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Old English period: approx 450-1100Middle English Period: 1100-1500
arrival of germanic settlers (Angles/ Saxons)old germanic languagesettlers brought beliefs and culture (not a lot of literature at that time, mainly religious texts) Texts in Latin- most important language fewer than 30,000 lines of old english remain (lost due to war, time etc.) Beowulf- Manuscript (written around year 1000(story is older, transmitted orally prior to being written ), setting: Scandinavia, Plot: Hero/ adventure (defeating monsters) -can be compared to J.R.Toilken Novels Movies/videos games and books based on the story of beowulf, inspiration consequence of the Norman Conquest (1066): Norman Nobility (French speaking) ruled over England Three Languages of the 12th Century beginning of 13th Century after 100year war against France 1339-1453English is language of court
Mystery plays- biblical/ apocryphal stories (satire/ ironic - disregarded by church because disrespect towards biblical stories) Morality characters embody abstract ideas ( Person playing pride) Saints play- saints conversion to christianitysocial ranks, professions, female perspective portrayed in his writings
renewed interest in greek/. Roman Literature antiquity (church disapproves) Origin: Italy Elizabethan Age: 1558-1603 Jacobean Age: 1603-1625Origin: Italy3 quatrains + heroic couplet (surprising twist ending) crated by Henry Howard not Shakespeare
no theatre-illegalreligious text -importantimpact of puritan Theatre open- new genres (taste of upper class reflected) women appeared on Stage and Playwrights middle class because subject of literature the novel - narrative genre emerged about lecture answer 4 out of 6 questions ( dot have to memorize dates and titlesnot multiple choicedescribe charateristiscs of genre etc ...
beauty of natural environment: reason, 18th century industrialised, making nature more important powerful emotions, imaginations, dreamscriticism on child labor support for abolition of slavery political: liberty; social criticism & political interests fuelled by ideas of the french Revolution
more factories built/ beginning 19th century majority of population lives on the land→ people start moving into the cities) insight on work life in factories, work conditions (upperclass/ factory owners portrayed badly) insight in slums spreading imperial thinking presenting the colonies as the other (exotic/ dangerous) stressing that the colonies are needed for British wealth fiction of empire: adventure stories (mogoli) portrays colonies as places for adventureseparate Sphere ideology (women stay home/ men: breadwinner) middle class idea working class women had to work to support family ( factories / child labor ) unmarried middle class women job options: becoming a teacher/ or governess(tutor) (poorly paid) reinforced binary gender concepts
written by soldiers Shift, initial patriotism→ notion of senseless slaughter written by veterans ( years after war) trauma ( shell shock) in poetry, novels, etc written after war
separate Sphere ideology ( women independent during war / had to work etc) imperialism criticised no punctuation, incoherent sentences etc (free verse) Haikus used in Europe ( from Japan)experiences of first world war and criticism and new ideas
1951 only 3% of population born outside of Britain culturally more diverse second womens Movement 1960s-70s ( increasingly reflected in literary texts) queer characters introduced in Novels
Childhoodecofiction Brexit Covid
Indigenous (oral) literature (songs, stories) Warfare/ epidemic (europeans brought ) =mortality rate of Indigenous tribes sinksdeliberate genocide Indigenous Cultures were not homogenous : distinct Language, traditions, social structures)
Anglophone: Literature beginn→ 17th century : closely associated to colonisation Arrived east coast: mayflower-puritans/ pilgrims (Thanksgiving) Christians (considered Church of England corrupt (too Catholic) Goal=pure version of Christianity Belief in predestination: chosen one before birth (God given if people are rich/poor , Powerful/weak) founding myths (values/ texts)→(Thanksgiving) Non-fiction Poetry (religious/ everyday experiences) captivity narrative (being held by indigenous people)→ spread prejudice
Struggle for Independence economy based on agriculture1790- first textile factories 1770-1830: population growth ( 2.2→12.9)level of education was better than than in Britainliteracy rate higher than BritainOlaudah Equiano Phillis Wheatley Piece of Literature that played a role in the abolishment of slavery (later) christianity
Industrialisation (changed economy) Gender roles: separate spheresfirst womens rights meeting in the US (women had no right to vote)Expansion westward : manifest destiny1830 “Indian Removal Act” : forced indigenous to leave their own land (move west of the Mississippi)
American constitution American Independenceeach state can decide whether slavery is legal or not 1777-1804 northern states ending slavery / states formed south remained legal ans sates were formed 1850- 33% of the south ; 45.5% of lower south : population of enslaved people
antislavery society newspaper petition boycotts literary texts testimonies by former slaves (Frederick Douglass)
American civil War: 1861-1865 ; the end of the civil war also means the end of slavery
