Trung tâm Đào tạo Trực tuyến Cơ hội học tập cho mọi người

Chapter III: The Victorian Age and Twentieth Century English Literature
+ The aim of the Chapter is to provide the students with a broad overview of The
Victorian Age and Twentieth Century English Literature
within a concrete social and historical context. It is hoped that through the selected
reading texts on English literature, the students will build up their literary
vocabulary, and develop their ability to understand and appreciate works of literature.
+ The contents
1. The Critical Realism
1.1 Historical, social and literary context.
1.2 Charles Dickens
1.3 The Bronte Sisters
1.4 William Makepeace Thackeray
2. The 20th century English Literature
2.1 Historical, social and literary context
2.2 Oscar Wilde
2.3 George Bernard Shaw
2.4 Graham Green
THE VICTORIAN AGE
The 19th century was characterized by sharp contradictions. In many ways it was an age
of progress: railways and steamships were built, great scientific discoveries were made,
education became more widespread; but at the same time it was an age of profound social
unrest, because there was too much poverty, too much injustice, too much ugliness; and
above all, fierce exploitation of man by man.
The growth of scientific inventions mechanized industry and increased wealth, but
this progress only enriched the few at the expense of the many. Dirty factories,
inhumanly long hours of work, child labor, exploitation of both men and women workers,
low wages, slums and frequent unemployment, - these were the conditions of life for the
workers in the growing industries of England, which became the richest country in the
th
world towards the middle of the 19 century.
th
By the thirties of the 19 century English capitalism had entered a new stage of
development. England had become a classical capitalist country, a country of industrial
capitalism. The Industrial Revolution on gathered force as the 19th century progressed,
and worked profound changes in both the economic and the social life of the country.
Having won the victory over the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie betrayed the interests of the
working class. The reform bill of 1832 gave the vote neither to factory workers nor to
agricultural labourers. It was the merchants, the bankers and the manufacturers who
profited by it.
THE VICTORIAN AGE

Văn học Anh Mỹ - EN16

 Trung tâm Đào tạo Trực tuyến Cơ hội học tập cho mọi người

The attempts of the bourgeoisie to solve social contradictions and to turn aside the
attention of the workers from political struggle ended in failure. The workers fought for
their rights. Their political demands were expressed in the People's Charter in 1833. The
Chartists introduced their own literature, which was the first attempt to create a literature
of the working class. The Chartist writers tried their hand at different genres. They wrote
articles, short stories, songs, epigrams, poems. Their leading genre was poetry.
Though their verses were not so beautiful as those of their predecessors, the romantic
poets, the Chartists used the motives of folk-poetry and dealt with the burning problems
of life. They described the struggle of the workers for their rights, they showed the
ruthless exploitation and the miserable fate of the poor. T
NEW LITERARY TREND
Chartism attracted the attention of many progressive-minded people of the time. Many
prominent writers became aware of the social injustices around them and tried to picture
them in their works. Thus this period of fierce class struggle was mirrored in literature by
the appearance of a new trend, that of Critical Realism. The greatest novelists of the age
are Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth
Gaskell.
These writers used the novel as a means to protest against the evils in contemporary
social and economic life and to picture the world in a realistic way.
Engels said that in his opinion Realism should depict typical characters in typical
circumstances.
The critical realists introduced new characters into literature: they described the new
social force in modern history - the working class. They expressed deep sympathy for the
working people; they described the unbearable conditions of their life and work; they
voiced a passionate protest against exploitation and described their persistent struggle for
their rights.
The greatness of these novelists lies not only in their truthful description of contemporary
life, but also in their profound humanism. Their sympathy lies with the ordinary
labouring people. They believed in the good qualities of the human heart.
CONTRIBUTION AND WEAKNESS
The contribution of the writers belonging to what Karl Marx called the 'present brilliant
school of English novelists' to world literature is enormous. They created a broad
panorama of social life, exposed and attacked the vices of aristocratic and bourgeois
society, sided with the common people in their passionate protest against unbearable
exploitation, and expressed their hopes for a better future.
The weakness of this literary trend lies in the fact, as Maxim Gorky puts it, that in spite of
their democratism, the English critical realists, not being connected with the working
class movement, could not comprehend the laws of social development and therefore
were unable to show the only correct way of abolishing social slavery. They wanted to
improve the existing social order by means of reforms. Some of them wanted to reconcile
the antagonistic classes - the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, to make the rich share their

