The English classics are a priceless gem of world literature. The most famous books of English writers List of literary sources

In the 19th century, English literature played an ever-increasing role in world culture, remaining a humanistic art centered on the problems of man and his place in this world. The main artistic systems of the XIX century. different interpretations of the human personality. Romantics emphasized the exclusivity of their heroes, rebelling against the classic concept of the uniformity of human nature and seeking to emphasize the individual traits of his character. The titanism of the romantic hero as a person served as an invariable cause of his conflict with the environment, which sometimes was not saved by the transfer of the action of works from the modern world to past historical eras, from reality to an exotic, fantastic setting. As a reaction to the romantic free play of the imagination, one can consider the consolidation in the late 1830s and early 1840s. positions of realistic art, aimed at understanding the problems of an ordinary person, taken from the life of a person, devoid of traditional heroic qualities, and the opportunity to manifest these qualities. However, it should be remembered that the romantic and realistic art of the 19th century developed in parallel, only at the beginning of the century romanticism dominated, and in the 1830s. Realistic art has become more relevant. So, in the era of the unconditional domination of romanticism, Jane Austen worked, and the romantics A. Tennyson and R. Browning were contemporaries of Dickens, Thackeray and J. Eliot.

The features of English romanticism, the conditional date of birth of which is considered to be the publication of the preface by W. Wordsworth to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads (1800), are determined by the specifics of the socio-historical and spiritual development of British society. The bourgeois revolution, which was prepared by continental enlighteners, took place in England in a moderate, almost bloodless form as early as 1688-1689. and received the name "Glorious": thanks to her, the bourgeoisie, along with the aristocracy, gained political power and throughout the 18th century. its role in the political life of the state steadily increased. However, since the middle of the XVIII century. in English literature, dissatisfaction with the results of socio-political development begins to affect. The industrial revolution gave rise to the rapid growth of cities and, at the same time, the most acute social problems that affected not only the inhabitants of the gradually declining and depopulated villages, but also overcrowded industrial centers. All this, taken together, entailed disappointment in the prospects for social development and scientific and technological progress, in bourgeois civilization as a whole. The crisis of enlightenment ideology brought to life a romantic worldview, the basis of which was the discord between the ideal and reality, which led to the need to assert the self-worth of a spiritually rich and creative person. A critical attitude to reality prompted the English romantics to seek their ideals outside the bourgeois world. This is the root of their apparent reluctance to depict the present, to which they preferred either the past or the future, often presented in an embellished, idealized guise.

Enlightenment reliance on the possibilities of the mind is replaced by the idea of a knowing imagination. In the flight of fantasy, romantics saw divine revelation, believing that it was the creative imagination that was able to discover the true beauty of the world. The cult of liberated fantasy determined the specifics of the artistic means favored by romantics - allegory, grotesque and symbol.

English romanticism rejects the normative aesthetics of classicism, abandons the strict hierarchy of genres, romantics boldly move along the path of experiments, creating works of synthetic genres, such as lyrical dramas and lyrical epic poems. Refusing to slavishly copy ancient models, they drew inspiration from national history and folklore, from the work of the greatest English poets of the 16th-17th centuries. Spencer, Shakespeare, Milton. Shakespeare becomes the banner of English romanticism, Shakespearean criticism develops, and the work of the great Elizabethan takes on the significance of a symbol of genius and absolute creative freedom. In essence, the establishment of the cult of Shakespeare was the logical end of a centuries-old dispute between admirers of ancient ("ancient") and supporters of modern literature ("new"), which ended in a convincing victory for the latter. An important role in the growth of attention to folk art was played by the collection of folk ballads by T. Percy and the “Works of Ossian, son of Fingal” (1765) by J. MacPherson, who gave his own fantasies on the themes of the Celtic epic as a translation of the works of the legendary bard. The critical attitude towards the materialism of the Enlightenment gave rise to an interest in idealistic philosophy, which left its mark on the nature of the artistic images of romantic literature.

In contrast to the average idea of an abstract person developed by the Enlightenment, English romantics create images of bright individuals, exceptional heroes, whose special character traits are revealed in exceptional situations. In romantic works, that specific emotional atmosphere is created that allows the authors to show the deep and powerful passions that overwhelm their heroes. A characteristic feature of the literature of this period is an interest in an extraordinary personality with its hypertrophied passions. At the same time, the methods of psychological analysis that entered the literature during this period were subsequently adopted by the realists of the middle of the 19th century, who used them to describe the characters of ordinary heroes.

Despite their apparent dissimilarity to the Enlightenment, the English Romantics, with their rebellious pathos of denying the aesthetic doctrines of their predecessors, in fact, to a certain extent, remain faithful to the traditions of the previous stage in the development of literature. They do not reject the enlightenment concept of the "natural man", the enlightenment view of nature as a great good beginning, they also strive for justice, which would extend to all members of society. Thus, W. Scott considered himself a student of Fielding, and J. G. Byron, in the historical plays of the Italian period, obviously adhered to the principles of classic dramaturgy.

Events such as the American War of Independence (1775-1783), the centenary of the Glorious Revolution, and the French Revolution of 1789 were a powerful impetus for the development of English romanticism as a literary trend. The reaction to the events in France in England was ambiguous, and with the beginning of the Jacobin terror, even the most optimistic British, who welcomed, in the words of Burns, the Parisian "tree of freedom", took a balanced defensive position. However, the wind of revolutionary change blowing from France gave rise to a desire for personal freedom, including freedom of creativity, which determined the fundamental nature of romantic culture.

English romantics creatively perceived romantic ideas born in continental Europe. Especially important for them were the theoretical developments of the early German romantics and Madame de Stael. At the same time, the romantic type of consciousness in England was also formed under the influence of national philosophical and social ideas. In England, the mood of these years gave rise to a rather extensive publicist literature, which tried to comprehend both the results of the French Revolution and the English experience of bourgeois development, especially the significance of the industrial revolution of the 18th century. and its socio-economic consequences. The works of Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Thomas Paine (1737-1809) and William Godwin (1756-1836) had the greatest public resonance.

Burke was one of the first in England to make a categorical condemnation of the events in France. In the treatise Reflections on the French Revolution (1790), he defended the rights of monarchs, rejecting the right of peoples to forcibly overthrow their power. Being an opponent of revolutionary upheavals, Burke advocated the gradual reform of society based on national traditions. He did not deny the need to grant certain rights to the democratic sections of the population, especially the peasantry, but he saw the backbone of the state only in the monarchy and the nobility loyal to it. A different point of view was held by the radical Payne. Participating in the US War of Independence on the side of the Americans, in the pamphlet "Common Sense" (1776) he made a declaration of the right of nations to overthrow worthless rulers. In The Rights of Man (1791-1792), Payne continued his sharp criticism of the monarchy, arguing for the right of the people to change the political form of government in their country. The author saw the French Revolution as an event corresponding to the needs of the socio-historical development of the French people. At the same time, he expressed an idea about the lag of the state structure of Great Britain from the needs of the nation inhabiting it. The greatest resonance in England was caused by Godwin's Discourse on Political Justice and its Influence on General Virtue and Welfare (1793), in which the source of social inequality was economic inequality, which in turn stemmed from the existence of private property. Anticipating utopian socialism, Godwin's ideas grew out of the writings of the French Enlightenment, primarily Helvetius and Rousseau, but the violence associated with the French Revolution caused Godwin's rejection. The means of transforming the world were to be persuasion, a positive example, the power of public opinion. At the same time, Godwin opposed public property, and also denied the very idea of a state, a family, or any other organized community of people. Acting as a champion of individualism bordering on anarchism, Godwin somehow influenced all English romantics.

