Text 30. Charles Dickens

Born at Landport, one of the suburbs of Portsmouth, Charles Dickens was of petty bourgeois origin. His father who was a clerk could not earn enough money to support the family and was imprisoned for debt. The boy was ten at that time and had to suffer great hardships. In his family’s desperate situation he was put to work as a packer in a London blacking warehouse. After his father’s release Charles was sent to school but his schooling lasted only three years. At 15 he was through with his education and went to work in a solicitor’s office in London. All his spare time he devoted to self-education and did his best to learn from the British Museum Library. Reading made up for the gaps in his education. Later he was engaged in Newspaper reporting and in 1831 became a parliamentary reporter. This gave Dickens a first-hand experience of bourgeois politics and the legal mac­hinery of society. His contempt for them lasted to the end of his days. An objective observer of the customs and ways of the London poor inhabitants he soon started writing short essays on the life of the capital under his pen-name Boz. In 1835 they were collected as “Sketches by Boz”¹. With the publication of “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club”² (1836 – 1837) he achie­ved wide and deserved popularity.

The novels succeeding “Pickwick Papers” – “Oliver Twist”³ (1837-1838), “Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby”⁴ (1838-1839), “The Old Curiosity Shop”⁵ (1843-1844), “Martin Chuzzlewit”⁶ (1943-1944), “Dealings with the Firm of Domby and Son”⁷ (1846-1848), “The Personal History of David Copperfield”⁸ (1849-1850) – remain among the favourite reading of book-lovers of all ages.

The greatest realist of England Charles Dickens possesses such a wide range of fancy that in his book he lights up many characters, major and minor, for us. They are original and typifying, sad and comic, infinitely various and strikingly unforgettable. The novelist's fancy is always on the side of virtue and purity, against oppression and injustice, hypocrisy and man’s cruelty to man. All great works by the writer are notable for a profound moral message. His other novels are “Bleak House”⁹ (1953), “Hard Times for These Times”¹⁰ (1854), “Little Dorrit”¹¹ (1855-1857), “A Tale of Two Cities”¹² (1859), “Great Expectati­ons”¹³ (1860-1861), “Our Mutual Friend”¹⁴ (1864-1865).

Dickens criticizes social evil, the new Poor Law, the workhouse system, the governmental and legal systems, the very foundations English society rests upon. His love of humanity and his appraisal of what is best and noblest about it permeates the atmosphere of all his works.

Notes:

1. “Sketches by Boz” – “Наброски Боза”;

2. “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club” – Посмертные записки Пиквикского клуба”;

3. “Oliver Twist” – “Оливер Твист”;

4. “Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” – “Жизнь и приключения Николса Никльби”;

5. “The Old Curiosity Shop” – “Лавка древности”;

6. “Martin Chuzzlewit” – “Мартин Чаззлвит”;

7. “Dealings with the Firm of Domby and Son” – “Сделки с фирмой Домби и сын”;

8. “The Personal History of David Copperfield” – “Личная история Дэвида Копперфильда”;

9. “Bleak House” – “Холодный дом”;

10. “Hard Times for these Times” – “Тяжелые времена”;

11. “Little Dorrit” - “Крошка Доррит”;

12. “A Tale of Two Cities” – “История двух городов”;

13. “Great Expectations” – “Большие надежды”;

14. “Our Mutual Friend” – “Наш общий друг”.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is Dickens’s origin?

2. Where was he born?

3. Did he live a hard life in youth?

4. Why was his father thrown into the debtors’ prison?

5. Where did Dickens work when he was a boy?

6. Did he receive a good schooling?

7. How old was he when his education ended?

8. Where did he begin working in London?

9. How did he spend his spare time?

10. What made up for the gaps in his education?

11. How did he begin writing literature?

12. What brought him vast popularity?

13. What are Dickens’s main novels?

14. Does he give a deep insight into human nature?

15. On what side is the novelist’s fancy?

16. What does the writer criticize in his works?

17. What permeates the atmosphere of all his writings?

Text 31. ROBERT BURNS (1759 – 1796)

Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet, was born on January 25, 1759, in an old clay cottage at Alloway, аbout two miles so­uth of Ayrshire, and died on July 21, 1796, at Dumfries.

