DECADANCE
1850 - 1860ss brought about some stabilization in the political and social life of Great Britain by yielding to the demands of the proletariat. The bourgeoisie gained good conditions for further development of manufactures and trade. The cult of money and enrichment was getting stronger and stronger in British society. The industry was quickly developing and many monopolies appeared at that time.
In the ideological sphere the 2nd half of the 19th century saw the further development of materialistic thought. The ideas of Marx, concerning the laws of social development, were one of the influences.
Another one was the positivist philosophy propagated by Purbert Spencer. Positivism means reliance upon experience rather than on some abstract speculations. And the experience of the time showed that success accompanied those who were strong, purposeful and persevering.
Charles Darwin's book "The Origin of Species" which made a revolution in people's idea of natural development, contributed to the radical change in people's mentality. The idea that human development submitted to the same laws that nature did ("the strongest survives") accounted for the development of a new trend in literature known as naturalism. Naturalism is close to realism but it is less given (подвергаться) to generalizations. It is more concentrated on details of private life and is more pessimistic by its tone. The influence of naturalism was not so much felt in English literature as in French and American literature. But some of its traces can still be seen in the works of the 2lld generation of Victorian realistic writers - the realistic writers of the end of the 19th century, such as:
1) George Eliot (Джордж Элиот) (Mary Ann Evans - Мэри Энн Эванс) (1819- 1880);
2) George Meredith (Джордж Мередит) (1828- 1909);
3) Thomas Hardy (Томас Харди / Гард и) (1840 - 1928);
4) Samuel Butler (Сэмюэль Батлер) (1835 - 1902).
George Eliot's main characters represent various layers of British society. But most of all the author sympathizes with the common people, who embody the writer's own ideas of ethics.
She was greatly influenced by the ideas of positivism. And the writer expressed these ideas in her literary work. She criticized exaggeration and idealization in literature. And she paid more attention to the psychology of her characters and their motivation.
One of her best known works is the novel "The Mill on the Floss" ("Мельница на Флоссе") (1860).
George Meredith is considered to be a master of irony. His most important novel is "The Egoist" (1879), in which the writer shows moral degradation of people under the negative affect of egoism and individualism.
Samuel Butler analyzed the psychology of the bourgeoisie. His literary work is permeated with irony. And the best novel of the author is "The Way of All Flesh" ("Путь всякой плоти") (1903).
Thomas Hardy called his works "novels of character and environment" ("романы характера и среды") (thus he stressed the link between human nature and the milieu - the surroundings, environment), "romances and fantasies" ("романтические рассказы и истории"), "novels of ingenuity" ("романы интриг"). Hardy idealized the patriarchal and pastoral way of life in the country and considered the life in towns to be the nest of moral degradation. His most important novels are " T e s s of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented" ( " T э с с из рода д'Эрбервилль") (1891) and "Jude the Obscure" ("Джуд Незаметный") (1896). In all Hardy's works there is a theme of fate (тема рока) which rules the world and man cannot struggle against it.
The novels of all these writers were narrower in scope in comparison with their predecessors', but these works were more dramatic and more profound in the psychological presentation of characters.
There appeared also such a phenomenon in realistic literature as socialist literature with the following main representatives:
1) Ethel Lilian Voynich (Этель Лилиан Войн и ч) (1864 - 1960);
2) William Morris (Уильям Моррис) (1834 - 1896).
Alongside with social literature - realism - there emerged new tendencies in fiction. Some writers, being disgusted with the growing cult of money, with the wealth chasing instincts of their contemporaries, looked for the ways to take the readers away from the day-to-day realities. To the drabness (уныние, скука) and vulgarity of life they opposed the cult of adventure and beauty. The various non-realistic trends which came into being in the last decades of the 19th century got the name of Decadence or Decadent Art, because some people saw in them the sign of the decay of art (the word "decadence" means "decline" in French).
These various trends were symbolism, surrealism, imagism, aestheticism, futurism, impressionism, etc. All of them refused to deal with actualities and denied the social function of art. In different countries certain Decadent trends prevailed, while the others were represented by very few writers. In Russian and French literature (especially in poetry) the most wide-spread trend was symbolism (Ренье; Андрей Белый, Иван Бунин и другие). But in English literature symbolism was less popular, while the trends of aestheticism and neo-romanticism were widely spread.
Aestheticism was partially prepared by the ideas of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (братство пре-рафаэлитов) - the group of English poets and artists who idealized the arts ofthe Middle Ages (before Raphael) and thought that the art of their days did not meet the demands ofthe day, thought that the writers and artist of their time went away from the genuine art. A representative of this brotherhood - Rossetti - is shown in the novel "The French Lieutenant's Woman" by John Fowles.
Another influence was the teaching of John Ruskin , who thought that the mission of art could be fulfilled only if it helped to make the life more beautiful. This cult of beauty was developed by Ruskin's followers into a doctrine of the supremacy of art , to the exclusion of other principles and interests. (By the way, this idea was very close to that of Dostoevsky.) Thus the motto "Art for Art's Sake" ("Искусство ради искусства") or Pure Art became the basic principle of a group of writers and artists, known as aesthetes (эстеты). The leading figure of English aestheticism was Oscar Wilde.
Ruskin's ideas of great importance of Art were developed by his disciple Walter Pater, who said "let us understand by poetry all literary production, which attains the power of giving pleasure by its form as distinct from its m a 11 e r ". He meant to say that art was indifferent to what was moral (нравственный) and what was immoral (безнравственный). Walter Pater absolutized art of all the functions of art, except the aesthetic one. So art should be amoral (без морали). Walter Pater was an Oxford professor. His ideas made a great influence on his student Oscar Wilde (by the way, Ruskin was also Wilde's teacher).
