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57. UK in Interwar Period & in WW2, Representative Writers, 5 -…

- - - - Before 1929/30 . modernism (JJ-Dubliners, Conrad - HoD, poetry/drama of Yeats etc.) After 1930 - post modernism - Orwell, Graham Greene etc.
- - - - 2) W/C agitation for better conditions. Strikes. Labour Party 1900. Women's rights - suffragettes - militancy
        
        3) HUGE Empire spanning 4 continents but ↑ agitation from (eg) Ireland for home rule
        
        4) Foreign policy: PM Arthur Balfe saw need to strengthen defences after Boer War. ALLIANCES with Fr & Russia strengthened & hostilities with Germany ↑
    - - Germany wanted 'place in the sun' - upset balance of power. ARMS RACE
        
        MANIA: Militarism, Alliances, Nationalism, Imperialism & Assassination of FF
        
        Led to Austria-Hungary declaring war in Serbia, Russia came to aid..alliances dragged all to war.
        
        Triple Entente: Fr, GB, R. Triple Alliance: Ger, A-H, It
  - - - 1919-29 - Upheaval due to consequences of WW1
        
        Characterized by inability of Britain to adapt to new eco order.
        
        PROBLEMS WITH
        
        COAL - exports had relied on them but they had declined with rise of oil/electricity etc
        
        INDUSTRY - old fashioned & obsolete
        
        LOSS of INTERNATIONAL Markets
        
        Huge DEBT - owed colossal amounts to US. Interest payments = 40% of govt spending!
        
        INFLATION - doubled between 1914-20
        
        Rise in SOCIAL CONFLICTS
        
        Rising PRICES = huge demand, led to STRIKES. HUGE unemployment - over 1 m. 1925. GEN: STRIKE 1926
        
        IRISH Q - clamouring for ind. since before WW1. Vote on Home Rule 1914 had been postposed, Easter Rising 1916 - brutally supressed. Failed attempt at conscription 1918
        
        MPs formed govt in Ireland 1919 - De Valera PM. IRA guerrilla warfare vs British troops. 1921 INDEPENDENCE (then civil war)
      - Trade plummeted even further.
        
        Unemployment 1m to 2.5 M
      - LABOUR - won election 1929 - for 1st time became largest party in Commons.
        
        1931 - The May Committee published report outlining predicted deficit. Led to RUN ON THE POUND
        
        Lab. PM Ramsey MacDonald resigned, coalition govt formed by Cons & Liberals
        
        1) Cuts to public spending & wages (public sector salaries decreased by 10%) & income tax ↑. Did NOT solve problem, led to ↓ in spending power.
        
        2) Abandon Gold Standard. Devaluation on pound.
        
        3) Tariffs on imports (except from BE)
        
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  - - - 1918 Dominions signed peace treaties themselves & joined newly formed LofN as ind. states equal to GB. 1920s applied pressure to Brit for clearer definition of status
        
        1926 Imperial Conference
        
        'autonomous communities with BE, equal in status & in no way subordinate to one another....united by common allegiance to Crown...freely associated as members of C/W of Nations'
        
        BUT maybe Qs unanswered - 1 at peace the other at war? Different foreign policies? Answered WW2 Canada & S Af made separate declarations of war, Ireland stayed neutral
- - - - Britain = APPEASMENT
        
        BUT 1939 H invaded Poland (GB & Fr had currently guaranteed to defend) WAR.
        
        Chamberlain resigned, WC took over.
        
        HUGE impact at home:
        
        BLITZ killed 60,000
        
        RATIONING introduced early 1940 (food) & clothes 1941.
        
        EVACUATION of children from cities to country. 1.5m!
        
        Fr occupied 1940. Brit faced Germany alone until US entered 1941 (Pearl Harbour). Then tide slowly turned. Hitler suicide & bombs 1945
        
        1st TOTAL WAR
        
        Est. 70-85m ppl dead worldwide.
        
        Indiscriminate bombing campaign
        
        400,000 dead in Britain.
        
        HUGE Debts - owed more than £3,000,000,000. Economy in DISARRAY
        
        BE about to disintegrate
- - - - 2) Resurgence of Poetry (T.S Eliot, W.H Auden etc)
        
        3) Variety of technical experiments in most literary genres
        
        4) Influence of radio & cinema
        
        5) Speed of life & pace of change
  - - - 1905 group of writers/artists/intellectuals began meeting at London home of Vanesa Bell & sis VW. Shared ideas etc
        
        Known for unconventional personalities & lifestyles. All wealthy & privileged but spirit of rebellion vs restraints of previous gen. Politically & sexually liberal.
        
        1917 est. Hogarth Press - published work by imp. writers & later translations of Sigmund Freud.
        
        VW: Mrs Dalloway, A Room of One's Own, To The Lighthouse
        
        EM FORSTER: APTIndia, ARWAView
        
        All influenced by Am Walt Whitman & were adventurous & innovative.
        
