Songfor the Luddites

I

As the Liberty lads o'er the sea²

Bought their freedom, and cheaply, with blood,

So we, boys, we

Will die fighting, or live free.

And down with all kings but King Ludd!

¹ may their very memory perish too — пусть самая память о них исчезнет

² perchance [pa'tfains] — perhaps

³ still disdain you'em (them) — все же вы их презираете

⁴ of yore — минувших времен поэт.

⁵ gore — blood поэт.

¹ a mob — a crowd

² Liberty lads o'er (over) the sea—i.e. Americans who fought for the independence
of their country.

A-

п

When the web that we weave is complete,

And the shuttle exchanged for the sword,

We will fling the winding sheet

O'er the despot at our feet,

And dye it deep in the gore he has pour'd.

Ill

Though black as his heart its hue,

Since his veins are corrupted to mud,

Yet this is the dew

Which the tree¹ shall renew

Of Liberty, planted by Ludd!

The importance of Byron's poetic works, especially of his political poems, is very great. Translated by Russian poets, Byron's poetry has become a part of our national culture. In Russia, Pushkin and Lermontov were among his admirers. Pushkin called him the "ruler of people's thought". Belinsky called him the Prometheus [ргэ mi:Gju:s] of the century. Hertzen called his poetry "a word of fire". Maxim Gorky said that Byron was one of those writers "who were honest and severe in their exposure of the vices of the ruling classes" and "who had the ability and courage" to write, the truth.

Byron's influence on the minds of such great poets as Heine² and Mitzkevitch³ was very great.

Byron remains one of the most popular English poets both at home and abroad.

Vocabulary

anonymous [o'lmrumss] о анонимный calamity [ka'laemiti] n несчастье

aware [a'wes] а знающий defy [di'fai] v бросать вызов; прези-
to be aware осознавать рать

¹ The Tree of Liberty — daring the First Bourgeois Revolution in France

(1789 — 1793) a symbolic procedure [ргэ ' sv.d^s] was established by planting trees of Liberty. Byron refers to this custom.

² Heine ['hama], Henrich (1794— 1856) —Генрих Гейне, нем. поэт

³ Mitzkevitch, Adam — Адам Мицкевич, польск. поэт

desperate ['despsnt] о доведенный до

отчаяния dew [dju:] п роса

exposure [lks'psigs] n разоблачение fling [flin] v (flung) бросить gore [go:] n кровь hue [hju:] n цвет man [mffin] v укомплектовывать neglect [ru'glekt] v пренебрегать obligation [ubli'geijbn] n обязательство oppose [a'psuz] v выступать против

Questions and Tasks

1. Where does the "luddite" theme appear in Byron's works?

2. Comment on the Ode to the Framers of the Frame Bill.

3. Speak on the main idea of Song for the Luddites.

4. Discuss Byron's place in English literature.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Percy Bysshe Shelley ['p3:si 'bif' feih] was the most progressive revolutionary romanticist in English literature.

Like Byron, he came of an aristocratic family and like Byron he broke with his class at an early age.

He was born at Field Place, Sussex. His father was a baronet. Shelley was educat­ed at Eton public school and Oxford Uni­versity. There he wrote a pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism feiGnzam] for which he was expelled from the University. His father forbade him to come home. Shel­ley had an independent spirit, and he broke with his family and his class for ever. He travelled from one town to another, took an active part in the Irish liberation movement and at last left England for

Italy in 1818. There he wrote his best poetry. Shelley's life was mainly spent in Italy and Switzerland, but he kept ties with Eng­land.

In 1822 the poet was drowned. When his body was washed ashore he was cremated by Byron and his other friends. His remains were buried in Rome. The inscription on his tomb reads:

Percy Bysshe Shelley Cor Cordium¹

Like Byron, Shelley was devoted to the revolutionary ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity. He believed in the future of mankind. He never lost faith in the power of love and good will. He thought that if men were granted freedom and learned to love one another they could live together peacefully. This hope fills his first poems Queen Mab (1813), The Revolt of Islam ['izla:m] (1818) and his later poetic drama Prometheus Unbound [pra'mirGjas /vn'baund]

The plot of the poem Queen Mab is symbolic. Queen Mab, a fairy, shows the past, present and future of mankind to a beautiful girl. Queen Mab shows the ideal society of the future where men are equal, free and wise.

The Revolt of Islam is a romantic and abstract poem, but it is a revolutionary one. Shelley protested against the tyranny of religion and of the government, gave pictures of the revolutionary movement for freedom and foretold a happier future for the whole of mankind.

In Prometheus Unbound Shelley gives the Greek myth his own interpretation. He sings of the struggle against tyranny. The sharp conflict between Prometheus and Jupiter ['скдкрйэ] (the chief of the Roman gods) is in the centre of the drama. Prometheus is bound to a rock by Jupiter for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mankind. The huge spirit Demogorgon f dimax/ дэ:дэп], representing the Creative Power, defeats Jupiter and casts him down. Prometheus is set free and reunited with his wife Asia (Nature). The fact that Jupiter is dethroned symbolizes change and revolution. Now the mind of man can look forward to a future which is "good, joyous, beautiful and free".

¹ Cor Cordium — the heart of hearts

When Shelley got news that the workers of Manchester had been attacked by government troops, his indignation was aroused, and he immediately wrote the poems The Masque of Anarchy [' ma:sk 3v 'aenaki] and Song to the Men of England. In the first part of the poem The Masque of Anarchy the procession of horrible masks may be regarded as an allegorical picture of the then rulers of England. In the second part the poet sings the men of England, their strength and future victory. He calls on them to rise against their human leeches.

