Aspect['sespekt] n аспект, сторона onset [/onset] n начало

War II

Between 1917 and World

American Literature

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. He was buried at Ketchum. His house in Cuba is a museum now. In 1966 a memorial was erected to his memory with the following words on it:

Best of all he loved the fall

The leaves yellow on the cottonwoods

Leaves floating on the front streams

And above the hills

The high blue windless skies

... Now he will be part of them forever.

Hemingway is a great writer who was extremely honest and /hose principles were:

1) never write if you have nothing to say;

2) to write only when you can't help it;

3) to write things you know well.

Hemingway studied carefully both American and European literature. He admired the works of many writers, among them Flaubert¹, Maupassant², StendahP, Dante⁴, Tholstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov, Dostoevsky and many others.

He had never been in our country, but he always mentioned about the importance which Russian literature had had for him.

oppress [a'pres] v угнетать patrol [pa'traul] л патрулирование preface ['prefis] n предисловие prominent ['prranmant] а известный raid [reid] n налет recognition [декад'nifan] п признание sentence ['sentans] n (судебный) приго­вор • shell [fel] n снаряд shoot [fut] v(shot) стрелять; снимать фильм shot |jbt] past и р. р. от shoot trout [traut] n форель unanxious ['An'asnkjas] о спокойный volunteer [,vnlan'tia] v поступить доб­ровольцем

Vocabulary

absorb [ab'so:b] v поглощать anti-submarine ['eentfsAbmarni] о про­тиволодочный butchery ['but/an] n бойня colossal [ka'tosl] а громадный consequence [ 'knnsikwsns] n послед­ствие constant ['ktmstant] а постоянный crash [kraef] n авария epilogue ['epilog] n эпилог exhausting [ig'zo:stirj] а изнурительный film script ['film'srkrpt] n киносценарий fragment ['fnsgmant] n обломок; кусок infantry ['mfantn] n пехота murderous ['m3:daras] о кровавый

'Flaubert [flau'bea], Gustave (1821 -1880) — Гюстав Флобер, франц. писатель

² Maupassant [^mau'pasa], Guy de (1850—1893) — Гиде Мопассан, франц.
писатель

³ Stendahl [sten'da:l] (1783 - 1842) —- Стендаль, франц. писатель
⁴Dante ['dsenti:], (1265- 1321) —Данте, итальянский поэт

A Farewell to Arms

A Farewell to Arms is one of the best novels about World War I.

The book is considered to be Hemingway's masterpiece and it was translated into many languages.

In the novels The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Anns Heming­way describes the tragedy of the so called "lost generation". The term "lost generation" was introduced by an American writer, Gertrude Stein, who once addressed Hemingway saying: "You are the lost generation".

The "lost generation" were the people who suffered all the hor­rors of World War I. The post-war generation was disillusioned, because they realized that all the sacrifices and deaths were in vain. The ideals: freedom, brotherhood, justice, patriotism were mere words, in which nobody believed. The "lost generation" saw no purpose in life and gradually it became spiritually dead.

In the first novel the author shows the results of World War I, and in the second — the process which created the "lost generation".

The novel A Farewell to Arms is partly autobiographical. Like his hero, Frederick [ 'fredrik] Henry, the writer himself was an American volunteer, a lieutenant in the Italian ambulance corps, was badly wounded, sav? the horrors of the war and came to hate it.

There are two main themes in the novel: war and love. At first Fredric Henry is sure that he is fighting a just war, but gradually he doubts it, and at last he understands that the war is being waged for the benefit of those who profit by it. Frederic's opinion is shared by soldiers, drivers, workers and other common people.

Having decided it is not his war, Frederic makes a "separate peace" and becomes a deserter.

The other theme of the novel is love. Fredric falls in love with Catherine Barkley ['кгевпп 'ba:kli], a volunteer nurse from Great Britain.

When he is wounded, she takes care of him. Then Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley escape to Switzerland.

For a while they are happy, living together, but it does not last long. Catherine dies in childbirth. After her death he remains quite alone. He is very much depressed.