English romanticism seems to be a heterogeneous movement. According to the chronological principle, English romantics can be divided into two generations: the “senior” who began writing at the end of the 18th century include representatives of the “lake school”, the “younger” ones include Byron, Shelley, Keith, Thomas Moore (1779-1852). Such a classification is very conditional: for example, it does not include the work of Scott, who as a poet took place already at the turn of the century, but as a prose writer - starting from 1814. The work of William Blake (1757-1827), whose works were really "discovered" only three decades after his death. However, it was Blake who developed the ideas about the futility of the mind, which is devoid of imagination, about the exclusivity of the poet, who can see the truth and reveal the unknown to readers. At the same time, the mystical symbolism inherent in Blake's work distinguishes him from the work of other early romantics.

The age of romanticism in England was marked by the flourishing of the lyrical genres of poetry, the birth of the historical novel, the creator of which was W. Scott. The romantic prose of this period is also represented by essays (C. Lam (1775-1834), W. Hazlitt (1778-1830), L. Hunt (1784-1859), T. Carlyle (1795-1881) and others) and a number of "late Gothic ” novels, among which a special place is occupied by Mary Shelley (1797-1851), standing at the origins of modern science fiction, “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” (1818).

As early as the beginning of the 19th century. in relation to the novel, the influence of the classicist hierarchy of genres was felt, according to which the novel was classified as “low” and was considered suitable only for the entertainment of the reader. Thanks to the works of W. Scott, the attitude towards the novel has changed radically: it has acquired cognitive significance. T. Carlyle further expanded the idea of the possibilities of the novel, who added to the requirements of entertainment and cognition also the requirement to depict deep and significant conflicts in the novel in Shakesrian style. The new attitude to the novel caused a broad discussion of issues related to the theory of the genre, which became the main object of search for English aesthetic thought and artistic practice of the 19th century.

19th century realism acts as a successor to the realistic traditions of the literature of the Enlightenment. The concept of the social determinism of the human character is borrowed from the Enlightenment realists, but the new generation of realists cannot but take into account the experience of the Romantics, inheriting from them the idea of the determinism of the personality by the contemporary historical situation. Great Britain, along with France and Russia, is one of the countries where the realism of the XIX century. formed earlier than in other national literatures. If the national coloration of romanticism in itself arose from its aesthetic attitudes, then the national specificity of realism, which certainly exists in all literatures, is explained both by the peculiarities of the socio-historical development of a particular country and the specifics of the national mentality. For example, in England, with its Protestant-Puritan traditions, especially at the early stage of the development of realism in the 19th century, a steady moralizing trend is noticeable. As a trend, didacticism persists in the realistic novel of later years. All nineteenth-century realists shared the view that the future of England depended on the moral standard of its people, and they all believed that the fate of a nation was decided by the high morality of the absolute majority, and not by the exceptional moral qualities of individual outstanding personalities.

In the conditions of the "stormy" 1830s and the "hungry" 1840s. English writers had to face reality, and from the end of the 1830s. in the work of English novelists, the modern theme occupied a leading place. The works of the classics of realism of the XIX century. - S. Bronte, C. Dickens, E. Gaskell and W. M. Thackeray - are distinguished by acute socio-critical pathos. Outstanding novelists directed all the strength of their talent to make contemporaries horrified by the state of society and try to change it for the better. If Dickens and Gaskell were closer to the preaching tendencies and ideas of Christian mercy that determined the ethical content of their novels, then Thackeray tried to eradicate shortcomings through scourging juvenile satire and irony reaching sarcasm, and III. Brontë strove to affirm the ideal of an independent, intrinsically valuable person, whose very existence would serve as a role model and an unspoken open reproach to contemporary readers.

In the work of these authors, the aesthetic principles of realism of the 19th century are affirmed, a new type of hero appears, the so-called “small” (as opposed to the titanic rebel hero of the era of romanticism) a person who came into the novel directly from life. Heroes of the English realistic novel of the 19th century. determined not only by the social environment or innate inclinations; their destinies, like those of romantic heroes since Scott's time, depend on the historical setting of their existence. The interpretation of the process of interaction of the hero with the outside world becomes more complicated. Using the canons of the family-everyday novel and the novel of upbringing, so popular in the work of the Enlightenment realists of the 18th century, English authors of the mid-19th century. deeply explored the inner world of their characters, intensively developing the techniques of psychological writing and paving the way for the emergence of a psychological novel proper. In Thackeray's novel The History of Pendennis (1848-1850), the first reflective hero in the history of English realism appeared - Arthur Pendennis.

Chronologically, the heyday of realism in the 19th century in England coincides with the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). At the same time, the concept of "Victorian era" usually includes the second half of the 19th century, leaving out the first 13 years of the reign of the famous queen. At the same time, Dickens, Thackeray, Bronte and Gaskell, who entered the literary arena in the 1830s and 1840s, are usually referred to as Victorian writers.

In realistic aesthetics, the concept of romantic duality is replaced by a dialectical approach to life facts, the desire to see in reality both bad and positive, worthy of praise and increase. Thus, in the very nature of realistic art, aimed at an adequate reflection of life, there is a tendency towards a balanced, objective depiction of life. As realism developed in the 19th century, the tendency towards objectivity in the depiction of events is increasing, which is reflected in the controversy about truthfulness in art. On the one hand, photographically accurate reproduction of life on the pages of a work of art was elevated to the absolute virtue of realistic art, on the other hand, the right of the artist to play the imagination was defended, since only it could help comprehend and typify the whole diversity of life. One of the prominent critics of the second half of the 19th century, Leslie Stephen, suggested that sometimes the importance of plausibility in a literary work is overestimated, and suggested that the novelist in his art should combine the ordinary with the fantastic, since plausibility is the only possible means of achieving truthfulness in art.

19th century realism for a long time it was called “critical”, which rightly characterizes its ethical orientation, which makes realists related to romantics in their rejection of modernity with its shredded moral criteria. However, under the influence of the philosophy of positivism that spread in the middle of the century (O. Comte, I. Taine, E. Renan and others in France, J. St Mill, G. Spencer and others in England) and the events of social and political life, among which the most important there was a decline of the Chartist movement, an aggravation of the situation in Ireland and the revolutionary events of 1848 in Europe, depriving the illusion of the possibility of a quick and effective change in the way of life, English realism, without abandoning the search for laws governing the world, significantly deepened everyday writing tendencies. Unlike the literature of France, where positivism became the philosophical basis of naturalism, this direction did not take root in English literature, primarily because the strict morality of the Victorian era imposed a taboo on the depiction of a person as a biological being, excluding the possibility of a frank display of physiological scenes. At the same time, in the work of a number of English writers of the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries. one can trace the influence of naturalism, which prompted them to determine the fate of the heroes by a fatal combination of circumstances, understood as an inexorable dictate of the environment, in which the action of some abstract, blind, irrational force is manifested. In this sense, naturalistic tendencies can be traced in the work of J. Eliot, George Gissing (1857-1903), George Moore (1852-1933), Arthur Morrison (1863-1945) and T. Hardy, however, none of these authors turned into life of the key requirement of the aesthetics of naturalism, not limited to strictly "scientific" fixation of facts. On the contrary, analytical tendencies are clearly expressed in their work, pictures of the development of the individual and society are given, the causal relationships of phenomena are explored, which brings these writers closer to the classical realists of the 19th century.