Rise, like lions after slumber In unvanquishable number!¹ Shake your chains to earth, like dew Which in sleep had fall'n² on you: Ye are many — they are few.

(The Masque of Anarchy, XCI)

In his great lyric Song to the Men of England Shelley calls upon the workers to take up arms in their own defence. This poem and other revolutionary poems of his became the popular songs of the workers.

Song to the Men of England

Men of England, wherefore plough For the lords who lay ye³ low? Wherefore weave with toil and care The rich robes your tyrants wear?

Wherefore feed, and clothe, and save, From the cradle, to the grave, Those ungrateful drones who would Drain your sweat — nay⁴, drink your blood?.

¹ In unvanquishable number — непобедимыми рядами

² fall'n поэт. — fallen

³ ye — you

⁴ nay — no

The seed ye sow, another reaps; The wealth ye find, another keeps; The robes ye weave, another wears; The arms ye forge, another bears.

Sow seed, — but let no tyrant reap; Find wealth, — let no impostor heap; Weave robes, let not the idle wear; Forge arms, — in your defence to bear.

Shelley is also known as the author of many lyrical poems devoted to nature and love. He was sure that the world and nature are ever changing, ever developing to higher forms. He was very fond of nature, he wrote of the clouds, and of the wind and of the high snow-covered mountains. Yet above all other things he loved the sea. Among his nature poems are The Cloud, To a Skylark, Ode to the West Wind, Winter and many others.

The Cloud

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,

From the seas and Streams;

I bear light shade for the leaves when laid

In their noonday dreams.

From my wings are shaken the dews that waken

The sweet buds every one,

When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,

As she dances about the sun.

I wield the flail of the lashing hail,

And whiten the green plains under,

And the again I dissolve it in rain,

And laugh as I pass in thunder.

Shelley's poetry is musical, deeply sincere, and original in form.

Vocabulary

bind [bamd] v (bound) привязать cast [ka:st] v (cast) бросать

to cast down свергать cradle ['kreid] n колыбель cremate [kn'meit] v кремировать dethrone [di'Greun] v свергать с престола dissolve [di'zolv] v заливать drain [drem] v выпускать drone [drsun] n тунеядец flail [fleil] n цеп

forbade [fa'beid] v past от forbid forbid [fs 'bid] v (forbade; forbidden)

запрещать foretell [for'tel] v (foretold) предска­зывать foretold [fofteuld] v past и р. р. от foretell forge [foxtj] v ковать grant [gra:nt] v даровать

Questions and Tasks

hail [heil] л град heap [hi:p] v богатеть idle [aidl] а ленивый impostor [im'psustg] n мошенник inscription [m'sknpjgn] n надпись interpretation [in,t3:pn'teijbn] n толко­вание lash [laef] v падать leech [li:tj] n пиявка liberation [Jiba'reifsn] n освобождение myth [miG] n миф reap [ri:p] ужать

represent [,repn'zent] v представлять robe [гэиЬ] п одежда slumber ['sUmbs] n сон sweat [swet] n пот tie [tai] n связь wield [wi:ld] v держать в руках

Walter Scott (1771-1832)

Walter Scott ['wo:to'start], the father of the English historical novel, was born in the family of a lawyer. His mother was the daughter of a famous Edinburgh physician and professor. She was a woman of education and stirred her son's imagination by her stories of the past as a world of living heroes.

As Walter was lame and a sickly child he spent much of his boyhood on his grandfather's farm near the beauti­ful river Tweed. He entered into friend­ly relations with plain people and gained first-hand knowledge of the old Scot­tish traditions, legends and folk ballads.

At the age of eight Walter entered the Edinburgh High School. Later Walter Scott studied law at the University. Though he was employed in his father's profession he was more interested in literature than in law.

As a boy and man he was fond of spending time in the country in the Highlands and in the Border. He collected and studied the native ballads, legends, folk-songs and poems.

Walter Scott's literary career began in 1796 when he published translations of German ballads.

In 1802 he prepared a collection of ballads under the title of The Minstrelsy' of the Scottish Border.

In 1804 Walter Scott gave up the law entirely for literature.

His literary work began with the publication of The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), a poem which made him the most popular poet of the day. A series of poems followed which included

¹ The Minstrelsy — the singing of minstrels. A minstrel — in the Middle Ages a singer of old ballads and songs.

Marmion [' maimjan] (1808) and The Lady of the Lake (1810). These poems brought fame to the author. They tell us about the brave Scottish people, their past and the beauty of their homeland.

Soon, however, Scott realized that he was not a poetic genius, and he turned to writing in prose.

Scott's first historical novel Waverley [ 'wervali] published in 1814 was a great success and he continued his work in this new field. Novel after novel came from his pen. His novels appearpd anonymously. Nobody knew he was a writer. From 1814 to 1830 he wrote 29 novels, many of which are about Scotland and the struggle of this country for independence. Such novels as Waverley, Guy Mannering (1815), The Antiquary [di'sentikwan] (1816), The Black Dwarf [dwo:f] (1816), Old Mortality (1816), Rob Roy (1818), The Heart of Midlothian [mid 'taixJjan] (1818) describe Scotland in the 18th century.

The Bride of Lammermoor ['laemsmua] (1819) and The Legend of Montrose (1819) have the 17th century background.

fvanhoe ['arvanhau] (1820) deals with the English history of the 12th century.

The Monastery (1820), The Abbot and Kenilworth [ 'kemlw3:0] (1821) describe the times of Mary Stuart and Queen Elizabeth.

Quentin Durward ['kwentin 'd3:wad] (1823) refers to the reign of Louis [' lui] XI in France.