Văn học Anh Mỹ - EN16

 Trung tâm Đào tạo Trực tuyến Cơ hội học tập cho mọi người

wealth with the poor, but being great artists they showed social injustices in capitalist
England in such a way that the reader cannot help thinking that changes in the existing
social system as a whole were necessary.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
Charles Dickens began to write at a time when the labour movement, known as the
Chartist movement, was at its height. Continuous demonstrations in defence of workers'
rights took place in many manufacturing towns and in London as well. The actions of the
Chartists had considerable effect on Dickens. Though he did not believe in revolutionary
action, he was on the side of the people with all his heart. He wanted what the people
wanted.
Dickens wrote about the poorest, the most unprivileged sections of the population. He
looked into the darkest corners of the large cities and there found the victims of
capitalism. Thus Dickens's immortal works became an accusation of the bourgeois
system as a whole.
Charles Dickens’s writing career
Dickens's first efforts at writing were little stories about the ordinary Londoners he saw.
The stories were funny street sketches. One day he dropped a sketch he had written in the
letter-box of a publishing house. It was printed, and the young author followed it up with
other ketches which he signed Boz. Sketches by Boz appeared in various magazines.
Having discovered, almost accidentally, his ability as a novelist, Dickens devoted himself
to literary work. His next novel was Oliver Twist. It appeared first in series in a new
monthly magazine of which Dickens himself was editor. Readers expected to see a new
humorous story, and they were much surprised to find a nightmare novel instead.
Dickens visited many schools in various towns of England, and he came across
somewhere life was worse than anything he had been through in his childhood in
Nicholas Nickleby Dickens exposes the boarding-schools for unwanted children.
DICKENS - THE FIRST NOVELIST IN THE TREND OF CRITICAL REALISM IN
ENGLISH LITERATURE
In the preface to his first work Sketches by Boz Dickens wrote that his aim was to show
'everyday life and everyday people'. He is famous for having used everyman as a hero.
No one has conveyed the spirit of 19th century English life better than he. His world was
a hurrying breathless city of workers, sailors and the lower middle class, who lived where
there was 'nothing to see but streets, streets, streets. Nothing to breathe but streets, streets,
streets.'
DICKENS'S ORIGINAL STYLE
Dickens has a style of his own. Everything Dickens gives the reader was learnt in
suffering, even the most comical situations. Let us examine his style. The secret of
Dickens's style lies in the combination of the strictest realism of detail with fantasy. He
draws a distinct line between all that is good and all that is bad Every thing or being that
is good he describes as having human qualities, the best ones. But when Dickens

Văn học Anh Mỹ - EN16

 Trung tâm Đào tạo Trực tuyến Cơ hội học tập cho mọi người

describes a man whose existence does not make the world happy, that man becomes a
cold unliving thing, or a beast.
DICKENS'S CHARACTERS
Dickens's characters are at first sight caricatures because of t he exaggeration of facts; but
this exaggeration is always a logical extension of something that really exists. His
characters are static, but at the same time they are varied, vivid and distinct. They may be
divided into three types: heroes, villains and quaint people notable for their whims. These
three types call up three emotions: pathos, or a feeling of pity, for the virtuous characters
when circumstances have turned against them; contempt for the villains, whom Dickens
describes in a satirical manner which helps to tear off their mask of respectability; and a
warm liking for the whimsical but generous persons.
Dickens was exceedingly sincere when creating his personages
DICKENS'S CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD LITERATURE
Dickens has given a full picture of 19th century English life. He revealed all that was
irrational and monstrous and through his wit and humour people began to see their own
time and environment in a new light. His method of writing inspired many others to write
realistically, and great works of critical realism appeared after him. Dickens never loses
his warmth of feeling and quickness of sympathy. This impresses all readers, and they
follow the writer in his pilgrimage along the roads of England and witness the administra-
tion of law, the treatment of children in schools, life in workhouses and the insincerity of
bourgeois philanthropy. He describes offices of large firms, factories, prisons and the
slums of London.
Dickens portrays people of all the types seen in the streets of great cities in his time. We
meet commercial agents, manufacturers, parliamentarians, political adventurers,
scoundrels of all sorts, lawyers, clerks, newspaper reporters, schoolmasters, tradesmen,
factory-workers, priggish aristocrats, circus-players, homeless children, pickpockets and
convicts. Dickens lived for the people. It was said of him that he, Dickens, “never talked
down to the people, he talked up to the people”.
Some social improvements in England were attributed to the influence of Dickens's
works. To many European critics Dickens ranked only among the moralists and
reformers of the 19th century. His works were not considered works of art, because in his
writing he was not inspired by beauty but by human suffering. Such an opinion
underrates the great artistic value of Dickens's works.
The Bronte Sisters (1816-1855)
Besides George Eliot, there were at least two great woman novelists during the Victorian
age. They were the Bronte sisters, Charlotte (1816-1855) and Emily (1818-1848). Their
younger sister, Ann Bronte (1820-1849) was also a novelist with two works. But unlike
Eliot, none of the Bronte sisters enjoyed a long life span and all died young. Though they
were each grudged a brief life, their lives were long enough for them to offer the cream of
it to the whole world. In 1846, a small volume was published bearing the title of Poems

