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  Chapter5 The Modern Period (England)

　　1.background：second half of the 19th century to early of the 20th decades

　　(1)natural and social sciences enormously advanced

　　(2)capitalism came into its monopoly stage

　　(3)the gap between the rich and the poor was further deepened

　　(4)World War 1 2 broke

　　2.what ideas influence this period： all kinds of philosophical ideas

　　(1)Karl Marx： scientific socialism

　　(2)Darwin‘s theory of evolution， “survival of the fittest”

　　(3)Freud‘s analytical psychology

　　(4)The irrationalist philosophers give immense influence

　　3.ideas：(1)Modernism originated from skepticism and disillusion of capitalism

　　(2)The French symbolism announced modernism

　　(3)takes the irrational philosophy and the theory of psycho-analysis as its theoretical base.The major themes are the distorted，alienated and ill relationships

　　4.difference between Modernism and Realism

　　Modernism is a reaction against realism in many aspects

　　(1)Modernism rejects rationalism， which is the theoretical base of Realism

　　(2)Modernism refects the source of Realism， i.e. the external， objective， material world

　　(3)Modernism rejects almost all the traditional elements in literature

　　5.D.H.Lawence‘s works’ features：

　　(1)he interests in exploring the psychological development， he thinks life impulse is man‘s instinct. any conscious oppression will cause distortion of the individual’s personality

　　(2)make a psychological exploration of human relationships， especially those between men and women

　　(3)he emphasizes that it‘s capitalist industrialization that turn man into inhuman machines. And the desires for power and money cause the alienation of human relationships

　　6.John Osborne： “Look back in Anger” “Angry Young Man”， the working-class drama and the Theater of Absurb

　　George Bernard Shawn

　　1.idea：against “art for art‘s sake”， art should serve social purposes by reflecting human life， revealing social contradictions and educating common people

　　2.works features： prolem plays， only one passion： indignation

　　(1)showing one‘s character by the expense of another’s

　　(2)inversion3.works：Mrs Warren‘s Profession(a play about the economic oppression of woman); St. Joan(historical play); The Apple Cart(political play); The Doctor’s Dilemma(political play)

　　John Galsworthy

　　1.works： trilogy：The Man of Property; In Chancery; To Let

　　2.The Man of Property：Soames(husband)，Irene(wife)，Bosinney(wife‘s lover)

　　the predominant possessive instinct of the Forsytes

　　Soames represents the principle that the accumulation of wealth in the aim of life，for he considers everything in terms of one‘s property，he never pays any attention to his wife’s thoughts and feelings，he takes her merely as part of his own property.

　　theme：human relationships of the contemporary English Society are merely an extension of property relationships

　　William Butler Yeats

　　1.works：The Lake Isle of Innisfree; Down by the Salley Gardens

　　T.S.Eliot

　　1.works：The Waste Land

　　(1)presents physical disorder and spiritual decadence in the modern western society

　　(2)reflects disillusion and despair of a whole post war generation.anguish，menace，sterility had been afflicting all sensitive members of the postwar generation

　　(3)concerns with the spiritual breakup of a modern civilization in which human life has lost its meaning

　　(4)reflects the 20th century people‘s disillusion and frustration in a meaningless and boring world

　　2.works：The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock： dramatic monologue in ironic tone

　　content： the meditation of an aging young man over the proposing marriage

　　theme： the speaker‘s incapability of facing up to love and to life in a sterile upper-class world

　　D.H.Lawence

　　1.works：The Rainbow; Women in Love; Lady Chatterley‘s Lover

　　2.Sons and Lovers

　　contents： ignorant， drunken and brutish father(Mr.Morel)， the weary， frustrated mother(Mrs.Morel)， the intelligent and ambitious woman， tries to find emotional fulfillment in her sons(Paul)。she hopes her sons should never became miners， they will be educated to realize her ideals of success， happiness and social respect. Paul is incapable of escaping the overpowering emotional bond imposed by her mothers love. (distorted relationship)

　　James Joyce

　　1.scene：the same setting： Ireland， especially Dublin， the same subject： the Irish people and their life

　　2. works： Ulysses： an account of man‘s life during one day

　　3.stream of consciousness： presents unspoken materials directly from the psyche of the characters， or make the characters tell their own inner thoughts in monologues; a literary form presenting psychological aspects of characters

　　The events seem to be trivial， insignificant， but below the surface of them， the natural flow of mental reflections， the shifting moods and impulses in the characters inner world are richly presented in an frank and penetrating way.(Ulysses)

　　4.Araby(from Dubliners)：a tale of the frustrated quest for beauty

　　theme ：the child lives not with his parents but with an uncle and aunt， a symbol of that isolation and lack of proper relation between parents and children