17. Творчество э. По и особенности его эстетической концепции.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809 –1849)

Aesthetic theory: the search for beauty and the search for order

Poe is the founding father of Symbolism, Aestheticismand Decadentism. He is responsible for the birth of the short story as a literary form, which is arguably America’s characteristic literary genre. As a short story writer he invented the short story and the detective, mystery and horror story, the Gothic.

aesthetics of “art for art’s sake”

Aesthetic fiction paints a picture for the reader instead of merely tells the story. Anyone can tell a story, it takes remarkable talent to aesthetically illustrate the story to the imagination of millions of readers using limited tools-- tools like plot, setting, theme, characters and conflicts. Poe aesthetically shows many readers why they should be afraid rather than merely telling them to be afraid.

Many of his works are generally considered part of the dark romanticism genre, a literary reaction to transcendentalism, which Poe strongly disliked. 

Dark Romanticism  presents individuals as prone to sin and self-destruction. Works of Dark Romanticism frequently show individuals failing in their attempts to make changes for the better.

According to hiw work "Philosophy of Composition", Poe believes the author must decide the purpose of the work, and the desired reaction from the reader. Secondly, Poe asserts the author can find ways to achieve this result by considering the theme, the plot, the setting, and the characters as well as the central conflicts within the story.

Careful examination of word choice, theme, setting and character conflicts will reveal the ways in which Poe attains his literary goals.

18. Разработка жанра исторического и приключенческого романа: д.Ф.Купер

FRONTIER

Much of the nation was expanding, the population rapidly increasing. Wider rifts between the abolitionist North and the pro-slavery South seemed inevitable. During these two decades, slave rebellions, Indian Wars, Removals, emigration and expansion, as well as technological advances in transportation, agriculture and communications all created a society of rapid change. Perhaps it was so rapid that the country could not adjust peaceably and remain intact.

PEEONIRING

NOVEL (ROMAN)

HISTORICAL NOVEL - a novel that has as its setting a usually significant period of history and that attempts to convey the spirit, manners, and social conditions of a past age with realistic details and fidelity (which is in some cases only apparent fidelity) to historical fact. The work may deal with actual historical characters...or it may contain a mixture of fictional and historical characters.

ADVENTEROUS NOVEL is a genre of fiction in which an adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, forms the main storyline.

James Cooper  (1789 - 1851) was one of America’s first great novelists because he helped to create a sense of American history through his writings. Cooper was influenced greatly by nature and wrote about it frequently in his novels. Cooper was also influenced by and wrote about places in the Hudson River Valley, such as the Van Wyck House.

Cooper wrote a five-novel series called the “Leatherstocking Tales”:

The Pioneers (1823)

The Last of the Mohicans (1826)

The Prairie (1827)

The Pathfinder (1840)

The Deerslayer (1841)

Series is about an 18th Century frontiersman – Natty Bumppo – who lives free and “close to nature, while the settlers bring ‘civilization’ that destroys the wilderness”. The novels tell of the clash that occurred “between the frontier wilderness and the encroaching civilization”

The Pioneers (historical novel)

Naturalist Ideas: Although not classified as a naturalist novel, Cooper depicts many naturalist based ideas in the Pioneers. His use of language, dialogue and description help to convey this movement within this novel.

Landscape: In The Pioneers, Cooper thematically debates the complexity of landscape within a new American frontier. The battle between nature and civilization is a constant and competing force within the minds of the characters and in the general surroundings. Cooper evaluates his landscape as one that will be established by a civilization unable to escape its own traits of wastefulness and arrogance.

Tone: Cooper’s tone in The Pioneers is one of criticism and mock towards Puritan society, “established society”. The dialogue of the settlers displays the carelessness of their society towards the wilderness. Through this Cooper mocks and belittles their society because of their attitudes. The whole scene in Chapter II (The Judge’s History of Settlement) is an over exaggerated depiction of the reactions of the settler’s to a falling tree and storm. The naivety of the settler’s is portrayed in their responses to their journey into the wilderness. Cooper’s mocking and critical tone is seen throughout the novel, and the natural wilderness versus a civilized society furthers this tone.

The Last of the Mohicans (historical novel) takes place in 1757 during the French and Indian War, when France and England battled for control of the American and Canadian colonies. During this war, the French often allied themselves with Native American tribes in order to gain an advantage over the English, with unpredictable and often tragic results. Descriptions of certain incidents in the novel, such as the massacre of the English soldiers by Huron Indians, embellish accounts of real historical events. Additionally, certain characters in the novel, General Montcalm in particular, are based on real individuals.

19. Творчество Г. Мелвилла.

transcendentalism vs. romanticism

Herman Melville (1819 –1891)

Moby Dick is a story told on three levels:

1. a magnificient adventure novel of the sea and whaling;

2. a novel of fantasy and symbolysm;

3. and a psychological novel, about man’s relationship to the universe.

Romanticism is a type of writing in which the author describes nature. The author uses nature as a tool to express his thoughts, and make the story movement. Other aspects of romanticism are individuality, separating one from the rest of the civilization in order to increase emotional growth. There is an important focus in emotions, independence, and spirituality. It is believed that these aspects of life are natural, bringing out the creative and undistracted sides of humans. The visual arts are an important factor of romanticism as well, the authors making the reading as graphic as possible, leaving the reader to make his own imaginations of the environment described. Transcendentalism is a literary movement of the nineteenth century as well. The transcendentalists were based in New England, inspired by the romanticism movement. The believers thought that the intuition, emotion, individual conscience are more valid and believable then the left brain. An example of both of these terms, romanticism and transcendentalism, of Herman Melville’ writing is “Moby Dick”. The romantic side of the story is the nature. The man is out in the ocean, interacting with an animal, there are no distractions, and he is just out on his own. The main character learns information about himself. There is also the simplicity of the mind, which fits in categories, romanticism and transcendentalism. The man is away from rural and social distractions; he is simply using a piece of wood to live on as a boat. He is out in the nature, and any distractions that he will use are simple spiritual distractions. There is also a proof of simple transcendentalism in the book, regarding the intuitions. The main character is following his intuitions in the fight against nature: the whale. This action is the basis of transcendentalism.