LITERATURE IN THE MODERN AGE

It may be a surprise to many people to learn that drama is probably more popular than novels nowadays! This is true if we regard the television play as a form of drama, which actually is the case. But the television play is more of a performing art than a literary genre; so in this sense, the novel is still the most widely read form of literature today.


The Golden Age of the Novel

The 19th century was the golden age of the novel, and it has become the most popular literary form. The 19th century also produced perhaps the greatest English novelist in Charles Dickens (1812-70).

While his early novels tend to incline towards sentimentality and caricature, Dickens at his best is remarkable for his extensive and deep characterization, captivating readers with lasting feelings of compassion and cheerfulness. Dickens wrote prolifically, and some of his memorable novels are Pickwick Papers (1837), Oliver Twist (1838), Nicholas Nickleby (1839), The Old Curiosity Shop (1831), A Christmas Carol (1848), David Copperfield (1850), Hard Times (1854), Little Dorrit (1857), The Tale of Two Cities (1859), and Great Expectations (1861).

Notice how Dickens creates humour in his subtle, satirical manner in the following extract on the first page of Hard Times:

    The speaker's obstinate carriage, square coat, square legs, square shoulders -- nay, his very neckcloth, trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommodating grasp, like a stubborn fact, as it was -- all helped the emphasis.

    "In this life, we want nothing but Facts, sir -- nothing but Facts!"

    The speaker, and the schoolmaster, and the third grown person present, all backed a little, and swept with their eyes the inclined plane of little vessels then and there arranged in order, ready to have imperial gallons of facts poured into them until they were full to the brim.

There were many other great novelists in the 19th century. Because of space limitation, we shall give only some examples of outstanding ones and their representative works: William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-63), Vanity Fair (1848), a realistic novel on insincerity; Charles Kingley (1819-75), The Water Babies (1863), a fantasy novel for children; Charlotte Bronte (1816-55), Jane Eyre (1847), a mystery novel; George Eliot (1819-80), which was the pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans, Silas Marner (1861) a study of character; George Meredith (1828-1909), The Egoist (1877), a psychological novel with entertaining dialogue; and Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-90), Treasure Island (1882), an adventure story about buried treasure.


Birth of the Modern Short Story

Although the narration of fables and folk tales was common since ancient time, the form of the modern short story emerged only in the 19th century. This development was much influenced by short stories of Asia and the Middle East, such as Aesop's Fables and Tales from Arabian Nights. Nevertheless, the modern short story differs from the classical tale in that the modern writer aims more than merely telling a story. Depicting a salient feature of characterization, or conveying an intense emotional impression, often constitutes the main purpose of telling a modern short story.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49), who followed the tradition of the classical tale by using direct narration, is regarded as the father of the modern short story. His Murders in the Rue Morgue is an early detective story where the problem was solved by means of analyzing character. His best work, however, is The Tell-Tale Heart, which is a haunting tale of psychological horror. The following extract is at the end of this horror tale:

    Oh, God; what could I do? I foamed -- I raved -- I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder -- louder -- louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! -- no, no! They heard! -- they suspected -- they knew! -- they were making a mockery of my horror! -- this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I felt that I must scream or die! -- and now again! -- hark! louder! louder! louder!

    "Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -- tear up the planks! -- here! here! -- it is the beating of his hideous heart!"

Two other great writers of short stories are Mark Twain (1835-1910) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930). Mark Twain is a master of humorous short stories, while Doyle is a master of detective short stories featuring the evergreen Sherlock Holmes. Like many other short story writers, both these two masters are also accomplished novelists, producing among other novels, Tom Sawyer and The Lost World respectively.


The 20th Century

The short story attains its full blossoming in the present 20th century. Two contributing factors for this development are the tremendous growth of the reading public who are also too busy to read long literary works, and the increasing number of newspapers and magazines which provide the main publishing outlets for these short stories.

Because the arts of short story writing and novel writing are similar -- though not identical -- great short story writers are generally great novelists too. In the 20th century the novel and the short story attain new depth and complexity, often going beyond the conscious level of the human mind. Some examples of masters of both these literary forms are Henry James (1843-1916), James Joyce (1882-1941), Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), D.H.Lawrence (1885-1930), Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), and Ernest Hemingway (1898-1961). Their representative novels are The Ambassador (1903), Ulysses (1922), The Arrow of Gold (1919), Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928), The Moon and Sixpence (1919), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952) respectively.

The plot of the famous novel, The Old Man and the Sea, is very simple: it is about an old man going out into the sea to catch a fish. But Hemingway's style of writing in this novel is clear, direct and powerful, and it helped him to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. The following extract shows an example of this style:

    He is a great fish and I must convince him, he thought. I must never let him learn his strength nor what he could do if he made his run. If I were him I would put in everything now and go until something broke. But, thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more noble and more able.

    The old man had seen many great fish. He had seen many that weighed more than a thousand pounds and he had caught two of that size in his life, but never alone. Now alone, and out of sight of land, he was fast to the biggest fish that he had ever seen and bigger than he had ever heard of, and his left hand was still as tight as the gripped claws of an eagle.


Modern Drama

The development of drama in the 20th century is unique. Throughout its history, drama has been more of a theatrical art than a literary art, and this fact is even more immediately felt in the 20th century. During Shakespeare's time, for example, when stage props were almost non-existent, the playwright had to provide vivid descriptive dialogues to set the scene. Nowadays, lighting, sound effects and other theatrical gadgets are so sophisticated that any verbal descriptions of the setting would become glaringly artificial. Hence, a successful modern play may appear mediocre if we just look at its text, because it has many other means to achieve its purpose. The play has also moved from the theatre into the cinema, and the factors that contribute to the success of a play meant for a movie are vastly different from that meant to be performed on stage.

