1) English literature at the end of the 19th century – beginning of the 20th century. Aestheticism, o.Wild. Neo-romanticism. J.Conrad.

A new stage of social development began during the last two decades of the 19 cent. GB has become a highly developed capitalist country and a great colonial power. A violent economic crisis deepened the social contradictions in the country. On the one side the workers’ movement became stronger, on the other one reaction intensified. Puritanical hypocrisy became the accepted form of behaviour in society. It was accompanied by a degradation of moral and cultural values. This French word means “decline”. Decadence manifested itself in different trends: symbolism, impressionism, imagism, neoromanticism, futurism and others. The most known manifestation of Decadence was Aestheticism(a movement in search of beauty). The principle of “Art for Art’s Sake”(pure art). The aestheticists protested against the severe and vulgar reality, against bourgeois pragmatism, rejected the social and moral function of art. The writers of Neoromanticism protest against bourgeois rule.

The eng novels of the 19 c were written at a time of great confidence in Britain. The writers of the 20 t couldn’t share this confidence. The Brit empire became the biggest in the world’s history. But at the end of the 19 c it had become clear that the UK was no longer as powerful as it had been. Almost a whole generation of young men was destroyed. The returning soldiers spread the truth about the horrors of the war. World War I brought much suffering to people(“Liter-re of Lost children”). The novels of these writers revealed the changing social conditions in Eng-d. The writers followed the perfect descriptive style, did away with celebrate syntax of 19 c. prose. They started a new tradition of bringing the language of lit-re close to the spoken lang-ge of real life with much more expressive int-tion and short abrupt sentences.

Aestheticism was prepared by the ideas of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (the group of English poets and artists who idealized the arts of the Middle Ages), though that the writers of their time went away from the real art. John Fowles showed Rossetti (a represent of brotherhood) in “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”. “Art for Art’s Sake” (Искусство ради искусства) was the motto of aesthetes and their basic principle.

Oscar Wilde is the leader of E aestheticism. He liked to shock public opinion. 2 periods of his literary work: 1) at this time (up to 1896). He wrote fairy tales, essays on literature and art. He wrote several comedies (‘Lady Windermere’s fan’, ‘An ideal husband’, ‘A woman of no importance’) and long stories (‘The Canterville Ghost’). Wild was a supporter of ‘Art for art sake’. In his opinion “literature shouldn’t deal with moral or immoral issues, it should only give pleasure for reader”. But when he wrote his fairy tales, he tries to teach his sons some lessons concerning what is good and what is bad. He wrote a play “Solome”. The play is based on the Biblical story of John the Baptist and tsar Hirod. 2) During his last days. He wrote the poem ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’ which is very pessimistic. In this poem the author says that there is no room for real genuine relationships in present day society. Wilde wrote confession “De Profundis”- lyrical work about the writer’s innermost feelings.

Neo-Romantists- refused to deal with day-to-day reality and desired to take their readers away from the vulgarity of life. They followed the idea of their predecessors- the romanticist of the beginning of the 19 cent. Representatives: Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling.

Joseph Conrad was a Pole by nationality. He became a French sailor, then joined the English Navy. He mastered the English language so well that he became one of the best known stylists in English literature. His stories and novels combine adventure with profound subtle psycologism. (Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness, Youth,). 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.