Раздел 4
«The Bridge of San Luis Rey» by Th. Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was born in 1897 at Madison, Wisconsin, USA. His father had gained a Doctorate at Yale and became an editor and owner of two newspapers. His brilliant editorials made his career. He was appointed by President Th. Roosevelt American Consul-General in Shanghai and Hong Kong between the years 1905-1909. From the age of seven to eleven Wilder junior attended school in China. His parents returned to America in 1910 and settled at Berkley in California. There young Thornton began to write. When he entered Yale he had already produced three short plays. Having a cultural family background Wilder began at an early age to study economy, history, philosophy and literature, which can be easily traced in his literary production. Wilder graduated in 1920 also from Yale and went to Europe to study architecture in Italy. On his return to America young Wilder taught French at school and wrote some short stories. In 1927 his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey was published alongside with some plays. The publication of The Bridge ... made him famous in one night. It won him his first Pulitzer Prize, a notable American award for literature. His later plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth got wide recognition and brought Wilder his second and third Pulitzer Prize. Some of Wilder’s novels and plays have been translated into Russian. Wilder died in 1975.
Assignment #1.
(Foreword, Part I (pp. 3-11 ) commentary (pp. 83-84)
Study the pronunciation of the following:
civilization; claimant; plague; reigning; conquistador; incessant; heresy antiquity; viceroy; inquisition; liturgy; osier; crusade; luxuriously; drought; marquesa; plumage; treacherously; usurer; admirable; remnants; hallucination; bracelet; stylization
Pick out all the words with the meaning of «misfortune».
Explain the meaning of the following word combinations and illustrate their usage with examples of your own:
to raise smb. from obscurity (p. 4)
to display originality and versatility in sth /doing sth/ (p. 5)
to create complex characters (p. 5)
to impart sth. to sth. (p. 6)
to outvalue sth. (p. 6)
a rent in sth. (p. 9)
to bid sb. (to) do sth. (p. 9)
to resort to sth. (p. 10)
to inquire into sth (p. 10)
to surprise a reason/one’s intentions (p. 10)
to brush sb. of sth. (p. 9)
to brush sth. away (p. 11)
to canonize smb. (p. 83)
Make up 2 sentences in Russian with these phrases for your group-mates to translate.
Search the text for English equivalents of the following:
достигать своей цели (p. 5); сбросить в пропасть (p. 8); перекреститься (p. 8); давно пора; обращать в веру (p. 9); принять решение; яростно выступать в защиту чего-либо (p. 9); вызвать чей-либо гнев (p. 83).
Think of some short situation to encourage your group-mates to use one of the phrases listed in task V.
Prepare good reading and translation of the first passage on p.10.
Speak on the following:
1. Is it typical of a novel to start with a climax? Why?
2. When and where does the action take place? How well do you know the epoch described in the book?
3. Your attitude to the idea: «Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan».
4. Your personal view on religion.