The confident progress of the country along the bourgeois path of development caused many progressive-minded people to doubt the possibility of changing anything in the existing order of things. Apathy, disappointment, disbelief in the very possibility of comprehending the laws of human existence are replacing the desire to reveal the vices of the social mechanism and push the world to eradicate them in literature. The late works of Thackeray (1850-1860s), with their desire for scrupulous accuracy in reflecting reality, gave impetus to the development of the so-called ordinary, or everyday, realism, represented primarily by the work of J. Eliot and E. Trollope. The traditions of English realistic prose in the works of these authors are combined with a tangible influence of the ideas of the leading English positivist philosophers - Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), George Henry Lewis (1817-1878), and to a lesser extent - Henry Thomas Buckle (1821 - 1862).

Extending the action of the laws of nature to human society, Spencer put forward the concept of society as a single biological organism, likening its various classes to specialized organs and proving that public well-being as a whole depends on the proper functioning of individual organs and the harmonious correspondence between them. Such a theory established the inevitability of class and racial inequality. Under the influence of the evolutionary theory of development of Ch. Darwin, Spencer believed that fundamental changes in the social organism can occur only through a long evolutionary path, thereby affirming the inviolability of the current state of society throughout the foreseeable historical future. Bokl's theorizing led to similar conclusions, following Taine, who considered civilization a function determined by natural (geographical, climatic, etc.) factors. Based on the ideas of the French positivist O. Comte, J. G. Lyois believed that at the present stage of the development of knowledge, both science and art should focus on the study of specific, single phenomena, without pretending to reveal the connections between them.

The idea of a smooth evolutionary change in social life seemed to be reinforced by practice: the length of the working day was reduced, in August 1868 a new election law came into force, according to which for the first time representatives of the working class who had reached the age of majority received the right to vote (for the first time, worker deputies were elected in parliament in 1874), in the 1870s-1880s. the improvement of the political system of the state continued. In 1872, secret voting was introduced in parliamentary elections, in 1883, a law was passed against bribery of voters, and in 1884, the principle of "one person - one vote" was legislated, which had previously been constantly violated. A year later, the country was divided into constituencies by population, which created the basis for a more equitable representation of the people in the country's parliament. At the same time, a two-party system dominated English political life, giving rise to an alternation of conservatives and liberals in power. Now, in order to win the elections, both parties actively rushed "to the people", laying down the principles of work with voters, which have not lost their relevance to this day. At the same time, such obvious successes in the democratization of society did not lead to a qualitative change in the life of the nation. In the 1880-1890s. among the English intelligentsia, the ideas of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), who denied the idea of progress and argued that the world order is based not on laws comprehended by the mind, but on some kind of blind "world will", which is useless to resist, became widespread. All this explains why in the last decades of the XIX century. in the work of realist writers, one can more and more clearly hear the hopelessly tragic tone in which the narratives about the clashes of the individual with the inert Victorian society are painted. The most powerful theme of man's discord with the environment to which he belongs and the dictates of which he feels is represented in the work of J. Meredith (1828-1909) and T. Hardy. In line with classical realistic satire, S. Butler (1835-1902) created his works, aiming them against the everyday and religious hypocrisy of the Victorians.

The feeling of the tragedy of being prompted the artists of the second half of the 19th century. seek spiritual rest in an environment distracted from major social problems and dramatic conflicts. Many novelists of the second half of the 19th century actively tried to overcome the didacticism inherent in the work of their predecessors, to make the novel entertaining, superseded in recent decades by serious social, political and moral issues. Thus, developing the traditions of Dickens in general and not shying away from socially significant topics, W. Collins sought to captivate his readers, intrigue them, sometimes deviating from the main principle for realism of following the truth of life in favor of the play of the imagination. An even more obvious interest in the mysterious and extraordinary is observed in the work of neo-romantic writers - R. L. Stevenson (1850-1894), J. Conrad (1857-1924), A. Conan Doyle (1859-1930), J. R. Kipling (1865-1936).

Neo-romanticism is born from the need to move away from the documentary-accurate reproduction of an unflattering reality in literature. However, the works related to neo-romanticism are so heterogeneous that it is often considered not a literary trend, but only a stylistic trend. Neo-romanticism synthesizes features of both romantic and realistic aesthetics. Neo-romantic writers are united by the rejection of mundane heroes, to whom they oppose the images of courageous, courageous people who reveal their qualities in a series of unusual adventures. Sometimes the neo-romantic hero acts in exceptional circumstances, but at the same time his actions are always realistically motivated and psychologically conditioned.

Throughout the 19th century there was a tendency to view the art world as the antithesis of a depressing reality. By the end of the century, in England, as in other countries of Western Europe, decadent moods spread, aestheticism developed, which put forward the cult of "pure art". If the immediate predecessors of the aesthetes, J. Ruskin (1819-1900) and the Pre-Raphaelites, a group of poets and painters who strove for beauty and the synthesis of the arts, put the position on the moral meaning of the work in one of the key places in their aesthetics, then the aesthetes, led by O. Wilde protested against the imposition of any worldly ethical standards on works of art. They expressed their protest against bourgeois utilitarianism in the thesis that all art is useless. Aesthetes also rejected realistic objectivism, proclaiming the cult of the subjective principle in art. Aestheticism as the leading decadent trend in England was formed equally under the influence of French poetry of the 1850s-1870s. and national literary traditions. It was an outbreak of protest against the wretchedness of being, but the attempt to escape reality into the world of beauty turned out to be untenable, and by the beginning of the 20th century. aestheticism as a literary movement has exhausted itself.

In general, the literary process in England in the XIX century. can be characterized by the interaction - interpenetration and mutual repulsion - of the elements of the main directions listed above. Such a dynamic picture of English literature of this period sometimes prompts us to consider the work of individual authors as aesthetically transitional phenomena. For example, in the work of C. Dickens, who is traditionally considered a classic of realism of the 19th century, the influence of romantic aesthetics is clearly evident, Scott's historical novel is a natural product of the era of romanticism, but at that time contains elements of realism, the work of T. Hardy should be considered as synthesis of aesthetic ideas of classical realism and naturalism, etc. In addition, the creative individuality of any outstanding writer invariably distinguishes him from his fellow writers, and the belonging of a master to one or another literary movement should be judged by his adherence to the main set of aesthetic ideas, which makes it possible to establish the type of artistic consciousness inherent in him. Such an approach makes it possible, for example, to refer to romanticism such dissimilar authors as Wordsworth and Byron, to realism - Dickens and Thackeray, W. Collins and J. Eliot, to neo-romanticism - R. L. Stevenson and A. Conan Doyle .

English literature is inextricably linked in the minds of many of us with such names as William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. However, I would like to introduce the reader to other less famous, but no less talented English writers, as well as to say a few words about the era in which they lived and worked.

This article provides detailed periodization of English literature from the Middle Ages to the present day and shows the most famous works of English writers, as well as lesser known works, but which, however, are worth reading.

To begin with, let's figure out what applies to English literature. English literature is the literature not only of the writers of England, but also of all parts of Great Britain, including: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is known that there are more words in English than in any other language of the world. As a result, there are many words with barely noticeable differences in meaning. This variety of words was skillfully used by English writers, and some of them even took responsibility for creating new words, one of these writers was the brilliant W. Shakespeare.