Văn học Anh Mỹ - EN16

 Trung tâm Đào tạo Trực tuyến Cơ hội học tập cho mọi người

under the pennames of Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, to which all the three sisters
contributed under their pseudonyms. Although only two copies were sold that year, the
three sisters were not frustrated. Each then started writing novels. Charlotte wrote her
first novel Professor, which was rejected by the publisher. The year 1837 seemed to be a
bright one for all the sisters: Charlotte's Jane Eyre, Emily's Wuthering Heights and
Anne's Agnes Grey were all published.
Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre is Charlotte Bronte's best literary production. The novel is a frank and
passionate story of the love between a governess and a married man. When the story
opens, the heroine, Jane Eyre, is still in her childhood. She is a penniless and unattractive
orphan left in the rude and unjust care of her aunt, Mrs. Reed, a harsh, unsympathetic
woman. Finding the injustice too much to bear; the girl tells straight to her aunt's face
what she thinks of her. The girl is then sent to a charity school for poor girls. She stays
there for six years as a student through all kinds of hardship and punishment and another
two years as a teacher. Later she becomes governess to the ward of a rich landowner; Mr.
Rochester. They fall in mutual love and on the wedding day Jane has to break the
engagement and leave Rochester because she learns the secret that the man she is going
to marry has a wife, a mad woman. She runs away and nearly perishes on the moors but
for the help and care of the Rev. St. John Rivers and his sisters. John Rivers is a man of
rigorous honour and ideals, who almost succeeds in making her agree to marry him and
go with him to India. Jane refuses because, unlike the passionate but morally imperfect
Rochester; he does not love her. She returns to Rochester's place only to find the mansion
burned down. The mad wife is killed and Rochester is blinded in the fire as he tries to
rescue his mad wife. In the end, Jane marries him in spite of his misfortune and restores
his happiness.
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)
William Makepeace Thackeray and Charles Dickens were the greatest representatives of
Critical Realism in English literature of the 19th century.
In his novels Thackeray gives a vivid description of the upper classes of society, their
mode of life, manners and tastes. He shows their pride and tyranny, their hypocrisy, and
snobbishness, and their selfishness and general wickedness His knowledge of human
nature is broad and his portrayal of it is keenly analytical.
Thackeray's works lack the gentle humour so typical of Dickens's style. His criticism is
strong, his satire is sharp and bitter. He is a genius in portraying negative characters; his
positive characters are less vivid, but all of them are true to life. Thackeray used to say
that he wished to describe men and women as they really are.
The picture of life of the ruling classes of England in the 19th century as drawn by
Thackeray remains a classical example of social satire up to the present day.
William Makepeace Thackeray ‘s writing career

