Intruder in the Dust, one of his most impor­tant social novels on the Negro problem. In the forties and fifties Faulkner published his best work — The Snopes Trilogy consist­ing of The Hamlet (1-940), The Town (1957) and The Mansion (1959). Faulkner's last novel was The Fable (1954), the theme of which is humanity and war.

Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. He died at the age of sixty-five.

William Faulkner is a very complicated writer. He belongs to the Southern School of American writers. A Southern Novelist touches on the history of the South of America and especially the Civil War.

He deals with the Negro problem in his books, but the Negro problem is not social but psychological. Faulkner sees the Negroes and whites bound together by the irony of history. He condemned racism and violence, but he is convinced that neither the whites nor the Negroes were ready for legislative measures. Faulkner's criticism is of a moral character.

Faulkner is a social-psychological novelist.

Vocabulary

bind [bamd] v (bound) связывать bound [baund] past и р. р. от bind cadet [ks'det] n курсант carpenter ['kapmts] n плотник complicated ['komplikeitid] а сложный condemn [ksn'dgm] v осуждать corps [ко:] п [pi corps [ko:z]) войска enlist [m'list] v зачислять

Questions and Tasks

1. Relate the main facts of Faulkner's life.

2. What was his first published work?

3. What novel established Faulkner's reputation as a creative writer?

4. What theme did he deal with in his novel Soldier's Pay?

5. Name the most notable works by Faulkner.

6. What problems did he touch on in his works?

7. What kind of novelist is Faulkner?

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

Ernest Hemingway [ 'з:пэ& 'heminwei] is one of the most widely read writers of the 20th century. He is a classic of American and world literature. He was bom in Oak Park, Illinois, into the family of a provincial doctor. His father was fond of hunting and fishing, and he taught his son to shoot and fish, and to love sports and nature.

Ernest's motherwas areligious woman, and she was wholly absorbed in church affairs. There were constant conflicts between his parents, and that was the

Ernest Hemingway

reason why Ernest did not feel at ease¹ at home.

Ernest did not feel at ease — Эрнест не чувствовал себя спокойно

Ernest s favourite place was the family's house in northern Michigan where the family usually spent their summer vacations. The boy used to accompany his father on sporting trips.

Ernest received a good education at the Oak Park High School. At school he was recognized as a very good football player and boxer. He was also fond of fishing and hunting. At school Ernest was a gifted, energetic, successful pupil and a good sportsman. He played football, was a member of a swimming team, and learned to box. At school he began to be interested in literature, wrote to weekly news-sheet, and contributed poetry and prose to the school's literary magazines.

Ernest's schooldays were not quite unanxious. The atmosphere created by his mother in the family oppressed him so much that he twice ran away from home, working at farms as a labourer, a dishwasher or as a waiter.

In 1917, when the United States entered the First World War, Hemingway volunteered for active service, but he was not taken because of his injured eye. Then he went to Kansas to stay with his uncle. There he began to work as a reporter on the Kansas City Star. The journalistic training he received there marked his style for the rest of his career. In the spring of 1918, Heming­way heard that volunteers were needed to drive Red Cross ambu­lances on the Italian front. He sailed for Europe. After a short stay in France, he went to Italy. Two months later he was badly wounded.

He was taken to hospital in Milan, where 227 shell fragments were removed from his body in the course of twelve operations. When he recovered, he served for two months with Italian in­fantry, and was awarded a silver medal by the Italian Govern­ment.

Hemingway's war experience was very important for him. It influenced not only his life, but also all that he wrote. In 1920 Hemingway returned to America and worked as a reporter for the Toronto Star. In 1921 he returned to Europe and settled in Paris. To collect the material for his future stories and novels Hemingway travelled all over the world. He visited Germany, Spain, Switzerland

and other countries. His first work Three Stories and Ten Poems (1923) was not a success. His next book, a collection of stories entitled In Our Time (1923) won public recognition.

Hemingway's first novel The Sun Also Rises (1926) (thesecond title is Fiesta) is his most well-known book. A Farewell to Arms (1929), portraying World War I and its consequences, brought great popularity to the author.

In the late twenties and the thirties Hemingway published two story collections Men Without Women (1927) and Winner Take Nothing (1933). The most prominent novels written in the first half of the 30's are Death in the Afternoon (1932) and The Green Hills of Africa (1935). Death in the Afternoon describes the bullfights in Spain. The Green Hills of Africa, and his well-known stories The Snow of Kilimanjaro (1936) and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber (1936) were written about Hemingway's hunting trip in Africa. A lover of nature he masterfully describes African landscapes. In 1936 the Civil War in Spain began and Hemingway hurried to Spain to take part in the war as an anti-fascist correspondent and a writer. The next three years of his life were closely connected with the struggle of the Spanish people against the fascists.

He participated in the shooting of a documentary film The Spanish Earth which defended the cause of the Spanish people. Hemingway wrote the film script and did the reading of the text himself. He wrote his only play The Fifth Column (1938) out of his Spanish war experience and a novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), which he considered his best work.

Deep hatred for fascism made Hemingway an active participant in World War II. He served as a war correspondent in Europe. He volunteered for service with his motor-yacht to support an anti­submarine patrol in Cuban waters. He took part in air raids over Germany. Together with the French partisans he was among the first to free Paris from the German troops.

In 1941 Hemingway sent a telegram to the Soviet govern­ment, in which he expressed his solidarity with the Soviet peo­ple, and his admiration of their heroic straggle against the fascist nvaders.

 

Hemingway, who had participated in all the wars of the 20th century, summed up his war experience in the preface to Men at War (1924), a collection of the best war stories of all time.

The tower near Havana which Hemingway built for himself

In his 1948 preface to A Farewell to Arms he wrote that the people who had "planned the war and would plan an­other" should be shot on the first day of the war by sentence of the people. He considered World War I" the most colos­sal, murderous butchery that has even taken place on the earth". On the con­trary, the Spanish Civil War was for him "a strange new kind of war", a just war of a people who fought "to be allowed to live as human beings".

World War II also made sense to him as it was a war against fascism.

After the war Hemingway settled on a farm, Finca Vigia, in Cuba, visiting Ame-rica and Spain. He heartily supported the Cuban revolutionaries irrtheir struggle. Simple Cuban people were his friends. In Cuba Hemingway worked on a big novel about the land, the sea and the air. The Old Men and the Sea (1952) is the epilogue of a novel about the sea. In 1954 Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The prize committee es­pecially mentioned The Old Man and the Sea.

During his African trip he suffered two airplane crashes. The last years of his life he was seriously ill. In November 1960, Hemingway returned to America, and on July, 1961, in Ketchum, Idaho, after a long and exhausting illness, he committed suicide. H