The author proves that private happiness is impossible in the restless world of the 20th century. Seeing misery around him, Hemingway's hero cannot be happy. It also emphasizes the fact that you cannot make a separate peace. The motifs of pessimism and despair are characteristic of the novel, as well as of other works written in the 20's, but in A Farewell to Arms Hemingway for the first time calls World War I a crime against humanity.

Hemingway's style of narration is laconic. He does not use the long detailed descriptions which were characteristic of his predecessors. Inner dialogues are typical for him. He seldom speaks of the feelings of his characters, much is left unsaid, but he manages to make the reader feel what his hero feels.

One more peculiarity of Hemingway's style is the use of weather as an accompaniment to the emotional tones of different scenes. The background of every tragic episode in A Farewell to Arms is "rain". It was raining when Catherine died.

accompaniment [э'клтрэштэгИ] п со­провождение benefit ['bensfit] n польза, благо for the benefit of в пользу corps [кэ:] п {pi corps [ko:z]) род войск depress [di'pres] /угнетать, подавлять despair [dis'pea] n отчаяние disillusion [,disi'lu:z3n] n разочарование emotional [I'rmufanl] а эмоциональный emphasize ['emfgsaiz] v подчеркивать gradually ['graedjuali] adv постепенно laconic [ta'ktmik] о лаконичный

lieutenant [lef'tengnt] n лейтенант mere [mis] а лишь motif [тэи'Ш] л основная тема narration [nae'reijbn] n повествование peculiarity [pi,kju:li'senti] n характер­ная черта predecessor [ 'pridisess] n предше­ственник profit ['profit] v получать выгоду sacrifice ['saskrrfais] n жертва spiritually ['spintjusli] adv духовно wage [weidj] v вести

The Old Man and the Sea

Hemingway himself said of his book: "I tried to make a real old man, a real boy, a real sea and a real fish and real sharks. But if I made them good and true enough they would mean many things".

The story is a realistic description of an episode from the life of a fisherman. The author himself was a fisherman, and his close

friendship with Cuban fishermen helped him to describe all the details of the process.

Santiago is a poor man, a widower and he lives alone. He is very lonely and then he finds that he has a devoted friend — the boy Manolin, whom he teaches the craft of fishing. Manolin looks after the old man, takes care of the old man's food. The boy loves the old man for his kind heart, his skill, his devotion to sea. The boy's parents have forbidden him to go fishing with the old man, because Santia­go's luck has deserted him. Manolin thinks that he will bring him good luck, and he wants to go fishing with Santiago again.

The old man goes out to fish alone and hooks one of the biggest marlines. The battle with the fish is very hard and full of danger. Santiago has conquered the marline but the battle with the sea has not ended. Sharks start swimming after the skiff and the fish. San­tiago kills the strongest, but the shark takes his harpoon and the rope. Santiago does not give up the fight. Almost broken physi­cally, but spiritually unfeated, he reaches shore safely.

At the end of the story Santiago says:"... man is not made for defeat.... A man can be destroyed but not defeated".

These words is the main idea of Hemingway's story.

Santiago's character embodies all the positive features of an ordinary man. When he meets disaster, his courage, moral strength and resolution support him in the most desperate moments of his life.

Vocabulary

craft [kra:ft] n умение desert [di'z3:t] v покидать desperate ['despant] а ужасный disaster [di'za:sta] n бедствие embody [im'bpdi] v содержать harpoon [ha:'pu:n] n гарпун

hook [huk] v ловить (рыбу)

marline ['malm] n мор. марлинь

shark [fa:k] n акула

skiff [skif] n ялик

unfeated [An'frtid] о непобежденный

widower ['widgua] n вдовец

Questions and Tasks

1. Relate the story of Hemingway's childhood and schooldays.

2. What did he do when the USA entered World War I?

3. Why was Hemingway's war experience very important to him?

4. What was his first work?

5. What war books did Hemingway write?

6. Comment on Hemingway's war books.

7. What novel describes the bullfights in Spain?

8. What Hemingway's works are written about his hunting trip to Africa?

9. How did the Qvii War in Spain affect Hemingway?

10. What works did Hemingway write out of his Spanish war experience?

11. Prove that Hemingway was an active participant of World War II.

12. In how many wars did Hemingway take part?

13. Where did he live after World War II?

14. What story did he write in 1952?

15. When was Hemingway awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature?

16. In what novels did Hemingway depict the tragedy of the so called "lost generation"?

17. Explain the term "lost generation".

18. Give a brief account of the novel A Farewell to Arms.

19. Comment on Hemingway's style of narration.

20. What can you say about the plot and the main characters of The Old Man and the Sea?

21. What is the main idea of Hemingway's story?

Margaret Mitche (1900-1949)

Margaret Mitchell ['maigsrat 'mitf/al] was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She was the daughter of an attorney who was presi­dent of the Atlanta Historical Society. All the family were interested in American history and she grew up in an atmosphere of stories about the Civil War.