Văn học Anh Mỹ - EN16

 Trung tâm Đào tạo Trực tuyến Cơ hội học tập cho mọi người

Thackeray's contribution to world literature is enormous. Though the class struggle found
no reflection in his works, the novelist truthfully reproduced the political atmosphere of
the century. This period witnessed the growth of the revolutionary movement of the
English proletariat. Thackeray's attitude towards the ruling classes of the country
coincided with that of the broad democratic circles of England who struggled for the
parliamentary reform of 1832, were in favour of the People's Charter of 1833 and actively
supported the Chartist movement.
Thackeray developed the realistic traditions of his predecessors, the enlighteners,
Jonathan Swift and Henry Fielding in particular, and became one of the most prominent
realists and satirists of his age. The world to him is Vanity Fair where men and women,
to use his own words, "are greedy, pompous, mean, perfectly satisfied and at ease about
their superior virtue. They despise poverty and kindness of heart. They are snobs".
Thackeray loathed snobbishness, and in his works he used satire to expose the
pretensions of the snobs and social climbers whom he depicts in his novels.
Thackeray's first notable works was The Book of Snobs 1 (1846-1847) 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 may be regarded as a prelude to the
author's masterpiece Vanity Fair, which can be called the peak of Critical Realism.
Vanity Fair brought great fame to the novelist and remains his most-read work up to the
present day. It first appeared in twenty-four monthly parts which Thackeray illustrated
himself. In 1848 it came out as a complete book.
The Book of Snobs is a satirical description of different circles of English society in the
century. The gallery of snobs in the book, Great City Snobs, The University Snobs and
others, convinces the reader that' snobbishness' was one of the most characteristic
features of the ruling classes of England at that time.
Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair is a social novel which shows not only the bourgeois aristocratic society as a
whole, but the very laws which govern it. Describing the events which took place at the
beginning of the 19th century, the author presents a broad satirical picture of
contemporary England.
The social background of the novel which influences all the characters in their
thoughts and actions, is high society at large. Thackeray attacks the vanity, pretensions,
prejudices and corruption of the aristocracy (the Crawleys, Lord Steyne); the narrow-
mindedness and greed of the bourgeoisie (the Osbornes, the Sedleys). He mercilessly
exposes the snobbishness, hypocrisy, money-worship and parasitism of all those who
form the bulwark of society.
The interest of the novel centres on the characters rather than on the plot. The author
shows various people, and 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.
Twentieth Century English Literature -the Titerature of the Decadence

Văn học Anh Mỹ - EN16

 Trung tâm Đào tạo Trực tuyến Cơ hội học tập cho mọi người

In the seventies of the 19th century most writers on social problems believed that science
and science alone would finally sweep away all human misery and bring civilization to
all. Men of science were greatly admired. They were invited to speak in public halls and
express their opinions on all kinds of subjects. Many of these scientists believed in
positivism, and spread their demagogic ideas among the people.
But during the last decades of the 19th century doubts began to arise as to the faultless
nature of European civilization. People had awakened to the fact that scientific progress
was increasing the wealth of the upper classes only. They began to see that some human
beings were born to riches for which they had not worked, while the majority was born to
poverty from which there was no escape.
Philanthropy, never having been able to prevent poverty, now became a laughing stock.
Disillusionment led to pessimism and found its expression in a very pessimistic literature,
the literature of the Decadence. So the phrase “the End of the Century” meant not only
the turn of the century: It also meant that a certain change had occurred in the more
clearly-thinking minds.
The two trends
The second half of the 19th century in England gave rise to a rapid growth of social
contradictions. To improve the situation for themselves the ruling classes increased the
oppression of the toiling masses at home and widened their policy of imperialist
expansion in the colonies.
This period was characterized by a crisis in bourgeois culture. Artists, poets, novelists,
musicians and all the intellectuals hated the heartless and hypocritical bourgeois world,
which hindered the development of human personality. They were aware of its spiritual
degradation, its religious bigotry and meanness.
The crisis of bourgeois culture was reflected in literature by the appearance of two trends,
the one progressive, the other regressive. The representatives of the first trend continued
the realistic traditions of their predecessors - 'the brilliant school of novelists in England'.
It was represented by such writers as George Eliot, George Meredih, Samuel Butler,
Thomas Hardy. These novelists gave a truthful picture of contemporary society. Though
their criticism is not so sharp as that of their predecessors, and the social panorama of life
in their works is somewhat narrowed, the greatest merit of the novelists of the
progressive trend is a deep psychological analysis of the characters in their works, a
detailed description of their inner world.
The writers of the regressive trend by way of protest against severe reality tried to lead
the reader away from life into the world of dreams and fantasy, into the realm 1 of
beauty. They idealized the patriarchal way of life and criticized capitalism chiefly for its
anti-aestheticism. At the end of the century this reactionary theory found its expression in
decadent literature and art.
Decadent art, beautiful as it is, is reactionary in its very essence, since it rejects Realism
in art and appreciates the outer form of art more than the content. No matter how sharply
the representatives of this trend criticized bourgeois society for its anti-aestheticism and