1789-1820Genres: primarily poetry impact of French Revolution and its political ideas Interest in the power of imagination, dreams & the supernatural1830-1865Genres: poetry, novels, short stories focus on Americanness: growing independence from British literary models Interest in the power of imagination, dreams & the supernaturalcriticism of conformity / emphasis on individuality; questioning boundaries Nature: find your own true nature / purpose in lifein favor of the abolition on slavery support feminist ideas representatives: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry david Thoreau, Magaret Fuller
patriotic, American subject matters
VL Intro to Literary and Cultural Studies
Lecture 1)
Medieval Literature
-periods refer to stages of the development of the language
-different cultural influences
Old English
Middle English
-English: everyday language
-French: language of court -Literature
-Latin: Religious texts
Chronicles: Historical, including supernatural, legends (first written in Latin) (considered scholar texts)
Saints Lives/ Legends: saint is presented as model (Cult of saints) (exists sice 8th Century)
Poetry: 3200 Middle englisch poems
Romances: 1116 romances survived to this day, based on Anglo- Saxon, Viking, french, Latin& Celtic sources (Theme: chivalry of knights/ Heros Fighting, adventure) love at first sight
Medieval Theatre: Late because theatre was thought to be immoral
Geoffrey Chaucer -famous author of the time; (The Canterbury Tales 1387-1400)
LECTURE 2)
British Literary History
Early Modern Period (language) / Renaissance (Culture) : 1500-1642
Sub-periods (reigning Monarchs)
Theatre: 🏟
-Playwrights (Shakespeare) ( no females) / permanent Theaters (Globe Theatre)
-popular form of public entertainment ( affordable for all) (2,000-3,000 people)
-no roof- time of day had to be announced during play
-few props
-all roles played by men
Sonnets:
-Thomas Wyatt, Henry Howard - introduced to England
English Shakespearean sonnet:
- focus more on individual expression of emotions, attitudes and reflexions, thus evincing rather lyric qualities
-characterised by 14 lines, consistent meter and a structural division
The English Civil War and the Interregnum: 1642 - 59
-1642: Beginning ( royalists/ supporters of the King fight against supporters of parliament)
1649: King Charles 1 executed; England becomes a republic (Interregnum)
The Restoration Period: 1660 - 1685/ 1700
-1660 Monarchy restored (King Charles 2)
End of reign -1685 (Charles dead)
1700- John Dryden dead (restauration author) , new genres come after (end of century)
The Eighteenth Century : 1700-c. 1800
-(ongoing colonisation) (became more intense ) (Britain-imperialism)
-Industrial revolution 1760-1840 (England leading, very rich)
-Trade (slaves) (abolished 1807)
Impact of social changes on literature in the 18th century
Klausur!!!
3 parts
3/3
analysis, comment etc
LECTURE 3)
Slides:
British Literary History
Romanticism 1789-1820s
→ poetry dominated (Frankenstein: not poetry, 1818)
→ Romanticism not primary about love
Characteristics of Romanticism
Victorian Period 1837-1901
→ industrialisation & urbanisation continues
=suggests social reform
→ imperialism reached climax (imperialism viewed positively)
=promoting imperial thinking to children
→ class conscious society
(middle class = primary readers): impacted norms and values (working class)
→ Gender
→ so literary texts support these notions while others criticise ( Jane Eyre)
First World War 1914-1918
→ initial enthusiasm, patriotism, beliefe that war will be over soon
→ War Poetry
→ Memoirs
→ references to the war
characteristics: disillusion
Modernism 1910-1930s
→ disillusionment & pessimism after world war 1
→ criticism of 19th Century beliefs/ ideologies
explaining the character though process as real as possible (unfiltered) ( imitate how people think)
Postmodernism 1950s
→ return to realism ( after experiments of Modernism)
→ adresses criticism / social problems
1960s: more experimental texts
→ after 2 world war empire was shrinking ( colonies independent )
1948: arrival of the Empire Windrush, immigrants from Caribbean come to Britain
= fiction of migration/ diasporic Literature (experience of immigrants moving to Britain, racism, etc)
→ Gender
LECTURE 4)
American Literary History
→ long before the arrival of European colonisers (Beginning of Literature was not Anglophone or European)
The colonial Period
(early 17th- mid 18the Century)
Puritans
(Ivy league Universities built during this period)
believed predestined that they start a colony: ideal colony( serve as model for rest)
-1692: Salem witch trials, mass hysteria=execution
Puritan Genre
The Early Republic
(mid18th- early 19th Century)
=industrialisation
(no copyrights, so reprinting books from Europe was free and legal) =Americans weren't writing own books )
Indigenous / black Literature
LECTURE 5)
General developments in the 19th century
→ binary gender concepts
The history of slavery and its abolition (1)
→ ‘three-fifth rule’= Southern delegates say: inslaved people dont count as full people only 3/5 of a person
→ North-South divide
Abolition
instruments of abolitionists:
→ emphasis on suffering, cruel treatment& fear, possibility of intellectual equality (if education were provided)
→ religious references (old testament)
Romanticism
British
American
There are no rows in this table
American Transcendentalism
= philosophical & Literary movement ( intellectual elite in New England 19th Century)
Poetry in the 19th century:
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