English literature- this is a centuries-old history, brilliant authors, unforgettable works that reflect the peculiarity of the national character. We grow with the books of these great writers, learn and develop with their help. It is impossible to convey the significance of English writers and their contribution to world literature. It is difficult to imagine a world without the works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Wilde and many others. English literature is divided into periods, in each of which their own writers and poets lived and created, in whose works certain events and facts from the history of the country were reflected.

It is customary to distinguish the following periods in English literature:

1 period: early medieval or Anglo-Saxon period 450-1066

Historical fact: In 1066 England was conquered by the Normans, led by William the Conqueror. This conquest ends this period.

Main genre: poem.

The most famous works: Beowulf

The works of this period are passed from mouth to mouth. They are characterized by the following features: fatality, juxtaposition of church and paganism, praise of heroes and successful battles.

The most important work of this period is the poem Beowulf, which has a national epic status in England. Beowulf is the longest epic poem written in Old English. The poem contains over 3000 lines and is divided into 3 parts. Beowulf is a classic tale of the triumph of good over evil. It describes the exploits of a hero named Beowulf, his fights with a monster, the mother of this monster and a dragon.

2 period: Middle Ages: 1066 - 1500

Main genre: folk tales, chivalric romance, ballad

In the 11th-12th centuries, ecclesiastical didactic works prevailed in literature (“Ormulum”, “Ode to Morals”), starting from the middle of the 13th century, there was a transition to more everyday genres (folk “Cuckoo Song”, “Bev from Amton”, “Horn " and "Havelock").

In the XIII-XIV centuries - the creation of chivalric novels about King Arthur and his knights. In 1469, Thomas Malory collected a whole collection of novels about the exploits of knights and his work "The Death of Arthur" became a monument of English literature of the late Middle Ages.

The beginning of the development of the genre of folk poetry - ballads. Ballads about the brave robber Robin Hood are very popular.

And finally, the second half of this period is considered a new page in the history of English literature and is associated with the name of Geoffrey Chaucer. If earlier it was customary to write works in Latin, then Chaucer was the first to write in English. His most famous work was "".

3 period: Renaissance or Renaissance: 1550 - 1660

Main genre: sonnets, lyric works, plays for the theater

1500-1558 — literature under the Tudors

The Renaissance begins with the development of the lyric genre, the leading role was assigned to poetry. Poets Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser. One of the most notable writers during the reign of Henry VIII was the great writer and humanist Thomas More, famous for his 1516 book Utopia.

1558-1603 — literature under Elizabeth

This period is associated with the reign of Elizabeth I, medieval traditions and Renaissance optimism were mixed here. Poetry, prose and drama were the main styles that flourished during this period. However, the drama had a special flourishing. Notable writers of this period were Thomas Kidd, Robert Greene, Christopher Marlowe and a little later the greatest playwright William Shakespeare.

1603-1625 — literature under James I

A difficult and gloomy period associated with the reign of James I. During this period, works from prose and also drama were actively published. Also, the period was marked by the translation of the Bible, carried out on behalf of the king. Shakespeare and Johnson, as well as John Donne, Francis Bacon, and Thomas Middleton lived and worked at this time.

1625-1649 — literature under Charles I

The works of writers of this period were distinguished by sophistication and elegance. During this period, a circle of so-called "Cavalier poets" arose, among which were Ben Jonson, Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew and others. Their poetry described the life of the upper class, and the main themes were: beauty, love, fidelity. They were witty and straightforward.

1649-1660 — protectorate period(or Puritan Interregnum)

The period is associated with the name of Oliver Cromwell. The political writings of Milton, Thomas Hobbs, and the writings of Andrew Marvel dominated this time. In September 1642, the Puritans closed the theaters out of moral and religious convictions. For the next 18 years, the theaters remained closed due to the lack of dramatic works written at that time.

4 period: neoclassicism: 1660 - 1785

Main genre: prose, poetry, novel

John Milton "Paradise Lost", Jonathan Swift "Gulliver's Travels", Daniel Defoe "The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe", Henry Fielding "The History of Tom Jones, a foundling" (1749))

The literature of the neoclassical period was greatly influenced by French literature. The literature of this time had a philosophical character, and also possessed the features of skepticism, wit, refinement and criticism. It is divided into several periods:

1660-1700 - period of restoration

This was the time of the restoration of the monarchy, the time of the triumph of reason and tolerance over religion and political passions. All this was marked by an abundance of prose and poetry and the emergence of a particular comedy of manners known as the "Restoration Comedies". It was during this period that John Milton wrote Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Other writers of this time were John Locke, John Dryden and John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester.

1700-1745 – august period

The prevailing characteristics of the literature of that time are sophistication, clarity and elegance. Notable Writers: Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and Daniel Defoe. A significant contribution of this period was the publication of Defoe's first English novels, and the "character novel" Pamela, written by Samuel Richardson in 1740.

1745-1785 – sentimentalism

Literature reflected the Enlightenment worldview, writers began to emphasize instinct and feeling rather than reason and restraint. Increasing sympathy at this time aroused interest in the medieval ballad and folklore literature. The dominant authors of this period were Samuel Johnson, Edward Jung, James Thomson, Thomas Grey, in the period of late Sentimentalism, the emergence of the most talented singer of the people, Robert Burns.

5 period: romanticism: 1785 - 1830

Main genre: poetry, secular novel, the birth of the gothic novel

The most famous authors and works: Jane Austen "Pride and Prejudice", "Sense and Sensibility", Lord Byron "The Travels of Charl Harold", Poets of the "Lake School" (, Coleridge), John Keats, Robert Burns, Walter Scott "Ivanhoe" (Ivanhoe), Mary Shelley "Frankenstein" (Frankenstein)

The works are written with feeling, using a large number of characters. Writers believed that literature should be rich in poetic images, it should be easy and accessible. Famous writers of that time were Jane Austen, Lord Byron, Walter Scott, poets William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, Lake School poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth. At this time, the Gothic style was born. Two of the most famous Gothic novelists are Ann Radcliffe and Mary Shelley.

6 period: Victorian era: 1830 - 1901

Dominant w enr: novel

The most famous authors and works:(a lot of works, "David Copperfield" (David Copperfield), "Big hopes", William Thackeray "Vanity Fair" (Vanity Fair), "Treasure Island" (), "The Adventures of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (), Rudyard Kipling fairy tales "Just So Stories", (a lot of works, "Notes on Sherlock Holmes" ) , (Charlotte Bronte "Jane Eyre" (Jane Eyre), Emily Bronte "Wuthering Heights" (Wuthering Heights), Anne Bronte "Agnes Grey" (Agnes Grey), "The Picture of Dorian Grey" Thomas Hardy (stories, )

1830-1848 — early period

The works of the early Victorian period are emotionally expressive, mostly describing the life of people from the middle class. Among the literary genres, the novel dominates. Volumetric novels are divided into many episodes, which are then published in newspapers, which made it possible to reduce their cost and thus make them accessible to the lower class. This method of attracting readers was resorted to by Charles Dickens, William Thackeray and Elizabeth Gaskell, also famous writers of this time Robert Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, the Brontë sisters.

1848-1870 — interim period

In 1848, a group of English artists, among whom was Dante Gabriel Rossetti, organized the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Their main goal was to restore the truthfulness, simplicity and adherence to religion that existed under Raphael to the paintings. In turn, Rossetti and his literary circle carried these ideals into their works.

1870-1901 — late period

For literature, this is a period of aestheticism and decadence. Oscar Wilde and other authors of this style insisted on experimentation and believed that art was categorically opposed to "natural" moral standards.