It was only in 1827 that Walter Scott declared openly the authorship of his novels. He worked hard. The writer turned out, on an average, a novel and a half a year. His mind was so crowded with stories, characters and incidents that invention came without apparent effort.

Misfortune struck the great novel­
ist in 1825— 1826: the publishing firm,
where he had been partner went bank- Sir Waiter Scott was buried
rupt. Walter Scott had to pay a large ^{in the Abbey of Dr}yburgh

sum of money. This affected his health and he died on September 21, 1832 at his estate in Abbotsford.

Walter Scott was buried at Dryburgh Abbey.

Walter Scott was the creator of the historical novel in English literature. He realized that it was the ordinary people who were the makers of history and the past was not cut off from the present but influenced it. This romantic love of the past made him create rich historical canvases with landscape and nature descriptions, as well as picturesque details of past ages. His descriptions of the life, customs and habits of the people are realistic. We can agree with Belinsky that the reader of Scott's novels becomes, in a way, a contemporary of the epoch and a citizen of the country in which the events of the novel take place.

Walter Scott was the first to depict personalities typical of the period and the country described. His characters are vivid and expressive.

This makes Walter Scott one of the greatest masters of world literature. His influence can be seen in the historical novels of almost every nation.

Vocabulary

affect [a'fekt] v влиять canvas ['ksenvas] n картина

anonymously [a'nommgsli] оЛанонимно effort f'efst] n усилие

apparent [a'pasrent] а видимый entirely [m'taiali] adv всецело

background ['baskgraimd] л место дей- physician [fi'zijbn] n врач

ствия plain [plem] а простой

bankrupt f baerjkrapt] о обанкротившийся sickly ['sikli] а болезненный

to go bankrupt обанкротиться stir [st3:] v возбуждать

Questions and Tasks

1. Give a brief account of Walter Scott's life.

2. How did he acquire his vast knowledge of ballads, legends, folk-songs?

3. What was the beginning of his literary career?

4. What poems brought fame to the author?

5. Why did he turn to writing in prose?

6. What was Walter Scott's first historical novel?

7. What was the main historical theme he wrote about in his first novels?

8. Name Walter Scott's novels which describe Scotland.

9. What other themes did he touch upon in his novels?

10. What novels did he write about England and France?

11. How many novels did Walter Scott write from 1814 to 1830?

12. What misfortune struck the great novelist in 1825-1826?

13. Why was he obliged to work very hard?

14. When did he die?

15. What is the contribution of Walter Scott to the development of the historical novel in English literature?

Ivanhoe

Among the outstanding historical novels of Walter Scott Ivanhoe is one of the best. The events described in Ivanhoe take us back to the 12th century England. The scene of the novel is set in England during the reign of Richard I in about 1194. The power is in the hands of the Normans who oppress the conquered Anglo-Saxons.

King Richard I is engaged in the crusades. During his absence the country is ruled by his brother John who is very cruel to the people. The Anglo-Saxon nobility fights the Normans however they can. Cedric fsi:dnk] the Saxon also tries to keep the former privileges for his people. He has even disinherited his son Wil­fred Ivanhoe who upset his father's plans and later became a de­voted follower of the Norman King Richard.

When Richard I and Ivanhoe return to England, Ivanhoe, un­der the name of "Disinherited", takes part in a tournament. Cedric and his ward Lady Rowena [гэи 'i:na] recognize him. In the next days' sports he is wounded. An old Jew, Isaac farzak] of York, and his daughter Rebecca, whom Ivanhoe once helped, take care of him. On their way from the tournament Cedric and lady Rowena meet Isaac and the wounded Ivanhoe. All of them are seized by the Templars¹, dressed as outlaws, and carried to the castle of a Nor­man feudal, Torquilstone. Under the command of Robin Hood and Richard I the castle is attacked and the prisoners set free. Cedric and Rowena return home, but Rebecca has disappeared. She has been carried off by Sir Brian ['braian], one of the Templars. When

¹ the Templars — члены католического духовно-рыцарского ордена

the Grand Master of the Templars hears of the influence that Re­becca has over Sir Brian, he commands the knight to give her up as a witch. Ivanhoe fights in her defence.

The marriage of Ivanhoe and Rowena takes place shortly afterwards. Rebecca and her father leave England for Spain where they hope to find better protection than they received in England.

The central conflict of the novel lies in the struggle of the Anglo-Saxons against the Norman barons. The Anglo-Saxons have no right in their own land. There is no equality among themselves, either. Class interests give rise to a bitter struggle. The Norman conquerors also fight for power among themselves.

At the same time some of them want to subdue the Anglo-Saxons completely, while others are ready to co-operate with them.

Walter Scott shows that the second tendency is progressive because it leads to the birth of a new nation.

A great number of characters take part in the chief events of the novel. Some are historical people, e. g., King Richard I, his brother John and Robin Hood. Others are typical of the period, for instance, Cedric the Saxon and Isaac of York. There we meet also romantic heroes, such as Ivanhoe, Lady Rowena, Rebecca and Sir Brian.

Scott is not indifferent to the fate of the characters and to the historical events in which they take part. He was both romantic and realistic in his works. •

Walter Scott's style and language are very interesting. He was a master of dialogue, which helped him better describe his characters. His heroes spoke using expressions peculiar to their professions (the priests, the archers, the tradesmen).

He was fond of humour, and there are a lot of comic situations in his novels. This makes them still more interesting for the reader.

Walter Scott has always been loved and much read in this country.