Margaret Mitchell lived in one of the most important cities in the American South and her family had shaped Atlan­ta's history for three generations before her birth.

Margaret Mitchell

She was educated at Washington Se­minary in Atlanta and Smith College, Northampton. She worked for a time on the Atlanta Journal. She wrote hundred of essays,

articles and reviews for the journal in the four years of her employ­ment there between 1922—1926. She read all the standard jour­nals, magazines, and reviews of her time.

The vivacity and intensity of her personality shines through everything she did, said, or wrote.

In 1925 Margaret Mitchell married John Marsh, and it was then she began to put on paper all the stories she had heard about the Civil War. The result was Gone with the Wind, first published in 1936. She worked on the book for ten years. It is a novel about the American Civil War and the Reconstruction as seen from a Southern point of view. The novel is a variant on the tradition of Southern romance fiction. Its action turns on the attempts of the heroine, Scar­lett O'Hara, to restore Тага, the family plantation, and on her love relationships.

Margaret Mitchell became world-famous as the author of Gone with the Wind, the America's classic best-seller. More than 8 million copies were sold in 40 countries.

The novel was translated into eighteen languages. It won the Pulitzer Prize¹ for fiction in 1937. It was later made into a highly successful film starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable and Leslie Howard.

Margaret Mitchell pfoduced the most famous novel in the English-speaking world. This book was her only published work. She died in 1949.

Questions and Tasks

1. Where was Margaret Mitchell born?

2. What was her family interested in?

3. Where was she educated?

4. Where did she work for a time?

5. What did she write for the journal?

6. When did she begin to write the novel Gone with the Wind?

7. How long did she work on the book?

8. Comment on the plot of the novel.

9. Why do we say that the book was America's classic best-seller?

10. When did she get the Pulitzer Price for fiction?

11. What can you say about the film based on the novel?

Vocabulary

attorney [эЧэ:ш] п юрист review [n'vju:] n рецензия

intensity [m'tensiti] n глубина shape Lfeip] v создавать

relationship [n'leifsnfip] n отношение vivacity [vi'vaesiti] n жизненная сила
restore [n'sto:] v восстанавливать

¹ Pulitzer ['pulitsa] Prize — пулитцеровская премия: учреждена по завеща­нию Джозефа Пулитцера (1847 —1911), амер. журналиста и издателя

chology of youth was Jerome David Salinger, whose novel Catcher in the Rye (1951) was devoted to the youth problem in the post­war period.

Some other well-known American contemporary writers such as John Updike and Ken Kesey examined various aspects of American life.

American post-war literature managed to present a many-sided picture of the changing American reality.

Vocabulary

American Literature in the Post-War Period

The USA ended World War II as the most powerful capitalist country. The post-war period and the onset of the Cold War were in 1950s and 1960s. This was the period of political hostility between America and Russia. *•

The atmosphere of evil caused caution. The national mood was nervous and aggressive. It was the era of the so-called "silent generation", a generation who had stopped believing in humanist ideas. Some philosophers concluded that the Americans were becoming a nation of conformists¹ with no fixed standards or beliefs.

Among the first to protest again the atmosphere of conformity² were the writers of Beat Generation³.

The best-known figure of the "Beat" writers in prose was Jack Kerouac ['фаек 'кегэшк]. The writer who tried to explore the psy-

¹ conformist [ksn'foimist] — конформист, букв, согласный

² conformity [kgn'fo:miti] — приспособленчество, пассивное принятие суще­
ствующего порядка господствующих мнений

³ Beat Generation — усталое, разбитое, разочарованное поколение; битники

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