英国20世纪文学.ppt

Introduction to Literature in 20th Century 1. The background to Modernism 1.1 The social background The influences of the two World Wars on English literature: Pre-war ---over-supplied energy; over-confident; ---over-greedy; over-enthusiastic; ---imperialist ideas; ---colony-dismembered in the world. Post-war ---The sense of being lost, adrift, weightless, aimless. Its all so absurd, without meaning. Modernism rose out of skepticism and disillusion of capitalism. Esp.　　the Second World War marked the last stage of the disintegration of the British Empire. Britain suffered heavy losses in the war: thousands of people were killed; the economy was ruined; and almost all its former colonies were lost. People were in economic, cultural, and belief crisises. 1.2 Ideological background Ideologically, the rise of the irrational philosophy and new science greatly incited modern writers to make new explorations on human natures and human relationships. A. Einsteins(1879—1955) theory of relativity provided entirely new ideas for the concepts of time and space. B. Freuds (1856-1939) analytical psychology drastically altered our conception of human nature. C. Nietzsche (1844-1900) With three simple words: God is dead, Nietzsche sent his readers into despair. D. Based on the major ideas of his predecessors, Henry Bergson柏格森(1859-1941) established his irrational philosophy which put the emphasis on creation, intuition, irrationality and unconsciousness. 2. Characteristics of Modernism in Literature 1). One characteristic of English Modernism is “the dehumanization of art”. (艺术的非人化）The major themes of the modernist literature are the distorted, alienated and ill relationships between man and nature, man and society, man and man, and man and himself. 2). The modernist writers concentrate more on the private than on the public, more on the subjective than on the objective. They are mainly concerned with the inner being of an individual. Therefore, they pay more att