Vocabulary

co-operate [kau'opsreit] vсотрудничать subdue [ssb'dju:] /полностью подчинять

feudal ['fju:dl] n феодал tournament [Чшпэтэш;] п турнир

former [Тэ:тэ] а бывший upset [A'pset] v нарушать

nobility [nau'bihti] n дворянство, знать ward [wo:d] n подопечный

peculiar Ipi'kjurlja] а присущий witch [witj] n ведьма
privilige ['pnvihdj] n привилегия, пре­
имущество

. ______ _............ __:.. _,. \

Questions and Tasks

1. What century do the events described in Ivanhoe take us back to?

2. Where is the scene of the novel set?

3. What period of English history does Walter Scott describe in Ivanhoe'?

4. Give a brief summary of the plot of Ivanhoe

5. Where does the central conflict of the novel

6. What can you say about the characters of Л

7. What makes Walter Scott's language interes

Jane Austen (1775-1817)

Jane Austen ['rjstin] was born on De­cember 16, 1775, in the Hampshire vil­lage of Steventon, where her father, the Rev.¹ George Austen, was rector. She was the second daughter and seventh child in the family of eight: six boys and two girls. Her closest companion was her elder sister.

Her formal education began in about 1782, when the sisters were sent to be taught by Mrs Cawley at Oxford; and, in 1784, they moved to the Abbey School, Reading, where they remained until 1787. After that their education continued at home. This was no deprivation, as the household at the rectory was unusually gifted. Her father encouraged the love of learning in his children. Her mother was a woman of wit. Reading and writing were enjoyed as family activities. Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding were favourite novelists. The great family amuse­ment was acting.

Austen's earliest known writings date from 1787, and between then and 1795 she wrote a large body of material that was collect­ed in three manuscript notebooks: Volume the First, Volume the

Ш

Austen's house

Second, and Volume the Third. In all, these contain 21 items: plays, verses, short novels, and other prose.

In 1793— 1794 Jane Austen wrote a short novel-in-letters Lady Susan. Jane was a girl of seventeen. Some of the letters tell of her enjoyment of local parties and dances in Hampshire, of visits to London, Bath, Southampton [sauG'aemptsn], Kent and to seaside resorts in Devon [ 'devan] and Dorset.

Sense and Sensibilityv/as begun about 1795 as a novel-in-letters called Elinor and Marianne [ 'mean 'sen] after its heroines. She contrasted two sisters: Elinor who is rational and self-controlled, and Marianne who is more emotional. Between October 1796 and August 1797 she completed the first version of Pride and Prejudice. Northanger Abbey was written in about 1798- 1799.

In 1811 she began her novel Mansfield Park. Between January 1814 and March 1815 she wrote Emma.

In these novels she showed that it was important to know oneself in order to make the right choices in love and marriage. Although her endings are generally happy, her novels make readers feel that they have been made to think about themselves and their moral lives.

Jane Austen's novels are deeply concerned with love and marriage. The novels provide indisputable evidence that the author understood the experience of love and of love disappointed. This observation relates most obviously to her last novel, Persuasion [pa'swerpn] (1815- 1816). The years after 1811 seem to have been the most rewarding of her life. She had the satisfaction of seeing her work in print and well reviewed and of knowing that the novels were widely read. The reviewers praised the novels for their moral entertainment, admired the character drawing, and welcomed the homely realism. Although Jane Austen preserved her anonymity and avoided literary circles, she knew about the reception of her novels.

For the last 18 months of her life, she was busy writing. In 1817 she began her last work Sandition, but it was put aside on March 18. Her health had been in decline since early 1816. In April she made her will. On the morning of July 18 she died. She was buried in Winchester Cathedral.

Her authorship was announced to the world at large¹ by her brother Henry, paying tribute to her sister's qualities of mind and character.

Jane Austin is different from other writers of her time, because her main interest is in the moral, social and psychological behaviour of her characters. She writes mainly about young heroines as they grow up and search for personal happiness. She does not write about the social and political issues, but her observations of people apply to human nature in general.

Modern critics are fascinated by the structure and organization of the novels, by the realistic description of unremarkable people in the unremarkable situations of everyday life.

¹ to the world at large — всему миру

Vocabulary

anonymity Laena'mmiti] л анонимность apply [3'plai] ^относиться concern [k3n's3:fi] v касаться decline [di'klam] л ухудшение deprivation [^depn'veifan] л лишение evidence fevidans] л факт(ы) gifted ['giftid] а способный, одаренный heroine ['hereum] л героиня household fhaushsuld] л семья indisputable Lmdis'pjutabl] а бесспор­ный obviously ['Dbviasli] adv очевидно praise [preiz] v хвалить reception [n'sep/эп] n прием

rectory I'rektan] л дом приходского

священника relate [n'leit] v относиться resort [n'zo:t] л курорт review [n'vju:] v рецензировать reviewer [п'у)'и:э] п рецензент rewarding [n'wordm] а вознагражда­ющий satisfaction [^saetis'faekjbn] л удовлет­ворение tribute ['tnbju:t] n дань

to pay tribute платить дань will [wil] л завещание

English Literature in the 19th Century

CRITICAL REALISM

The critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the for­ties and at the beginning of the fifties.

The critical realists set themselves the task of criticizing capitalist society, exposing the crying social contradictions. Their strong point was their true reflection of life and their sharp criticism of existing injustice.

The merit of English realism lies in its profound humanism — its sympathy for the working people. The greatest English realist of the time was Charles Dickens ['tjklz 'dikmzj. With striking force and truthfulness he described the sufferings of common people.

Another critical realist was William Makepeace Thackeray ['wiljam 'meikpi:s 'вэекэп]. His novels mainly contain a satirical por­trayal of the upper strata of society. Here belong, of course, Charlotte Bronte ['Jcdat 'bronti], Emily Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell ['ilizabaG 'gses kal], George Eliot ['с{зз:ф' eljat]. These writers showed a realistic pic­ture of their contemporary England.