7 period: modernism: 1901 - 1960

Main genre: novel

1901 – 1914 — literature under Edward VII

The period is named after King Edward VII and spans the time from the death of Queen Victoria (1901) to the start of the First World War (1914). At this time, the British Empire was at its height, and the rich were drowning in luxury. However, four-fifths of the English population lived in poverty. And the works of this period reflect these social conditions. Among the writers denouncing class injustice and selfishness of the upper class were such writers as George Bernard Shaw, Herbert Wells. Other writers of the time: Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, Henry James, E. M. Forster.

1910 – 1936 — literature under George V

Many writers of the era of King Edward VII continue to write in this period. In addition to them, the so-called Georgians write, including such poets as Rupert Brooke and David Herbert Lawrence. In their poems they describe the beauty of rural landscapes, the tranquility and peace of nature. Writers of this period experiment with themes, forms and styles. Among them: James Joyce, D. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf. Playwrights: Noel Coward and Samuel Beckett.

1939 – 1960 - literature during the Second World War and the post-war period

The Second World War had a huge impact on the work of writers of that time. And subsequent generations grew up on stories about this terrible war. Wartime poets Sidney Keyes, David Gascoyne, Philip Larkin, Pat Barker also wrote about the war.

8 period: postmodernism 1960 - today

Main genre: novel

The most famous authors and works: 20th century became very fruitful in the field of popular literature, the following names are probably well known to you:
- (1890-1976): "" and other detectives
— Ian Fleming (1908-1964): James Bond novels
- J. Tolkien (1892-1973): The Lord of the Rings
- S. Lewis (1898-1963): Chronicles of Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia)
- J.K. Rowling "Harry Potter" (Harry Potter)

Postmodernism mixes literary genres and styles in an attempt to free itself from modernist forms. Unlike modernists, who took themselves and their work very seriously, postmodernists took everything with irony. The concept of "black humor" appears in the literature. Nevertheless, postmodernism borrows some features from its predecessor and even enhances them, this concerns pessimism and the desire for the avant-garde. The features of postmodernism are especially clearly reflected in the drama. So Samuel Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot" is a vivid example of the theater of the absurd and combines pessimistic philosophy and comedy.

Studying English Literature should be inextricably linked with the study of the era, historical events and culture of its time. When starting to read a book, do not be lazy and read the biography of the writer, get acquainted with the time when the work was created. Reading literature is not just an exciting activity, but also a great responsibility, because after reading something, we share our opinion with friends and relatives. Classical literature, which came out from the pen of the great creators of the word and plot, cannot be bad. Sometimes we just don't get it...

Truly admirable. It is based on the works of a galaxy of outstanding masters. No country in the world has given birth to so many outstanding masters of the word as Britain. There are many English classics, the list goes on and on: William Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, Daphne Du Maurier, George Orwell, John Tolkien. Are you familiar with their works?

Already in the 16th century, the Briton William Shakespeare earned the fame of the best playwright in the world. It is curious that until now the plays of the “spear-shaking” Englishman (this is how his surname is literally translated) are staged in theaters more often than the works of other authors. His tragedies "Hamlet", "Othello", "King Lear", "Macbeth" are universal values. Getting acquainted with his creative heritage, we recommend that you MUST read the philosophical tragedy "Hamlet" - about the meaning of life and moral principles. For four hundred years she has led the repertoires of the most famous theaters. There is an opinion that the English classic writers began with Shakespeare.

She became famous thanks to the classic love story Pride and Prejudice, which introduces us to the daughter of an impoverished nobleman, Elizabeth, who has a rich inner world, pride and an ironic look at her surroundings. She finds her happiness in love for the aristocrat Darcy. Paradoxically, this book with a fairly simple plot and a happy ending is one of the most beloved in Britain. It traditionally outstrips the works of many serious novelists in popularity. For that alone, it's worth reading. Like this writer, many English classics came to literature precisely at the beginning of the 18th century.

He glorified himself with his works as a deep and genuine connoisseur of the life of ordinary Britons in the 18th century. His characters are invariably penetrating and convincing. The novel "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" shows the tragic fate of a simple decent woman. She commits the murder of a scoundrel nobleman who breaks her life in order to free herself from his persecution and find happiness. Using the example of Thomas Hardy, the reader can see that the English classics had a deep mind and a systematic view of the society around them, saw its flaws more clearly than others, and, having ill-wishers, nevertheless courageously presented their creations for the assessment of the whole society.

She showed in her largely autobiographical novel "Jane Eyre" an emerging new morality - the principles of an educated, active, decent person who wants to serve society. The writer creates an amazingly holistic, deep image of the governess Jane Eyre, who goes towards her love for Mr. Rochester even at the cost of sacrificial service. Bronte, inspired by her example, was followed by other English classics, not from the nobility, calling on society for social justice, for an end to all discrimination against a person.

Possessed, according to the Russian classic F.M. Dostoevsky, who considered himself his student, "the instinct of universal humanity." The great talent of the writer created the seemingly impossible: he became famous even in his early youth thanks to his first novel, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, followed by the following - Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and others, who gained unprecedented fame for the writer put him on a par with Shakespeare.

William Thackeray is an innovator in the style of writing the novel. None of the classics before him turned bright, textured depicted negative characters into the central images of his work. Moreover, as in life, often something individually positive was inherent in their characters. His outstanding work - "Vanity Fair" - is written in a unique spirit of intellectual pessimism, mixed with subtle humor.

With her “Rebecca” in 1938, she did the impossible: she wrote the novel at a key moment when it seemed that English literature was running out of steam, that everything that was possible had already been written, that the English classics were “ended”. Having not received worthy works for a long time, the English reading audience was interested, delighted with the unique, unpredictable plot of her novel. The introductory phrase of this book has become winged. Be sure to read this book by one of the world's best masters of creating psychological images!

George Orwell will amaze you with the merciless truth. He wrote his famous novel "1984" as a powerful universal denunciatory tool against all dictatorships: present and future. His creative method is borrowed from another great Englishman - Swift.

The novel "1984" is a parody of a dictatorship society that has finally trampled on universal human values. He denounced and called to account for the inhumanity of the ugly model of socialism, which in fact becomes the dictatorship of the leaders. An extremely sincere and uncompromising person, he endured poverty and deprivation, having passed away early - at 46 years old.

Is it possible not to love Professor's "Lord of the Rings"? This real miraculous and surprisingly harmonious temple of the epic of England? The work brings its readers deep humanistic and it is no accident that Frodo destroys the ring on March 25 - the day of the Ascension. The creative and competent writer showed insight: all his life he was indifferent to politics and parties, passionately loved "good old England", was a classic British tradesman.

This list goes on and on. I beg your pardon, dear readers who mustered up the courage to read this article, that it did not include, due to limited volume, the worthy Walter Scott, Ethel Lilian Voynich, Daniel Defoe, Lewis Carroll, James Aldridge, Bernard Shaw and, believe me, many, many others. English classical literature is a huge, most interesting layer of achievements of human culture and spirit. Do not deny yourself the pleasure of getting to know her.

The winner of the Danes, for almost two centuries devastated Britain. Alfred did a lot to restore the destroyed culture, to raise education, he himself was a writer and translator (translated, among other things, into Anglo-Saxon Bede's Church History, written in Latin).

Anglo-Norman literature

In the second half of the 11th century, England was subjected to a new invasion of the Normans. It falls under the rule of the Normans, who for several centuries maintain the dominance of the Norman dialect of the French language and French literature in England. A long period begins, known in history as the period of Anglo-Norman literature.