His father, William Burns was a hard-working small farmer with high ideals about human worth and conduct. He knew the value of a good education and he was determined to give his children the best schooling possible.

There were seven children in the family and Robert was the eldest. Robert had great thirst for knowledge. From his teacher he acquired some French and Latin and also a fondness for Shakespeare. From his younger years Burns had an intimate knowledge of Scottish folk songs and the works of Scottish poets. Robert Burns’s mother had a wonderful voice and knew many songs and bal­lads which she passed on to her children. His mother’s friend Betty told Robert many fantastic tales about devils, ghosts, fairies and witches.

Robert began to work very early. At 13 he was out in the fields all day helping his father, at 15 he did most of the work on the farm. He became a farmer too. Robert and his brother were be­set by misfortunes, and though Robert was a masterhand at the plough, his farming brought him no other fruit than disappoint­ment and misery.

The young poet felt deeply the injustice of the world. His protest against inequality found vent in his poems which easily won the hearts of common people appealing to their human dignity and instilling in them belief in their own strength. In 1786 a collection of “Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect”¹ made its appearance. This book contained lyrical, humorous and satirical poems written by Robert Burns in the earlier years.

In his poems Robert Burns glorified a healthy, joyous and clever Scotch peasant. Himself poor, he sang the honest poor contrasting them to cruel squires, greedy merchants, bigots and hypocrites.

Whenever we speak of Scotland, the name of Scotland’s Bard Robert Burns is always there, as the ever-living never-dying symbol of the country.

Notes:

1. “Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect” – “Поэмы, написанные на шотландском диалекте”.

Answer the following questions:

1. When and where was Robert Burns born?

2. What was his father?

3. When did Robert begin his work?

4. Did his work as a farmer bring him satisfaction?

5. Where did he express his feeling of the injustice of the world?

6. What was his first collection of poems?

7. What did he glorify in his poems?

Text 32. ENGLISH ART (HISTORIC REVIEW)

Speaking about British art one should certainly begin with Stonehenge, built approximately in 1900 – 1400 B.C., an ancient architectural monument, a mysterious relic of the past, a gigantic monument oriented at the Sun and the Moon, a kind of ancient observatory.

By and by during the development of the society the peculiarity of its art changed. Soon traditions and tastes stabilized, there came practisizm and close ties with everyday life. Medieval times became the flourish of arts of the British Isles. A lot of miniture books were created at that time in monasteries.

After the Norman invasion the economy of the country was strengthened and monumental architecture got the possibility to develop. A castle and a cathedral became symbols of feudal society. Beginning with Chaucer’s times, during the formation of national culture, great architectural monuments made of wood and stone were created. Such masterpieces as the Tower and Westminster Abbey appeared at that period.

The transition from medieval culture to the Renaissance happens in the 16 century, that is later than in the countries of continental Europe. It took place in the conditions of Reformation, when the church land was given to the Crown and religion itself was changing. For English art it had a great importance, protestant England did not need historical painting, mythological and spiritual plots – such pictures were popular in Catholic European countries. The main role was played by a portrait, which answered the demands of the Court and the nobles. The most prominent painter of that time was Hilliard.

The end of the 17 century marked a splendid development of culture, called Enlightment. A belief in a Man’s mind, in the possibility of education as a strong factor of progress and humanism are found in the art of that period.

The real flourish of the British art began in the 18 century. The names of Hogarth, Reynolds, Geinsborough, Constable, Turner are world famous. Economic development in the second half of the 18 century influenced the development of applied art. Unique expensive works of silver and gold were changed by cheap things of all tastes. The most popular at that time were engravings. English water-colourists began to consider nature not like a sum of elements, but as a whole.

Another trend – Romanticism also found its place in English art. Opposite to the cult of reason it put forward the cult of feelings and passions.

Since the end of the 19 century English art developed in close contact with European art.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is Stonehenge?

2. When did the flourish of English art take place?

3. What were the symbols of feudal society?

4. Were great architectural monuments created in Chaucer’s times or later?

5. When was the transition from medieval culture to the Renaissance?

6. Why was this transition important for British art?

7. What were the main principles of Enlightment?

8. What were the peculiarities of English art of the 18 century?