All these novelists portrayed everyday life, with a little man as the - central character.

Vocabulary

contemporary [кэп 'tempsran] о со­временный

contradiction [^knntrs'dikjgn] n проти­воречие

profound [pra'faund] о глубокий

Questions and Tasks

1. When did the critical realism of the 19th century flourish?

2. What task did the critical realists set themselves?

3. What was the strong point of the critical realists?

4. Who was the greatest English realist of the time?

5. What did he describe?

6. Name some other writers belonging to this literary trend.

7. What did they portray in their novels?

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Charles Dickens was born» in Ports­mouth ['poitsmaG] on the 7th of Febru­ary, 1812. He was the second child and the eldest son of John and Elizabeth Dickens. John Dickens was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office¹.

After a short period in London, John Dickens in 1817 was transferred to the dockyard at Chatham [ 'tfaetam], and here the family remained until 1822. These were the happiest years of Charles Dickens's childhood and youth. Here Dickens went to a small day-school. He also learnt much from his mother,

who was a well-educated'woman, and from the books she gave him to read.

It was here, years later, when he was at the height of his fame, that he returned to live, buying Gad's Hill place, the very house that he and his father had so often admired when out walking.

The little boy, eager, bright, sensitive, energetic but not really robust, found life opening out for him wonderfully during these years at Chatham.

His recollections of these years, seen in the golden haze of childhood, played a very important part in his work. If he had not had this happy time, brightening his childhood; the novels of Dickens would have been darker.

When Charles was about ten, the family left Chatham as John Dickens had been recalled to London.

John Dickens had left Chatham in debt, even after selling off some of his furniture, and nobody in London came to the rescue of John and Elizabeth Dickens and their six children. Everything that could be was given to the pawnshop, and young Charles was often sent on errands of this sort, for he was no longer going to school. He had done well at school in Chatham. But his parents had made no plans for him to continue his education in London.

A friend of the family helped Charles find work at a blacking warehouse. His parents instantly agreed. Charles had to paste labels on the jars of blacking. He received six shillings a week.

Only a few days after Charles started work at the blacking ware­house, his father was arrested and sent to the debtors' prison, the Marshalsea. John Dickens was a happy-go-lucky, irresponsible man, and he usually spent more than he earned. As a result of such living he was thrown into the debtors' prison. Later, Mrs Dickens and the younger children joined him. Little Charles did not live in the prison. He had to live in miserable lodgings and to feed him­self.

It came to an end when a relative of the family left Mr Dickens a legacy which was enough to pay his debts and leave the prison. When his father was set free, Charles was sent to a private school where he remained for three years. He was fifteen when his education ended, and he was sent again to earn his living this

Vocabulary

blacking ['blaekirj] n вакса

curiosity Lkjusn'ositi] л любознатель­ность

dockyard ['dDkja:d] n верфь

eager [i:gs] о усердный

errand ['erand] n поручение

gap [gaep] n пробел

happy-go-lucky ['haepigai^Uki] а бес­печный

haze [heiz] n дымка

height [hait] n вершина

illimitable [riimitsbl] а безграничный

irresponsible [^ins'pnnsabl] а безот­ветственный

jar [фа:] п банка

label f'leibl] n наклейка

legacy ['legasi] n наследство lodging ['hxjjirj] n обыкн pi сдаваемая

комната paste [peist] v приклеивать pawnshop ['pomjbp] n ломбард phenomenal [fifrromml] а необыкновен­ный recollection [декэЧеЦГэп] п воспоми­нание rescue ['reskju:] n помощь restless [resths] а неугомонный robust [re'bASt] а здоровый shorthand ['/o:thaend] n стенография spare [spea] а свободный transfer [traens'f3:] v переводить warehouse ['weshaus] n склад

The Marshalsea debtors' prison

time as a clerk in a lawyer's office in London. All his spare time he spent in learning shorthand and visiting the British Museum Library filling up the gaps in his education by reading. Just before his seventeenth birthday Charles became a reporter. Soon he was recognized to be one of the best reporters in the whole country. He was invited to join several papers. When he was nineteen he was able to do some reporting in the House of Commons for newspapers.

Finally in 1834 he became the star reporter on the Morning Chronicle.

Young Dickens, with his restless energy and illimitable curiosity, went everywhere and noticed everything. His power of observation and memory were phenomenal.

He went all over the country getting news, writing up stories, meeting people and using his eyes. These early days of a reporter made very deep impressions on his mind and provided him with material for his books.

Questions and Tasks

1. Where was Charles Dickens born?

2. When was he born?

3. What did his father, John Dickens, do?

4. Where was John Dickens transferred in 1817?

5. What were the happiest years of Charles Dickens's childhood?

6. Describe the years Charles spent in Chatham.

7. When did the family leave Chatham?

8. Give a brief account of the financial position of the family.

9. What happened to Mr Dickens?

10. How did Charles live when his family was in prison?

11. What helped the Dickens's family leave the Marshalsea?

12. Where did Charles study?

13. What did he do when his education ended?

14. What did Charles become just before his seventeenth birthday?

15. What kind of reporter was he soon recognized to be?

16. What traits of character helped him become the star reporter on the Morning Chronicle¹?

17. Why were these early days as a reporter very important for Charles Dickens in his later life?

Charles Dickens's Literary Work

Charles Dickens began his literary career in 1833. He wrote some sketches under the title Sketches by Boz. Boz was his pen-name. It was a nickname of his younger brother. The work was warmly received, but it was in 1836 that Charles Dickens rose to fame with the publication of The Pickwick Papers. A new firm of publishers, Chapman and Hall, asked Dickens to write some sort of humorous text, describing sporting misadventures, to support the drawings made by a popular comic artist called Seymour. Dickens agreed, but only on his own terms. These were that the drawings must illustrate the text, not the text the drawings.