During the first century after the Norman invasion, literature in the Anglo-Saxon language almost disappears. And only a century later, literary monuments of ecclesiastical content reappear in this language, and later secular ones, which were translations of French works. Thanks to this mixture of languages, the Latin language again assumes great importance among an educated society.

The period of French domination left an important mark on the subsequent history of English literature, which, according to some researchers, is more connected with the artistic techniques and style of French literature of the Norman period than with ancient Anglo-Saxon literature, from which it was artificially cut off.

Literature of social protest

But not only he was the founder of the new English language. Chaucer did a common thing with his famous contemporary John Wyclif (-). Wyclif adjoins accusatory literature directed against the clergy, but he, the forerunner of the Reformation, goes further, translates the Bible into English, addresses the people in his struggle against the papacy. Wyclif and Chaucer, through their literary activity, arouse interest in the earthly nature of man, in personality.

In the next century, there is a great interest in living folk poetry, which already existed in the 13th and 14th centuries. But in the 15th century, this poetry shows a particularly active life, and the oldest examples of it, which have survived to our time, belong to this century. The ballads about Robin Hood were very popular.

Renaissance

Renaissance ideals in literature

Thomas More is a typical representative of English humanism. His "Utopia" is a public organization built in the spirit of the ideals of humanism. Its goal is the happiness of a person, the well-being of the entire community. He is alien to medieval spiritualism, those consolations that the Catholic Church offered after the grave in exchange for earthly suffering. He desires joy here on earth. Therefore, in his community there is no property, compulsory labor for all its members prevails, work in the city and in the country alternates, complete religious tolerance is established, thanks to the ideal organization of society there are no crimes, etc.

Bacon's work is a book from which one can lead the development of positive thought. The author proceeds from observation and experience as sources of knowledge of the truth, he believes that he does not know what lies beyond them.

The 16th century is the heyday of English humanism, which arose here later than in Italy, met with the Reformation. Classical literature and Italian poetry have a great influence on English literature.

Elizabethan era

Locke denied innate ideas and declared the impressions that our senses receive from external objects to be the only source of all knowledge. Following Milton, Locke anticipated Rousseau's theory of the social contract and the right of the people to refuse obedience to authority if it violates the law. In the era of Cromwell, the theater froze, classical traditions were maintained only among the persecuted supporters of the royal house. After the Restoration, the theater reopened, merry comedies of manners appeared with not always decent content (Wycherly, Congreve and others), gallant literature was revived, and, finally, French-type classicism arose. His representative was John Dryden (1631-1700), a typical unprincipled poet of the dissolute court restoration society, an unsuccessful imitator of Corneille and Racine, who strictly defended the three unities and, in general, all classical rules.

Augustinian era

After 1688, with the establishment of the constitution, the tone of literature was set by the bourgeoisie, whose influence is clearly felt both in novels and on the stage. The new consumer demands his literature, images of family virtues, honest merchants, sensibility, nature, etc. He is not touched by tales of classical heroes, of the exploits of the aristocratic ancestors of court society. He needs a satire on loose secular mores. There are moralizing and satirical magazines - "Chatterbox", "Spectator", "Guardian" - Style and Addison, with talented everyday essays, denouncing luxury, emptiness, vanity, ignorance and other vices of the then society. Didactic, satirical and moral is the exemplary classical poetry of Pope, the author of An Essay on Man. England gave impetus not only to the emancipatory ideas of the French Encyclopedists, but also laid the foundation for moralistic sentimental literature, that novel of morals that spread throughout Europe. Samuel Richardson, the author of "Pamela", "Clarissa" and "Grandisson", displays virtuous philistine girls and contrasts them with dissolute aristocrats, idealizes philistine virtues and forces the depraved representatives of the chewing golden youth to correct themselves.

Godwin, in his novel The Adventures of Caleb Williams and other writings, defends the most revolutionary ideas of his time not only in the field of politics, but also in the field of education and marriage, and goes ahead of the then English revolutionary thought. The so-called "Lake School" (from the place of residence around the lakes) includes a number of poets. Of these, Wordsworth was head of the school. A dreamy, nature-loving poet of small phenomena, which he knew how to make sublime and touching, he, along with his friend Coleridge, was a representative of that trend in romanticism, which, along with love for nature, introduced a simple artless language, images of patriarchal antiquity, contemplation and dreaminess. The third poet of the lake school - Southey wrote in the spirit of his friends, adding fantastic pictures of the exotic countries of Mexico, India, Arabia to the idyllic images of lake poetry. And the poets of the lake school were fond of the revolution, but not for long. Wordsworth and Coleridge traveled to Germany, where they were influenced by German romantic idealism and ended up in pure contemplation.

Next to the populist romanticism of the lake school, Byron, the greatest poet of the era, was a representative of revolutionary aristocratic romance. Despising the high-society society with which he was connected by his origin, having cut himself off from his class, not seeing anything attractive in the representatives of capital, greedy and corrupt merchants, Byron in his youth burst into a fiery speech in defense of the workers, but after that he did not return to this issue, on all his life he remained a declassed aristocrat, a rebellious individualist revolutionary, a singer of dissatisfied disappointed natures, starting with mysterious demonic wanderers and robbers (“Gyaur”, “Lara”, etc.). The same image is deepened in Childe Harold, which became the subject of wide imitation in European poetry. Byron ended with a protest against the universe and world order in his theomachic tragedies ("Manfred" and "Cain"). By the end of his life, Byron came close to political and social satire (Don Juan, The Bronze Age). Extreme individualism, a sense of dissatisfaction, an attraction to the East and exotic countries, a love of nature and loneliness, dreams of the past at ruins and monuments - all this makes Byron a poet of English romanticism, and his angry accusatory protests against all forms of violence and exploitation, his connections with the Italian Carbonari and the struggle for the liberation of Greece made him a singer of freedom in the eyes of the European intelligentsia. His friend Percy Bysshe Shelley, a brilliant lyric poet, also an aristocrat, like Byron, combines in his poetry the world of fantastic romance with a revolutionary protest against the emerging bourgeois-capitalist society. In his poem "Queen Mab", he depicts this society, where everything is "sold in the public market", where, with the help of severe hunger, the master drives his slaves under the yoke of wage labor. Shelley acts as the same revolutionary romantic in his other poems (“Laon and Cytna”, “Unchained Prometheus”, etc.). His wife Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, is a pioneer in the issue of scientist responsibility. Walter Scott shows, like two great poets, a tendency towards antiquity. He was the creator of the historical novel (“Ivanhoe”, “Rob Roy”, “Quentin Dorward”, “The Templars”, etc.), in which he knew how to combine plausibility and realism with rich romantic fiction and depict the most dramatic moments in the national history of Scotland and England.

In the first third of the XIX century. the first stage of the struggle between the nobility and the industrial bourgeoisie, which is becoming more and more master of the situation, is coming to an end. The struggle against the Corn Laws, Chartism and the actions of the working class, imperiously declaring their demands, overshadow feudal romance and patriarchal dreamy poetry. The city with its practical interests, the growing bourgeoisie, the beginning social struggle between it and the working class become the main content of English literature, and realism its predominant form. Instead of a medieval castle - a factory town, instead of distant antiquity - seething modern industrial life, instead of fantastic images of inventive imagination - an accurate, almost photographic, depiction of reality. Bulwer-Lytton, still continuing the traditions of romanticism, an aristocrat by birth, filling his novels with transformations, miracles and criminality, however, leaves us a number of literary documents of social significance, depicting the process of impoverishment and decomposition of the nobility (novels - "Pelgam", "Night and Morning " and etc.).

