Mark twain (1835 - 1910) Word Study

to earn one's living - to earn money

sketch - a short story

pilot - a person guiding ships through difficult waters

just - right

to rule - to govern

hypocrisy - pretending to be what you are not

ignorance - lack (oTcyrcTBHe) of education, knowledge

to expose - to show

I. Read thesentences. They will help you understand the under­lined words:

1. The boy had to earn his own living. 2- Mark Twain was the best sketch writer -

3. He worked as a pilot.

4. M. Twain is a just critic of capitalist America.

5. He shows the hypocrisy and ignorance of the ruling classes.

6. The writer exposes the social injustice of America.

Notes:

1. Mark Twain - b nepeaoae osaaqaeT "oTMe-rb flBa", Jiou.MaH-ckhh repMHH, o6o3HaqaiofflHH onpeaeJieHHyro rJiy6HHy.

2. "The Innocent Abroad" - "IIpocraKH sa rpammefi".

The second half of the 19th century is marked by the growth of realistic tendencies in American literature. The most outstanding American author of this period is Mark Twain.

Mark Twain's real name was Samuel Clemens. He spent his boy­hood in Hannibal on the Mississippi River. He told about his boy­hood in the book " The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". When he was 12, his father died and the boy had to earn his own living. He worked as a printer and afterwards as a pilot on the Mississippi River. America, as it was in fact, passed before his eyes- He was

beginning to know his country. He was 27 when his first sketches and stories began to appear under his pen-name ~ Mark Twain.

Soon Mark Twain was acknowledged as the best shortstory writ­er in America. He published, with great success, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", "The Innocents Abroad", "The Adventures of Huck­leberry Finn", "The Prince and the Pauper", etc.

Mark Twain started as a humorist. In many of his stories and pamhiets he is a just and severe critic of capitalist America. He shows the power of gold that rules the country, the hypocrisy and

ignorance of the ruling classes and exposes the social injustice of America.

Mark Twain visited Russia as a journalist- He was fascinated by Yalta. The Crimean mountains remmded him of his favourite Sierra

Nevada range, and he wrote in his diary that he wished he could speak Russian.

II. Answer these questions:

1- What do you know of M. Twain's family and his childhood? 2. Why did he choose "Mark Twain" as his pen-name? 3- What professions did he try?

4. What stories did he write?

5. What M. Twain's stories have you read?

UNIT XII

ERNiST H®SlINGWi^¥ ^18996^ 1961>

Note: "A Farewell to Arms¹¹'-* "npomanopyacHe".

Ernest Hemingway, an American journalist, novelist and short-story writer was born in Illinois. He entered World War I as a volunteer. After the War he served as a correspondent in Europe. When the Civil War broke out in Spain in 1936 he actively support­ed the Republicans.

Hemingway was a self-taught writer. He said: "I was trying to learn to write, beginning with the simplest things". His works "Three Stories and Ten Poems", "A Farewell to Arms", "To Have and Have Not", "The Old Man and the Sea" put him into the ranks of the progressive writers who fought for peace and democracy.

There was a time, only a few decades ago, when Hemingway was the most influential figure in Western literature. Everyone seemed to be imitating him, from students to novelists.

In 1941 Hemingway sent a telegram to the Soviet government, in which he expressed his solidarity with the Soviet people, and his admiration of their heroic struggle against the fascist invaders.

He received the Noble Prize for Literature in 1954- Early in the morning, on July 2, 1961 he was found dead of a gunshot wound in the head at his home. He was buried near the grave of his best friend, fisherman and hunter Taylor William-

Discussion

1. What interesting facts from E. Hemingway's biography do you know? -

2. What novels and stories by Hemingway Save you rea3? -

UNIT XIII

THEODORE DREISER

(f87t - 1945)

Word Study

brutality ~ inhumanity poverty - remember "poor" wealth - ant- to "poverty"

THEODORE DRSlSER

Theodore Dreiser was born in a pcx-r family and after his school years had to support himself by d"'£-g odd jobs. He worked in a laundry, was a rent collector, then a newspaper reporter in Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh. Then he moved to New York where he worked as a magazine editor.

From the very beginning of his literary work he opposed those bourgeois writers who idealized capitalist America. That's why the bourgeois editors often refused to publish his works. But his life was a constant battle for realistic literature.

His first novel "Sister Carrie" was banned. His books "The Fin­ancier", "The Titan" and "The Stoic" give.a complete life story of an American capitalist and-the corruption, brutality, selfishness and injustice of American capitalism. "An AaiericsJ. Tragedy" is a mas­terpiece of Dreiser, where he exposed America w;i.i:h its contrasts of poverty and wealth-Dreiser was a great friend of our country. He was a passionate fighter for peace.

I. Read the sentences. They will help y_ou understand the under­lined words:

1- Dreiser's books show brutality of American capitalism.