The first instalment of Posthumous [ 'pnstjumas] Papers of the Pickwick Club (the full title of the book) came into being and brought the author world-wide fame.

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is a humorous description of funny adventures and misadventures of the members of the Pickwick Club which was founded by Mr Pickwick, a rich old gentleman, who had retired from business. The purpose of the club, according to its members, was "for the observations of character and manners". All the members, like Mr Pickwick, are rather well-to-do; they spend their time in travelling and in looking for mild adventures.

Long before the twentieth and last number of the paper with The Pickwick Papers came out, the country was Pickwick-mad. The name was given to all manner of things, from coats and hats to canes and cigars.

Dickens became famous all over the world, especially in America and in Russia.

Encouraged by his success Dickens set to work as a novelist. His next novel Oliver Twist (1838) deals with social problems. It is the story of a little boy born in a workhouse and left an orphan.

The kind and honest boy by nature rinds himself in the environment of thieves and lives through terrible hardships.

As Dickens believes in the inevitable triumph of good over evil, it is only natural, therefore, that Oliver Twist overcomes all difficulties. The novel ends happily which has become a characteristic feature of the greater part of Dickens's works.

The cottage where Dickens used to work

With Oliver Twist still in hand, Dickens began to work on his next novel Nicholas Nickleby ['nikabs niklbi] (1839).

The book deals with another burning question of the day — that of the education of the children in English private schools.

Nicholas Nickleby becomes a teacher of a typical English boarding-school for children of parents of modest means.

There is no question of real education at the "school". Its half-starved pupils are used by the master of the school and his wife for domestic work. Its master, Mr Squeers ['skwiaz], is veiy cruel to the children and his only aim in life is to have as much profit as possible out of his establishment.

The scenes of the children's life were so realistic and true to life that a school reform was carried out in England after the publication of the novel.

Dickens's next novel was The Old Curiosity Shop (1841). It is a story of the sufferings and hardships of an old man named Trent, and his granddaughter, Nell, who live in London.

Dickens's first historical novel Barnaby Rudge [ 'ba:rabi 'глф]

(1841) was published before his visit to America in the autumn of
1841. There were many good reasons for going to America. He
wanted to lecture on his works as he knew he would have a large
admiring public there. Besides, he wanted to meet some American
writers, especially Washington Irving ['wrjjirjtan '3:vm], with whom
he had exchanged enthusiastic letters.

After his return from America Dickens wrote American Notes

(1842) andMarfm Chuzzlewit ftJXzlwrt] (1843-1844) which created
a sensation in America. They were social satires of the American
way of life.

Between 1843 and 1848 Dickens published his Christmas Books [A Christmas Carol [ 'knsmas 'kaerol], The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth [ha:9]). In 1846 he visited Switzerland and Italy. There he began Dombey [ 'dombi] and Son (1848). In the fifties and sixties the most profound novels were written — David Copperfield ['dervid 'krjpsMd] (1850), Bleak House (1853), Hard Times (1854) and others.

David Copperfield is, to a great extent, an autobiographical novel. In the character of David Copperfield, Dickens shows many features of his own life. The hero of the novel is a young man who lives through hardships and injustice but in the end achieves well-being.

Bleak House is a bitter criticism of England's courts of justice. Hard Times is a novel depicting the conditions of the working class in England.

Little Dorrit (1855— 1857) is the story of a little girl whose parents are thrown into a debtor's prison.

With A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Dickens returned to the historical novel. It is devoted to the events of the French Revolution of 1789-1794.

Vocabulary

admiring [ad'mainn] а восхищенный

boarding school ['bo:drrjsku:l] n пансион

cane [kem] n трость

environment [m'vaisranmsnt] n окру­жение

establishment [is'taeblijmsnt] n заведение

extent [iks'tent] n степень

feature ['й:ф] n черта

inevitable [I'nevitebl] а неизбежный

instalment [in 'stoilmsnt] n отдельный выпуск

means [mi:nz] n средства

mild [maild] о безобидный

misadventure [ 'missd 'ventjs] n зло­ключение

nickname ['nikneim] n прозвище

orphan ['orfan] n сирота

pen-name ['penneim] n литературный псевдоним

profit ['profit] n выгода

retire [n'tais] v оставлять должность

sketch ['sketfj n очерк

term [t3:m] n условия

well-being [ 'wel 'bi:in] n (материаль­ное) благополучие

well-to-do ['welts'du:] а состоятельный

/

subject of his later novels is money and the things that go with money—power, position and so on. In Dombey and Son the symbol of money-power is Mr Dombey himself, to whose pride of position as a British merchant everything must be sacrificed — affection, wife, children and love. According to Dombey "The earth was made for Dombey and Son to trade in, and the sun and the moon were made to give them light. Rivers and seas were formed to float their ships; rainbows to give them promise of fair weather; winds blew for, or against, their enterprises; stars and planets circled in their orbits to preserve inviolate a system of which they were the centre".

Mr Dombey is a prosperous businessman, a starchy and purse-proud merchant. He is selfish to the core¹, he bends down only before the power of gold. He looks upon the people surrounding him only from a business point of view. His coldness, his absolute lack of human feeling towards people is extraordinary.

The firm, which is his life, is called Dombey and Son. He has a daughter, Florence, whom he considers to be " a piece of base coin" because she is a girl. He does not love her, he does not notice her, although the little girl loves him dearly. When at last a son is born, it is he who becomes the centre of Dombey's life and interests. He is to become ffls heir, he is to continue to increase his riches.