Realism and the turn of the century

Dickens, the most celebrated writer of this era, develops a broad picture of the life of bourgeois-capitalist society in his famous novels: Hard Times, David Copperfield, Dombey and Son, The Pickwick Club, Nicholas Nickleby, etc., creates a gallery of capitalist types. The petty-bourgeois, humane, intelligent point of view of Dickens prevents him from taking the side of the revolutionary part of the working class. He gives stunning pictures of the dryness, greed, cruelty, ignorance and selfishness of the capitalists, but he writes to instruct the exploiters and does not think about organizing the forces of the exploited. Its goal is to touch human hearts with the spectacle of suffering, and not to awaken hatred and call for rebellion. More embittered, more sarcastic and cruel in his criticism of the noble-bourgeois society Thackeray, author of the novels Vanity Fair, Pendennis. The author sees no way out. He is full of pessimism and irritation. He, like Dickens, is unable to understand the emancipatory role of the emerging revolutionary labor movement. Fluctuating as always between big capital and the working-class movement, petty-bourgeois thought sought conciliatory ways. Kingsley in his novels "Yeast" and "Alton Locke" he depicts the horrors of exploitation and want, but he sees salvation in Christian socialism, in the "Spirit of God", in repentant rich people who turned to charitable causes. Disraeli, afterwards a famous lord Beaconsfield, the leader of the Tories (the novels "Sibyl", etc.), depicting in vivid colors the vices of bourgeois-aristocratic society and the misfortunes of the peasants and workers, speaks out negatively against the revolution and sees saviors in the person of energetic and active aristocrats, who take upon themselves the task of arranging the people's well-being. Not only the novel, but also lyric poetry is inspired by social themes, and the main question put forward by the era - the question of the exploitation of the working class by capital - is resolved in the spirit of vague humanity and moral improvement. Poets like Thomas Good or Ebenezer Elliot (cm.) , in their poems depict individual moments of the difficult existence of workers and urban poverty, create songs against the Corn Laws, give images of workers driven by poverty to prostitution and suicide. But even their positive ideals are reduced to charity: to some lady who has comprehended her duty thanks to an edifying dream and has devoted her life to alleviating the lot of the poor.

As we approach the end of the 19th century in European, in particular in English literature, the realistic and social direction begins to give way to the resurgent ideas of individualism and aestheticism. Instead of militant capitalists who make their way through struggle and energy, creating enterprises, instead of Dombey and Gradgrinds, those representatives of the bourgeoisie who have inherited their capital, have not gone through a harsh school of life, who can enjoy the legacy of their fathers, have become lovers and connoisseurs of arts, buyers of expensive paintings and elegant volumes of poetry. A literature of refined experiences, fleeting impressions is flourishing. Individualism, pure art, eroticism, the cult of moods are the hallmarks of the literature of the end of the century. True, the main theme of the era - the organization of society, the abolition of exploitation, the position of the working class - occupies a large place in literature, but the socialism of the end of the century is aesthetic socialism. John Ruskin proceeds from the ideal of a beautiful life, calls society to the old patriarchal craft forms of production and rebels against industrialism and capitalism. He inspires the school of artists known as the Pre-Raphaelites, among whom we see Rossetti and William Morris, the author of the novels - John Bol's Dream and News from Nowhere, a defender of socialism and at the same time a passionate aesthete, who, together with Rosseti, sought the ideals of beauty in past centuries, who dreamed of causing a social revolution through the aesthetic education of workers. Next to the Pre-Raphaelites - Tennyson, a poet of pure art, free from the motives of social struggle, Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Swinburne, in whose poetry the ideals of eternal beauty and the protection of the exploited are not clearly intertwined. The most popular of the poets of this direction was Oscar Wilde, the “king of aesthetes”, in his “Intentions” and in the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, who created the “religion of beauty” and the cult of liberating fiction, proclaiming the only reality of the creation of art, arguing that art creates life, and not vice versa.

The continued growth of the industry introduces new themes into literature - urbanism, machinism. Literature becomes dynamic, satire against the capitalist way of life develops. Bernard Shaw is the most brilliant and paradoxical of satirical writers, a virtuoso of sophism, a witty author of mystification, a moderate socialist, who, however, intends to improve the condition of the workers with the help of the bourgeoisie. Herbert Wells is the author of science fiction novels imbued with the pathos of technology, depicting the wonders of an industry that magically transforms life, connects planets, and allows a person to move both into the past and into the future. This process of simultaneous growth of socialist tendencies and conservative-individualistic and aesthetic aspirations is accompanied by a number of diverse literary phenomena. Imperialism and chauvinism, which has its representative in the person of Chamberlain, the Boer War, the cult of Kitchener - all this finds its literary reflection in the work of Rudyard Kipling, the most talented of the nationalist writers, the author of colonial stories and poems, where the colonial policy of England is glorified, where oppression backward peoples is glorified as the fulfillment of a great civilizing mission.

Another phenomenon is the reaction against machinism, which causes a revival in literature of religious movements, impulses to the other world, theosophy, spiritualism, occultism, etc. Already Samuel Butler and George Meredith, so dissimilar to each other in other respects, however, do a common thing, laying path to spiritualism, they are trying to build a new religion on the foundations of modernity, using experience and research for this. We find features of romantic symbolism in the work of Yeats, a representative of the so-called. "Celtic revival", and another of its representatives, also an Irishman, more prone to realism and naturalism - Sing. Another form of protest against machinism was Nietzscheanism, the cult of power, and hypertrophied aestheticism, all those modernist ideas whose influence is not only easy to catch in Oscar Wilde, but also in the work of Stevenson, the sophisticated author of exemplary adventure novels, and George Moore, who spoke almost the language of Zarathustra. (in "Confessions of a Young Man") about his contempt for compassion and Christian morality, about the beauty of cruelty, strength and beauty of crime.

This same hostility to the industrial age gave rise to a wave of pessimism in English literature among those writers who could not reconcile machinism with peace of mind. James Thomson is one of the remarkable poets, through all whose poetry the main theme runs as a leitmotif - the torment of life, the gloomy grandeur of despair. The most popular and, perhaps, the most profound of the pessimists is Thomas Hardy, the creator of the grandiose dramatic epic The Dynasty and a number of novels, mainly from the life of the village and the province. According to his teachings, a dark and evil fate, an incomprehensible chance, a cruel inevitability weighs over the fate of a person. An enemy of prejudice and modern marriage, which oppresses a woman, an enemy of civilization in the spirit of Rousseau or Tolstoy, Hardy finds no way out of his tormenting thoughts. The same pessimism is imbued with George Robert Gissing, the everyday writer of the London lower classes and the starving literary bohemia, a student of Dickens, but devoid of his humor and his philanthropic faith, who did not expect anything equally "neither from the philanthropy of the rich, nor from the uprising of the poor." Pessimistic and the main tone of the work of Joseph Conrad. Konrad is one of the most powerful and complex writers of our time, striking in the richness and diversity of his language. He seeks to penetrate into the depths of human nature and use all means to convey the impression of the real to our consciousness: "the colorfulness of painting, the plasticity of sculpture and the magical effect of music." He draws all kinds of human suffering, he does not idealize a person, because he is convinced that ineradicable egoism makes a person a wolf to another person. More everyday life and healthy realism in Arnold Bennett, the depicter of the customs of the lower strata of the provincial bourgeoisie, and more true social instinct in Galsworthy, which sees the source of social conflicts in the existence of private property. Chesterton- an enemy of sagging, a preacher of activism, but the activism of medieval corporations, a zealous Catholic, convinced that the development of industry is a source of social slavery. James Barry- writer of Scottish peasants, Conan Doyle - famous author of historical and police novels, Robert Hichens- satirist and romantic Israel Zangwill- the author of "Children of the Ghetto", the writer of everyday life of the Jewish poor, and a number of others, less significant, complete the literary activity of the older group of contemporary writers. Clarence Rook- the author of works about the life of the London poor, the working class.