Another unique aspect in the modern history of drama is the development of the radio play, and later the television play. Not only that plays meant for the radio and the television are different from those for the theatre or the cinema, the features of good radio plays are also different from the features of good television plays.

Radio plays are meant to be heard, not seen; thus the playwright, with the help of appropriate sound effects, depends heavily on the spoken word and the audience' imagination to convey his drama. The television play, of course, has the full advantage of visual impact. Yet, despite its obvious handicap, a radio play is not necessarily less satisfying than a television play; a good radio play can be more successful than a television play in creating a more effective and lasting impression.

One of the most accomplished modern dramatists was the American Eugene O'Neill (1888-1954), who won four prestigious awards, including the Nobel Prize in 1936. His outstanding play is Days Without End (1934). Another American dramatist, Arthur Miller (b.1915), is noted for making tragic heroes of ordinary people. This differs from the past when tragic heroes were usually men of importance. Miller's representative work is Death of a Salesman (1949). Samuel Bechkett (b.1906), an Irish, is remarkable for his imaginative, symbolic representation of life, rather than a study of characterization. His most famous play is Waiting for Godot (1954).

The following extract is taken from Death of a Salesman. Notice that the dialogue is harsh and realistic, and a sense of desperation is discernable in Willy's voice, which arouses our pity for him. Even from this short extract, we can see this play is different from Shaw's Arms and the Man of the previous century. It is obviously very different from Marlowe's play of the Elizabethan period.

    Willy: God knows, Howard, I never asked a favour of any man. But I was with the firm when your father used to carry you in here in his arms.
    Howard: I know that, Willy, but --
    Willy: Your father came to me the day you were born and asked me what I thought of the name of Howard, may he rest in peace.
    Howard: I appreciate that, Willy, but there just is no spot here for you. If I had a spot I'd slam you right in, but I just don't have a single solitary spot.

    [He looks for his lighter, Willy has picked it up and gives it to him. Pause.]

    Willy [with increasing anger]: Howard, all I need to set my table is fifty dollars a week.
    Howard: But where am I going to put you, kid?


Modern Poetry

It is in poetry, more than in any other genre of literature, that the concept of modernity is most obvious in the 20th century. With some effort, a 20th century novel, short story or even play can be distinguished from its counterpart of earlier centuries; but the transition of forms and styles in these genres from the past to the present, is gradual.

The change in poetry, on the other hand, is quite abrupt. We can easily tell a modern poem from poems of earlier periods because the difference is great and distinctive -- almost as sharp a difference as between traditional realistic painting and modern abstract painting. Indeed, modern poetry is so different from earlier poetry that some people have reservation calling it poetry at all. In fact when Thomas Stearns Eliot (b.1888) wrote The Love Song of Alfred Pruflock in 1910, this poem was so strange and so different from other poems that no publisher dared to publish it until fifteen years later. Hence, many critics regard T.S.Eliot as the father of modern English poetry. His most famous poem is The Wasteland (1922), which expresses the sense of hopelessness after the world war.

Other well known poets of the modern period are William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), Ezra Pound (1885-1972), Cecil Day Lewis (1904-72), Wystan Hugh Auden (1907-73).

Modern poetry is usually written in free verse, and is often unrhymed. The poet suspends the use of regular rhythm, often grouping words together for their emotional appeal. In extreme cases, the poet even ignores the meaning, concentrating only on feelings. This leads some people to remark cynically that anyone can write modern poetry, or at least modern verse. In a way this is true; but it is also true that what he writes will probably be very bad modern verse -- just like anyone can throw colours about and call it abstract painting, but it will probably be of little artistic value.

What do you think of the following lines by W.S.Graham, clustered together in a way some critics call poetry?

    Very end then of land. What vast is here?
    The drowning saving while, the threshold sea
    Always is here. You may not move away.
In the example below, C.D.Lewis throws words about like a painter throws colours, but he produces beautiful modern poetry:
    I see you, a child
    In a garden sheltered for buds and playtime,
    Listening as if beguiled
    By a fancy beyond your years and the flowering maytime.
    The print is faded: soon there will be
    No trace of that pose enthralling,
    Nor visible echo of my voice distantly calling
    "Wait! Wait for me!"
Not all the poems by modern poets are like such "modern" poetry. Because some modern poets still use rhyme and rhythm, their poetry still sounds and looks like "poetry" to us. The following poem by Walter de la Mare (1873-1956), for example, is familiarly "poetic", and happily without those harsh, bewildering features common to many modern verses.
    Slowly, silently, now the moon
    Walks the night in her silver shoon;
    This way, and that, she peers, and sees
    Silver fruit upon silver trees;
    One by one the casements catch
    Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
    Couched in his kennel, like a log,
    With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
    From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
    Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;
    A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
    With silver claws, and silver eye;
    And moveless fish in the water gleam,
    By silver reeds in a silver stream.
In this chapter, we study the modern development of the novel, short story, drama and poetry. In the present 20th century, poetry has further receded into the background, leaving the novel and short story as the most popular forms of literature. Drama, in the form of television plays and cinema shows, is of course very popular too, and is virtually written in prose. The best known literary figures of the modern time, therefore, are mostly prose writers, such as Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, D. H. Lawrence, Somerset Maugham and Earnest Hemingway. In modern poetry, T. S. Eliot is most outstanding; whereas in modern drama, Eugene O'Neill is most accomplished.

This chapter and the previous two give a brief history of English literature from the earliest time to the present day. They also introduce us to the wide variety of literature, allowing us to savour the distinctive tastes of different periods. Hence, we will have a better perspective and more enjoyment, when we study any literary work. With this background, we are now ready to embark on a fascinating journey to understand and appreciate some of the best writings in English. We shall start with poetry, the earliest genre, in the next chapter.

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