But the dreams of Mr Dombey are not realized. Little Paul is a sickly child and he feels that he will not get better that he will die like his mother died when he was born. He cannot understand why the money, that his father considers to be so powerful, could not save his mother and cannot make him strong and completely well.

Little Paul dies and the hopes of Mr Dombey never come true. Mr Dombey marries again, but the marriage is a bargain. Dombey is sure that money can buy obedience, devotion, love, faithfulness. But money fails to bring what he expected.

His second wife, Edith, hates him and leaves him.

Florence runs away from his house, too. Misfortune falls on him in business as well. Mr Corker, his secretary, ruins Dombey and perishes himself. Dombey is left all alone. The atmosphere of cold reigns in the house.

The character of Dombey is a symbol of evil. Dickens shows how wrong and mistaken are all those who believe that money can buy everything: affection, happiness, love.

With great talent and power Dickens shows that money brings only evil, poisons the minds of people, makes them egoistic and cruel.

Opposed to Mr Dombey are his two children, Florence and Paul. Dickens made them loving and lovable creatures who hated money. Only Florence's love for Mr Dombey remains unchanged, and she and her husband take care of the lonely old man.

When Belinsky read Dombey and Son he called it a miracle that made all other works written by Dickens seem pale and weak. Dickens managed to show the ugliness of relations based on money in a work of art.

Up to now Dickens has remained one of the great realistic writers. In Russia his works became known a very short time after being published.

Vocabulary

affection [s'fekjsn] n привязанность bargain ['ba:gm] n сделка base [beis] а неполноценный bend [bend] v (bent) склоняться core [ко:] л суть

to the core до мозга костей enterprise ['entapraiz] n предприятие fail [fell] v не удаваться inviolate [m'vaialeit] а нетронутый lack [laek] n отсутствие

¹ to the core — до мозга костей 160

Questions and Tasks

1. When did Charles Dickens begin his literary career?

2. What was his first work?

3. Give a brief summary of the contents of the Pickwick Papers.

4. What Dickens's novels dealing with social problems can you name?

5. What historical novel was written by Dickens before his visit to America?

6. Why did Dickens want to visit America?

7. What novels were written by Dickens after his return from America?

8. What is his autobiographical novel?

9. Name some other notable works by Dickens.

10. Why is the novel Dombey and Son considered to be one of Dickens's greatest works?

11. Give the main idea of Dombey and Son.

12. What social problems did Charles Dickens write about?

William Thackeray (1811-1863)

William Makepeace Thackeray [ 'баекэп] was the second represen­tative of critical realism in English li­terature of the 19th century. Dickens and Thackeray were such near con­temporaries that their work was of­ten compared, but Thackeray's life was different from that of Charles Dickens.

William Makepeace Thackeray was born into a prosperous middle class family. His father was a well-to-do Eng- _{William Make}peace Thackeray lish official in Calcutta [kael 'k\ta], In­dia, where he was born. When his father died, the boy, aged six, was sent to England where he attended the famous Charterhouse [ 'tfaitahaus] School. In 1828 Thackeray entered Cambridge Uni­versity. While a student, he was clever at drawing cartoons and writing verses, chiefly parodies. He did not stay long at the Uni­versity. The stagnant atmosphere of the place suffocated him.

Besides, his wish was to become an artist, and therefore he left the University without graduating and went to Germany, Italy and France to study art.

Intending to complete his edu­cation, Thackeray returned to Lon­don and began a law course in 1833. Meanwhile, the Indian bank in which the money Thackeray in­herited from his father was invest­ed went bankrupt, and Thackeray was left penniless. Thus, he was obliged to drop the studies to earn his living. For a long time he hesi­tated about whether to take up art or literature as a profession. At last he decided to try his hand as a jour­nalist. He wrote humorous articles,

essays, reviews and short stories which he sent to London maga­zines. He illustrated his works with amusing drawings.

The first book which attracted attention was The Book of Snobs (1847), which deals with the upper classes and their followers in the middle classes, whose vices the author criticizes with the sharp pen of satire.

The book draws a gallery of English snobs of different circles of English society. In Thackeray's view a snob is a person who bows down to and flatters his social superior and looks down with con­tempt on his social inferiors.

In his book the author declares war against snobbery, vanity and selfishness.

It was followed by Vanity Fair (A Novel without a Hero) — the peak of social realism, which brought great fame to the novelist, and remains his most-read work up to the present day.

It appeared first in twenty-four monthly instalments which Thackeray illustrated himself, and then in 1848, as a complete book.

The novels of the later period, The History ofPendennis [pen' dems] (1850) and The Newcomes (1855) are realistic, but they show the gradual reconciliation of the author with reality.

In the other novels, Henry Esmond f ezmand] (1852), and The Virginians [va'qsmjanz] (1859) Thackeray turned to historical themes, showing a remarkable knowledge of history.

Thackeray's last novel, Denis Duval, remained unfinished, for Thackeray died in 1863.

Numerous other works written by Thackeray include essays, short stories, sketches, satirical poems. These were popular during the writer's life-time but, for the most part, forgotten by the next generation of readers.

Thackeray is at bottom a satirist. In his novels he gives a vivid description of the upper classes of society, their mode of life, manners and tastes. His knowledge of human nature is broad. His criticism is acute, his satire is sharp and bitter. Thackeray used to say that he wished to describe men and women as they really are.

Thackeray's books are often very sad. He tells us clearly that not only people are often wicked, vain and unjust, but that they can be only what they are due to existing conditions. As Thackeray had no hope of change, many of the pages he wrote are filled with sorrow for the world's ills.

The picture of the life of the ruling classes of England created by Thackeray remains a classic example of social satire to this very day.