The paths of the new generation have not yet been clearly outlined. In most cases, they are realists, who, however, are not averse to touching on the occult forces of the soul. After a striving for clarity that originated in French traditions, English literature experienced a period of strong Russian influence, ch. arr. Dostoevsky. This influence corresponds to amorphousness in literature, a reaction against French plasticity. Hugh Walpole, one of the most fashionable novelists, easily follows fashion himself; Oliver Onions gained fame with a trilogy in which he describes bohemia, models, typists, poor artists, etc.; Gilbert Cannan , Compton Mackenzie , Laurens and a number of other young writers who are currently attracting the attention of the English reader, touch on a wide variety of topics, depict various classes of society, criticize social values, but their own worldview is most often reduced to a vague humanitarianism. They are stronger in criticism than in their positive ideas, and so far none of them has managed to surpass the great "old men" like Shaw, Wells or Hardy.

World War II period and beyond

"Angry Young People" Angry young men)

Dystopia:

Detective:

Science fiction:

English literature is a centuries-old history, great writers, unique works that reflect the features of the national character. We grow up with the books of these great authors, we develop with their help. It is impossible to convey the significance of English writers and their contribution to world literature. We bring you 10 world-renowned masterpieces of English literature.

1. William Shakespeare - "King Lear"

The story of King Lear is the story of a man blinded by his own despotism, who, in his declining years, first encounters the bitter truth of life. Endowed with unlimited power, Lear decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters Cordelia, Goneril and Regan. On the day of his abdication, he expects from them flattering speeches and assurances of tender love. He knows in advance what his daughters will say, but he longs to once again hear the praises addressed to him in the presence of the court and foreigners. Lear invites the youngest of them and the most beloved Cordelia to tell about his love in such a way that her words will prompt him to give her a "greater share than his sisters." But the proud Cordelia dignifiedly refuses to perform this ritual. A fog of rage covers Lear's eyes and, considering her refusal an infringement on his power and dignity, he curses his daughter. Having deprived her of her inheritance, King Lear abdicates the throne in favor of the eldest daughters of Goneril and Regan, not realizing the terrible consequences of his act ...

2. George Gordon Byron - "Don Juan"

“Looking for a hero!..” Thus begins the poem “Don Juan”, written by the great English poet George Gordon Byron. And his attention was attracted by a hero well known in world literature. But the image of the young Spanish nobleman Don Juan, who became a symbol of a seducer and womanizer, acquires a new depth in Byron. He is unable to resist his passions. But often he himself becomes the object of harassment by women ...

3. John Galsworthy - “The Forsyte Saga”

“The Forsyte Saga” is life itself, in all its tragedy, in joys and losses, life is not very happy, but accomplished and unique.
The first volume of The Forsyte Saga includes a trilogy of novels: The Owner, In the Loop, For Hire, which presents the history of the Forsyte family over the years.

4. David Lawrence - “Women in Love”

David Herbert Lawrence shocked the minds of his contemporaries with the freedom with which he wrote about the relationship of the sexes. In the famous novels about the Brenguin family - "Rainbow" (it was banned immediately after publication) and "Women in Love" (published in a limited edition, and in 1922 the censorship process took place over its author) Lawrence describes the story of several married couples. Women in Love was filmed by Ken Russell in 1969 and won an Oscar.
“My great religion is the belief in flesh and blood, that they are wiser than the intellect. Our minds may be wrong, but what we feel, what we believe, and what our blood says is always true.”

5. Somerset Maugham - “Moon and penny”

One of Maugham's finest. A novel about which literary critics have been arguing for many decades, but still cannot come to a consensus - should the story of the tragic life and death of the English artist Strickland be considered a kind of “free biography” of Paul Gauguin?
Whether it is true or not, The Moon and the Penny still remains the true pinnacle of English literature of the 20th century.

6. Oscar Wilde - “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

Oscar Wilde is a great English writer who won fame as a brilliant stylist, inimitable wit, an extraordinary personality of his time, a man whose name, through the efforts of enemies and gossip-greedy mob, became a symbol of depravity. This edition includes the famous novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" - the most successful and most scandalous of all the books created by Wilde.

7. Charles Dickens - “David Copperfield”

The famous novel "David Copperfield" by the great English writer Charles Dickens won the love and recognition of readers all over the world. Largely autobiographical, this novel tells the story of a boy forced to fight alone against a cruel, bleak world populated by evil teachers, mercenary factory owners and soulless servants of the law. In this unequal war, David can only be saved by moral firmness, purity of heart and an extraordinary talent that can turn a dirty ragamuffin into England's greatest writer.

8. Bernard Shaw - “Pygmalimon”

The play begins on a summer evening in Covent Garden Square in London. A sudden torrential downpour took the pedestrians by surprise and forced them to take shelter under the portal of St. Paul's Cathedral. Among those gathered are Professor of Phonetics Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering, a researcher of Indian dialects, who has come specially from India to see the professor. An unexpected meeting delights both. The men start an animated conversation, which is interrupted by an incredibly dirty flower girl. When begging gentlemen to buy a bouquet of violets from her, she makes such unthinkable inarticulate sounds that horrifies Professor Higgins, who talks about the advantages of her method of teaching phonetics. The frustrated professor swears to the colonel that thanks to his lessons, this dirty woman can easily become a saleswoman in a flower shop, which now she will not even be allowed to enter. Moreover, he swears that in three months he will be able to pass her off as a duchess at a reception at the envoy.
Higgins sets to work with great enthusiasm. Obsessed with the idea at all costs to make a real lady out of a simple street girl, he is absolutely sure of success, and does not think at all about the consequences of his experiment, which will radically change not only the fate of Eliza (that's the name of the girl), but also his own life .

9. William Thackeray - “Vanity Fair”

The pinnacle of the work of the English writer, journalist and graphic artist William Makepeace Thackeray was the novel Vanity Fair. All the characters of the novel - positive and negative - are involved, according to the author, in the "eternal circle of grief and suffering." Full of events, rich in subtle observations of the life of its time, imbued with irony and sarcasm, the novel “Vanity Fair” took pride of place in the list of masterpieces of world literature.

10. Jane Austen - “Sense and Sensibility”

“Sense and Sensibility” is one of the best novels by the wonderful English writer Jane Austen, who is rightfully called the “first lady” of British literature. Among her most famous works are such masterpieces as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Northanger Abbey and others. “Sense and Sensibility” is a so-called romance of manners, representing the love stories of two sisters: one of them is restrained and reasonable, the other gives herself to spiritual experiences with all passion. Heart dramas against the backdrop of the conventions of society and ideas of duty and honor become a real “education of feelings” and are crowned with well-deserved happiness. The life of a large family, the characters of the characters and the vicissitudes of the plot are described by Jane Austen easily, ironically and penetratingly, with inimitable humor and purely English restraint.