II. Speaking Exercises:

Exercise 1. Describe the following words using suggested words and expressions:

reality	ideal	personage	dream
Something Real Exist In fact	Existing Thoughts Only In	Character Play Novel In	Something Desired Greatly

Exercise 2. Ask questions to the given answers:

10. Question: ___________________________________________ ?

Answer: The works of romantic writers of America are still read and admired.

11. Question: ___________________________________________ ?

Answer : Man’s struggle with nature and his victory over it inspired many of American writers.

12. Question: ___________________________________________ ?

Answer: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow won the hearts of Americans with glib verse and also gained international respect.

THE WRITING MODULE

III. Writing exercises:

Exercise 1. Fill in the gaps with the suggested words:

Nature mature lyrics description abstract skilful seasons

In his________ years Longfellow created beautiful _________about nature. American_______came to life under Longfellow’s pen. Earlier the _______of _________by poets, though very beautiful were _________.He was especially________in depicting the______of the year.

Exercise 2. Pick out synonyms from the text and explain the differences between them.

Exercise 3. Make up a plan to the text.

Exercise 4. Find derivatives in the text.

Exercise 5. Compose a story on one of the topics:

10. The principle features of Romanticism.

11. The creative method of the writers of Romanticism.

12. The main representatives of Early and Late Romanticism.

LESSON 10

THE READING MODULE

Read the text: American literature in the 20-th century.

Towards the beginning of the 20-th century the romantic trend in American literature gave way to new realistic form Critical realism as a trend in American literature developed after the Civil War.

Among the most outstanding realists of that period were Mark Twain, O. Henry and Jack London.

Mark Twain depicted common American people with great sympathy and humour. At the same time he cruelly condemned hypocrisy, bigotry and greed.

Jack London and O. Henry created typical characters of the American common people – farmers, workers, intellectuals. They revealed the truth of American life in their works.

Francis Scott Fitzgerald was the first writer to describe the spiritual hollowness of the period after the First World War. The young people were, is Fitzgerald’s opinion, a “lost generation”. Their attitude to life, art and money depended on the economic situation which was destroyed with the great Depression. Their moral and spiritual emptiness was encouraged by the memory of the horrifying experience of the First World War. The flamboyant social life, drinking and drug use also helped in the destruction of this generation.

Francis Scott Fitzgerald wrote numerous short stories for publication in newspapers and journals, as well as novels; his most popular novels are: “This side of Paradise”, “The Beautiful and the Damned”, “The Great Gatsby” and “Tender is the Night”.

After the Second World War there was the era of so-called “silent generation” who had stopped believing in humanist ideas. The Americans were becoming a nation of conformists with no fixed standards. Among the first to protest against the atmosphere of conformity were the writers of Beat Generation.

The best – known figure of the “Beat” writers in prose was Jack Kerouac. The writer who tried to explore the psychology of youth was Jerome David Salinger whose novel “Catcher in the Rye” was devoted to the youth problem in the post-war period.

Some other well-known American contemporary writers such as John Updike and Ken Kesey examined various aspects of American life.

The remarkable political and social changes in Great Britain within the years following World War II had a great influence on intellectual life and on literature in particular. The most memorable literary form which told the stories of the Second World War was a novel; the themes of the fiction began from the introduction of a new type of anti-hero who, like Jimmy Porter in “York back in anger”, rebels against post-war Britain.

The effects of two world wars, totalitarism led to the alienation and nihilism. These had great effects on literature and the arts. Between the wars, avant-garde writers began to experiment with a new style of drama. They tried to represent the modern man, estranged and isolated in an increasingly mechanical and incomprehensible Universe. Absurdist drama is a responsible to the aye. Each playwright felt himself an outsider. The playwrights Eugene Ionesco, Archer Adamov, Samuel Beckett and others are known to-day as contributors to the theatre of the absurd. They describe the absurd elements of the human condition. “Cut of from religious roots, man is lost: all his actions have become senseless, absurd, useless. To underline the spiritual and physical immobility of man pauses and silences are repeated in absurd drama. Post-war and modern period of English literature is characterized by the fiction of such writers as George Orwell (“Homage to Catalonia”, “Animal Farm”), Samuel Beckett (“Not 9”, “Happy Days”), William Golding (“Lord of Flies”, “Darkness Visible”), Iris Murdoch (“The Bell”, “Black prince”, “The red and the green”).

After text activity