OSCAR WILDE(1854-1900):Was born in Dublin, where he attended Trinity college ,then he was
sent to Oxford. He was a disciple of Walter Pater, accepting the theory of art for art sake. He left
Oxford and settled in London, where he became a fashionable dandy for his extraordinary wit
and his extravagant way of dressing. Wilde wrote a series of short stories and he produced a
series of plays. During his life he was accused of homosexuality, so he was imprisoned and when
he was released he lived in France under a pseudonym, as an outcast in poverty. He died of
meningitis in Paris.
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (THE STORY): The novel is settled in London at the end of the
19th century. The protagonist is Dorian Gray and his friend Basil Hallward, decides to paint his
portrait. Dorian lives only for pleasure, making use of everybody and when the painter sees the
corrupted image od the portrait, Dorian kills him. Later, Dorian wants to free himself of the
portrait and stabs it, so in this way he kills himself. When he died, the picture returns to its
original purity.
TIMELESS BEAUTY:The story is allegorical. In the novel, the picture which records the signs of
time, the corruption, the horror and the scenes concealed under the mask of Dorian's timeless
beauty. The picture represents the dark side of Dorian's personality, his double, which he tries to
forget by locking it in a room. When Dorian destroys the picture he kills himself. The corrupted
picture can be seen as a symbol of the immorality of the Victorian middle-class.
HENRY JAMES(1843-1916):Was born in NYC. At th age of 12 he went to Europe, where he
studied european history, culture and art. After returning to the US, he entered law school at the
Harvard University, but he spent most of his time pursuing writing. His first works were short
travel stories, and he underlined the differences between Americans and Europeans. He
observed that Am. were naive, energetic, pratical and spontaneous people, who value the
individual above society, while Eu. were sofisticated, formal, insincere and corrupted people;
they value society above the individual.
PSYCHOLOGICAL NOVEL:It's a novel in which the author describes the psychology of different
characters and he examinates feelings, states, dilemmas of existance, the complessity of human
relationship.
WORLD WAR I: broke out in 1914, when archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo. The
war involved on one side GAI and FRGB on the other. GB declare war on G,while G defeated the
Allies bc it had a better equimpent. This time spread the "Shell shock", a term used by doctors to
allude to the psychological effects of shell explosions which brought mental disorders among
soldiers. In 1918 Allied and G firmed an armistice and in 1919 the peace treaty was signed at
Versailles.Finally president Wilson, with his 14 points, devised a plan to set up the League of
Nations; The war was a monster bc it claimed the lives of about 9million man.
FREUD AND THE PSYCHE: He devided human psyche in 3 parts: id(set of instinctual impulses
lacking organisation), ego(coordinated and realistic part), superego(includes binds imposed by
society and moral laws). The development of the human psyche is deeply affected by the
subconscious, so man's actions could be motivated by irrational forces of which we might know
nothing. Freud's theory also maintened that superego can profundly distort mans behaviour.
Lastly Freud created a new method of investigation of human mind through the concept of "free
associations".
STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS:the phrase was coined by William James and he define it as the
continuous flow of thoughts and sensations that characterise the human mind and it's the physic
phenomenon itself; INTERIOR MONOLOGUE:is the verbal expression of a physic phenomenon
and it mustn't be confused with the stream.Features:1 lack of chronological order,2narrator not
always present,3actions take place in character's mind,4simple speech sometimes without
introductory expressions.
JAMES JOYCE (1882-941):was born in Dublin and he was educated in jesuit schools. He was rebel
against the irish culture so he considered Europe as a powerful culture. He established in Europe
but bc of the illness of his mother, he returned to Dublin,where he fell in love with Nora. Then
they moved to Trieste ,where he became friend with Svevo. His masterpiece was
DUBLINERS,inspired by the life of middle-classes,so it consist in 15 short stories that lead to a
moral revelation. The structure is divided in 4 groups: CAMP.He chose Dublin for the scenes bc
the city seemed to him the centre of paralysis. In his works he used the technique of the
"EPIPHANY" which is a sudden spiritual manifestation in the life of a character, so Dubliners can
be seen as a sequence of multiple epiphanies that offer a revelation of the city. An important
and central theme is the "PARALYSIS", intended in a physical and moral way through the city. All
the dubliners are spiritually weak and scared people, so the opposite of paralysis is "Escape" and
it originates from an impulse caused by a sense of enclosure into their own world.