Oscar Wilde (1856 - 1900) is considered to be the leader of English aestheticism. He liked to shock Mrs. Grundy (they usually call the public opinion like that - Mrs. Grundy). And his literary work can be divided into two main periods:
1) at this time (up to 1896) the writer mostly wrote collections of fairy tales, essays on
literature and art. He went to America to read lectures on English literature and art. He
also wrote several comedies ("Lady Windermere's Fan" - "Beep леди
Уайндермир" (1892), "An Ideal Husband" - "Идеальный муж" (1895) , " A
Woman of No Importance" - "Женщина без веского значения" (1893),"
The Importance of Being Earnest" - "Как важно быть серьёзным"
(1895)) and long stories ("The Canterville Ghost" - "Кентервилльское
привидение").
Wilde was a proponent of the idea of Pure Art (Art for Art's Sake). And in the preface to his only novel - "The Picture of Dorian Gray" ("Портрет Дориана Грея") (1891) -he said: "There is no such a thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are either well or badly written. That is all." So in his opinion literature should not deal with moral or immoral issues, it should only give pleasure to the reader. The same idea was described in his essays. But the writer was not consistent (последователен) as he in his literary works surely dealt with some moral and social issues. He even wrote his fairy tales in order to teach his sons some lessons concerning what is good and what is bad.
In this period Wilde also wrote a play - a poetic drama - "Salome" ("Саломея") (1893). The play was based on the Biblical story of John the Baptist (Иоанн Креститель) and tsar Hirod (Ирод), who ordered to cut off John's head. In a way the play enjoyed and praised immorality. The trouble was that Wilde wrote the play in French. So one of his young friends - Arthur Douglas - translated the play into English. But when his father knew about this fact, he accused Oscar Wilde of corrupting (развращение) his son. In 1895 the writer was put into prison for homosexuality. He came out a broken man. After this he went to Paris where he soon died;
2) during his last days Wilde wrote little: the poem "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"
("Баллада Редингской тюрьмы") (1898), which is very pessimistic. In this poem the
author says that there is no room for real genuine relationships in present day society - "Every man kills
the thing he loves". Another famous work written in this period is the confession " D e
Profundis" ("Тюремная исповедь") (1896). This is a very lyrical work about the
writer's innermost (самый сокровенный) feelings which he experienced during his imprisonment.
Wilde's work is remarkable for the brilliance of its style, for the criticism of its paradoxes (statements, which are contrary to the conventional sense) - for example like this one - "What is worth spoken about is not being spoken about".
Neo-Romanticists were another group of writers who refused to deal with day-to-day reality and desired to take their readers away from the drabness and vulgarity of life. They followed the ideas of their predecessors - the romanticists of the beginning of the 19th century - in many ways. The leading representatives of neo-romanticism were the following writers:
1) Robert Louis Stevenson (Роберт Льюис Стивенсон) (1850- 1894);
2) Joseph Conrad (Teodor Josef Konrad Korzeniowski) (Джозеф Конрад) (1857- 1924);
3) Rudyard Kipling (Редьярд Киплинг) (1865 - 1936);
4) Arthur Conan Doyle (Артур Конан Дойль) (1859- 1930).
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote adventure stories and novels ("Treasure Island" - "Остров сокровищ" (1883)), historical novels ("The Black Arrow" - "Чёрная стрела" (1888) ; " С a t r i о n a " -" К а т p и о н a " (1893) ; "Kidnapped" - "Похищенный" (1886) ; "The Master ofBallantrae" - "Мастер Баллантрэ" (1889) ) (though he was less reliant than Walter Scott in his historical novels), a science - fiction novel ("Strange. Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" - "Необычная история доктора Джекила и мистера Хайда" (1886)). Besides Stevenson was а р о е t . Не also wrote many poems for children. One of his best known poems is the ballad "Heather Ale" ("Вересковый
мёд") (1890).
Joseph Conrad was a Pole by nationality. He became a French sailor, then joined the English N a v у . He mastered the English language so well that he became one of the best stylists in English literature. His stories and novels combine adventure with profound subtle psychologism. His most famous stories and novels are "Lord Jim" ("Лорд Джим") (1900) , "Heart of Darkness" ("Сердце тьмы") (1902) , " N о s t г о m о " ("Ностромо") (1904), "Youth" ("Юность") (1902), etc. For the adventure and exotic elements in his books Conrad is ranked among neo - romanticists, but the psychological aspect of his works makes him one of modernists: he gives a very deep insight into the inner world of the person.
Rudyard Kipling was a very prolific writer and poet. His works dealt with the difficult life in English colonies. He sang prays to the brave people who carried on "the burden of the white man in colonial India". Except for his poetry Kipling is well known for the collection of stories "The Jungle Book" ("Книга джунглей") (1894) , which is full of exotics.
Kipling's works made a great contribution to fostering in young people such qualities as perseverance, strong will and patriotism. (In this sense his poem "I f" (1910) is very important. It is a kind of moral behest (завет) to his son and all generations.) But Kipling is often accused of fostering jingoism - the British с h a u v i n i s m, for he supported the colonial policy of his country.
Arthur Conan Doyle wrote several stories and novels. One of the most famous of them is the collection of stories about Sherlock Holmes - "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" ("Приключения Шерлока Холмса") (1892). The detective genre of these stories was contrary to the serious and straight realistic novels. The main hero - Sherlock Holmes - can be viewed as the embodiment of man's great power of observation, analysis and great intellectual powers. Doyle also wrote historical novels, such as those about the French officer - "The Adventures of Gerard" ("Приключения бригадира Жерара". His science fiction novel "The Lost World" ("Затерянный мир") (1912) (about South America) is also quite well known.