Vocabulary

acute [g'kjuit] а острый bankrupt ['baerjkrept] n банкрот

to go bankrupt обанкротиться bottom ['botam] n основа

at bottom no натуре bow [bau] v кланяться contempt [kan'tempt] n презрение flatter ['flaeta] v льстить gradual ['grasdjual] а постепенный ill [il] n зло

inferior [m'fiaria] а низший (по поло­жению) inherit [m'hent] v наследовать invest [in'vest] v вкладывать деньги mode [maud] n образ действий

Questions and Tasks

1. What family did Thackeray come from?

2. Where was he educated?

3. What was he clever at while a student?

4. Why didn't he stay long at the University?

5. Where did he go to study art?

6. What did Thackeray begin to study when he returned to London?

7. Why was he obliged to drop his studies?

8. What did he begin to write?

9. Say a few words about Thackeray's first novel The Book of Snobs.

10. Who is a snob in Thackeray's view?

11. What novel is Thackeray's masterpiece?

12. Name his other notable works.

13. What characterizes Thackeray as a satirist?

14. Why are many of the pages he wrote filled with sorrow?

Vanity Fair (A Novel without a Hero)

The subtitle of the book shows the author's intention to describe not individuals, but the bourgeois-aristocratic society as a whole. The author pictu-res the world he describes in the novel as a "very vain, wicked, foolish place, full of all sorts of humbugs, and falseness­es and pretensions". Vanity Fair is a social novel which describes not only society as a whole, but the very laws which govern it. Using satire the author mercilessly exposes the vices of the aristocracy and the merchants, their self-conceit, narrow-mindedness, their worship of money, and moral degradation.

The interest of the novel centres on the characters, rather than on the plot. The author shows various people, their thoughts and actions in different situations. There is no definite hero in the book. In Thackeray's opinion there can be no hero in a society where the cult of money rules the world.

The novel tells of the fates of two girls with sharply contrasting characters — Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley. The daughter of a rich city merchant, Amelia Sedley, is a young girl representing "virtue without wit". She is sweet, honest and naive. Her friend Rebecca Sharp or Becky is clever, talented, charming, energetic

and pleasant to look at. She possesses a keen sense of humour, and a deep understanding of people's nature. The girls meet at school. Becky's father was a teacher of drawing there. After his death Becky has to earn her own living. She un­derstands that society is split into the rich and the poor. Into the world to which Amelia belongs, Becky Sharp, represent­ing "wit without virtue", forces her way after many struggles. Her only aim in life is to get to high socie­ty at all costs¹. She de­cides to get to the top of it through marriage. Re­becca tries to entrap Ame­lia's brother Joseph f фэшгх], He is lazy and foolish, but rich. Her plans are ruined by George Osborn ['dz-Ьэп], Amelia's fiance. Becky believes neither in love nor friendship. She flirts with George Osborn, though he is the husband of her friend. She is ready to marry any man to gain wealth and title.

Becky begins to work at Sir Pitt Crawley's fkro:hz] asagoverness. She secretly marries Sir Pitt Crawley's son Rawdon fro:dn], who is to inherit his rich aunt's money. But old Miss Crawley cannot forgive her favourite nephew this foolish step and leaves her money to Rawdon's brother, Sir Pitt. No wonder Rebecca almost loses "her presence of mind" when she realizes how wrong her calculations

were. At that time Pitt Crawley himself proposes to her. The fact that Pitt is old and that she despises him does not count with her. Pitt is the owner of Queen's Crawley. He possesses money and title and these were the only things Becky's greedy nature wishes. "I would have had the town-house newly furnished and decorated. I

would have had the handsomest carriage in London, and a box at the opera,... All this might have been; and now — now all was doubt and mystery."

Flattery, hypocrisy, lies and other mean actions help Becky to join the upper classes of society, but no happiness is in store for her¹. Her life has neither real feelings, nor honest aims in view.

Contrary to Becky, Amelia is honest, generous and kind to all the people she comes in touch with, and is admired by all."... she could not only sing like a lark... and embroider beautifully, and spell as well as a Dictionary itself, but she had such a kindly, smiling, tender, gentle, generous heart of her own as won the love of everybody who came near her...".

But for all that Amelia cannot be regarded as a heroine of the novel: she is not clever enough to understand the real qualities of the people who surround her. She is too unintelligent, naive and simple hearted to expose all the dirty machinations of the clever and sly Rebecca. She is absolutely "blind" to all the faults of her lightminded and selfish husband, and even after his death she is determined to remain faithful to him.

Suddenly Sedley goes bankrupt. Old Osborne disinherits his son because he has married Amelia, the daughter of his bank­rupt friend. Soon after their marriage George is sent to Belgium { to fight against Napoleon's army. He is killed on the field of Wa-; terloo ['wolalu:]. Now Amelia and her son George are very poor. They only receive occasional presents from little Georgy's god-| father, Colonel Dobbin. He loves Amelia and little Georgy and | after his friend's death proposes to Amelia. Only in the end Ame­lia learns that her husband wanted to leave her and flee with | Becky. Then she agrees to marry Dobbin. Though Dobbin, like

¹ at all costs — любой ценой

¹ but no happiness is in store for her — но ее не ждет счастье

Amelia, is an exception in Vanity Fair, he is too primitive and narrow-minded to be admired by the author.

Captain Rawdon Crawley returns a colonel. Rebecca is pre­sented to the court and recognized by upper society. Yet her ca­reer soon comes to an end. Her relations with Lord Steyne [sti:n] are disclosed, and her husband leaves her. Her son is adopted by Rawdon's brother. Rebecca becomes an adventuress.

Old Osborn dies leaving his money to his grandson. Dobbin is appointed as Georgy's guardian.

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