VIRGINIA WOOLF (1882-941):she grew up in an intellectual atmosphere and her education
consisted in private Greek lessons,so she study also at her father's library. For her the water
represented 2 things: what is harmonious and feminine; resolution of conflicts in death. The
death of her mother brought her first nervous breakdown. The IIWW increased her anxiety and
fears and she became hunted by the terror of loosing her mind; finally she couldn't stand it no
longer and she drowned herself in the river Ouse. Woolf considered human personality as a
continuous shift of impressions and emotions; in her novels the omniscent narrator disappeared
and the point of view shifted inside character's mind through flashbacks.
WOOLF VS JOYCE: both of them used the stream of consciousness but Joyce's characters show
their thoughts directly through interior monologue,while Woolf never lets her characters'
thoughts flow without control. Similar to Joyce's epiphanies are Woolf's moments of being, rare
moments of insight during the character's life. J worked through accumulation of details and
abolished the pointl, W's use of words was allusive and emotional.
CONNECTION BT CLARISSA AND SEPTIMUS: Clarissa,wife of a conservative MP,frustration caused
by the possessive father and this event weakened her emotional self. She needs freedom and
indipendence and to become an ideal human being. Septimus, sensitive man who can fall to
panic and fear or feelings of guilt, he is a shell shock case bc he suffers from headaches and
insomnia. These two characters are similar for physical terms and bc they depend upon their
partners for protection, but they are also different: his physic paralysis leads him to suicide,
while Clarissa never loses her awareness of the outside world and in the end she accepts the
idea of death.
THE DYSTOPIAN NOVEL: concentrated on the negative,the blackest picture possible of the
present and the future to come. Dystopia lent techniques to to the revolt against modernity and
its society represented the vistory or tyranny of the idea,so it's a society based on special
principles.
GEORGE ORWELL(1903-50):Eric Blair was born in India and he was educated first in a
preparatory school then in a college. During the british imperialism in India he wished to escape
from of man's dominion over man. "George" bc it suggest plain speaking and common sense,
"Orwell" bc is the name of the river he was fond of. When he was in Barcelona he fought in the
trenches of the Aragon front and that is the time of his true conversion to socialism and the
ideals of brotherhood and equality. When the IIWW broke out, he began to write "Animal Farm",
while his last book "1984" was his most original novel.
SOCIAL THEMES:Orwell was a critic and political journalist and he insisted on tolerance and
justice and he presented a devastating critique of totalitarianism against the violation of liberty.
A DYSTOPIAN NOVEL: set in London,1984 is a dystopian novel bc O presents a picture of future
under the control of Big Brother. There is no privacy, in fact there are monitors
called"telescreens" that watches every step people take. Any form of rebellion against the rules
is punished with prison.
WINSTON SMITH: is the protagonist of the story and he symbolise a sense of loss and a feeling
that beauty and truth belong to the past. "Smith" bc is the commonest English surname,
"Winston" evokes Churcill's patriotic appeals during IIWW. This character is middle-aged and
physically weak and he feels a desire for spiritual and moral integrity, so in the first 2 parts of the
story it is likely that Winston and Orwell are one person and this expresses Orwell's views.
THE THEATRE OF THE ABSURD: the absurdist drama started with Samuel Beckett's “waiting for
Godot” and the term “absurd” refers to the works of a group of dramatists in 1950s. They didn't
form a school and they defined absurd as “that which is devoid of purpose, cutt off from
religious with metaphysical and trascendental roots. The sense of metaphysical anguish,lack of
purpose and inaction is the central theme of the absurdist movement, so their aim is to present
the absurdity of the human condition in concrete situations. Features: 1absence of a real
story,2vagueness about time, 3language is reduced, 4extensive use of pauses and silences,
5incoherent babbling.