        1930s fell apart - several members died (VW suicide 1941) etc
      - EM FORSTER (1879-1970)
        
        Wealthy fam, father died young, left money. Travelled extensively esp Italy (Inspiration for ARWAV 1908 & visited India twice (insp for APTI 1924)
        
        Unique writing style. 3rd person omniscient narration. Relied on dialogue to develop story lines. Simple plot
        
        Narration techniques allowed him to process ALL char's thoughts. Gives unbiased account of events, yet reader able to read the reactions of all the char's. V accessible as readers can easily identify with char's.
    - - Esp seen in JJ, VW, Am author Dorothy Richardson etc. Inner life of char's are illustrated by the writer as a combination of sensations, memories, thoughts, feelings & emotional conditions
        
        Author can enter into the mind of char's so reader can experience the char's thoughts within
        
        JJ - 1882 - 1941
        
        B into affluent family in Dublin BUT father drank & lost money, family sank into poverty. Studied Latin at uni. Met wife then moved to Poland, worked in Berlitz Schools, writing in free time, Then moved to Italy. Financial difficulties - received some support & grants
        
        Published in Paris 1922. Already well known due to censorship troubles & was instant hit.
        
        Also published: Portrait of a Young Man, The Dubliner's, Finnegan's Wake
      - VW 1882-1941
        
        Most famous works
        
        Mrs Dalloway 1925
        
        Day in the life of protagonist Clarissa Dalloway as she prepares for a party she is hosting that evening. Themes: mental illness, feminism, homosexuality
        
        To the Lighthouse 1927
        
        Semi autobiographical. Tells story of Ramsay family's trip to Isle of Skye. Focuses on private thoughts of its characters (instead of plot)
        
        The Waves 1931
        
        Most experimental. Follows 6 characters from childhood to old age, but through soliloquies (not plot)
        
        A Room of One's Own 1929
        
        Extended essay, discussed many feminist issues eg lack of edu opps. social & eco dependence on men etc
        
        Uses time montage & free association ideas & images. Past, present & future intermingle. VW also reflected women's problems in literature.
        
        VW: Prose is carefully written. Somewhat similar to poetry. Great talent to evoke, without hardly describing, characters & atmosphere
  - - - B. Dublin 1865. Anglo-Irish landowning class, but became involved with Celtic Revival -movt against Eng rule in Ireland
        
        Drew influences from Irish mythology & folklore & love for Irish revolutionary Maud Gonne. Also by T S Eliot & Ezra Pound (both Ams in London). Yeats v politically involved.
        
        1920s, despite Irish independence his verse reflected pessimism for situation within Ireland & across Europe.
        
        Work gradually became more modern in its concision & imagery, but Yeats never abandoned his strict adherence to trad verse forms.
        
        The Wild Swans at Coole 1917
        
        A Vision 1925
        
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        Long hold interest in mysticism & the occult (off-putting to some)
      - Appointed senator of Irish Free State 1922. Imp cultural leader & major playwright & 1 of greatest poets of century
    - - Group centred around poet Auden, Represented more experimental literary style. W.H Auden, Cecil Day Lewis, Julian Bell....
        
        Aimed at writing truly POPULAR poetry that would reach out to public & provide them with a msg. Blamed capitalism for class divisions. Aimed for poetic style which would reflect sense of protest.
        
        Sharpened conversational tone, unconventional. Presented reader with political truths.
  - - - Political - dramatized anti-capitalist & anti-imperialist themes. Theatre taken to streets across Britain with aim of reaching new /c audiences & provoking change.
        
        Backdrop: unemployment & hunger from Great Depression, rise of fascism in Germany, Spain, Italy.
        
        During WW2 - CEMA (Council for Encouragement of Music & Arts) est to provide war time entertainment & boost morale (later renamed The Arts Council of GB)
        
        SEAN O' CASEY
        
        Born in slums Dublin, Plays: The Shadow of a Gunman 1923 - about war of ind. captures intensity of struggle & violence. Juno & the Paycock 1924 (masterpiece) - about c.w. in Ireland. Vivid dialogue, metaphors, rhythmical prose & imaginative. Comedy mixed with tragedy. Rapid changes of mood but grim underlying sadness
        
        JB Priestly also imp (An Inspector Calls)
- - - - LIBERATED from old V values.
      - Difference between pre & post WW1 novels. Post WW1- reflected disillusionment, cynicism, despair, bewilderment, crumbling moral values etc.
        
        PRE war - controlled, chronological, finished, artistic form eg Henry James)
        
        POST war: loose, fluis, less coherent, complex, discontinuos, ↑ experimentation (eg JJ)
        
        Stream of consciousness, use of interior monologue, tracing of the association of ideas.
        
        DH Lawrence, VW, Aldous Huxley, EM Forster, George Orwell, Graham Green & (Ireland) JJ