Văn học Anh Mỹ - EN16

 Trung tâm Đào tạo Trực tuyến Cơ hội học tập cho mọi người

lack of spiritual culture, their own art came into being because of the crisis in bourgeois
ideology.
Though the decadent writers saw the vices of the bourgeois world, and in some of their
works we find a truthful and critical description of contemporary life, on the whole their
inner world lacks depth. They were firm in their opinion that it was impossible to better
the world and, influenced by hedonism, conveyed the idea that everyone must strive for
his own private happiness, avoid suffering and enjoy life at all costs. The decadent
writers created their own cult of beauty and proclaimed the theory of 'pure art'; their
motto was' art for art's sake'.
The Twentieth Century English Literature
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin on October 16, 1854. His father was a famous Irish
surgeon. His mother was well known in Dublin as a graceful writer of verse and prose.
At school, and later at Oxford, Oscar displayed a considerable gift for art and the
humanities. The young man received a number of classical prizes, and graduated with
first-class honours. While at the University Wilde became one of the most prominent.
After graduating from the University, Wilde turned his attention to writing, travelling and
lecturing. The Aesthetic Movement became popular, and Oscar Wilde earned the
reputation of being the leader of the movement, and an apostle of beauty. Wilde belongs
to those bourgeois writers whose literary activity, contradictory in its nature, mirrors the
crisis in bourgeois ideology.
Wilde was regarded all the leader of the English aesthetic movement, but many of his
works do not follow his decadent theory of 'art for art's sake', they sometimes even
contradict it. In fact, the best of them are closer to Romanticism and Realism than to
decadent literature.

The Twentieth Century English Literature

Oscar Wilde’s writing career
Oscar Wilde’s works reflect the emotional protest of an artist against social conditions in
England at the end of the 19th century. Wilde understood that art cannot flourish under
capitalism, and he came to the false conclusion that art is isolated from life, that art is the
only thing that really exists and is worth living for. Life only mirrors art, he declared.
Beauty is the measure of all things, hence his desire to escape from all the horrors of
reality into the realm of beauty.
The most popular of them are The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888), The Picture of
Dorian Gray (1891) and his comedies Lady Windermere's Fan (1892), A Woman of No
Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895), The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).
The wit and brilliance of these plays helped to keep them on the stage, and they are still
occasionally revived.

Văn học Anh Mỹ - EN16

 Trung tâm Đào tạo Trực tuyến Cơ hội học tập cho mọi người

Wilde also wrote poems, essays, reviews, political tracts, letters and occasional pieces on
every subject he considered worthy of attention - history, drama, painting, etc. Some of
these pieces were serious, some satirical; the variety of themes reflected a personality that
could never remain inactive. At home and abroad Wilde attracted the attention of his
audiences by the brilliance of his conversation, the scope of his knowledge, and the sheer
force of his personality.
At the height of his popularity and success tragedy struck. He was accused of immorality
and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. When released from prison in 1897 he lived
mainly on the Continent and later in Paris. In 1898 he published his powerful poem,
Ballad of Reading Gaol.
The picture of Dorian Gray
The Picture of Dorian Gray describes the life of a young man, Dorian Gray, or to be
more exact, his spiritual life. The author touches upon many important problems of
contemporary life: morality, art and beauty in particular.
The end of the book is a contradiction to Wilde’s decadent theory. The fact that the
portray acquired its former beauty and Dorian Gray’s withered, wrinkled and loathsome
of visage' lay on the floor with a knife in his heart, shows the triumph of real beauty - a
piece of art created by an artist, a unity of beautiful form and content. Besides that, it
conveys the idea that real beauty cannot accompany an immoral life.
Dorian Gray's portrait is symbolic. It shows not only a handsome young man, but also the
inner world of the artist who created it, and the spiritual life of the sitter.
Oscar Wilde’s Tales
Wilde proclaimed the theory of extreme individualism but, as has been mentioned
already, he often contradicts himself. In his works, in his tales in particular, he glorifies
beauty, and not only the beauty of nature or artificial beauty, but the beauty of devoted
love. He admires unselfishness, kindness and generosity (The Happy Prince, The
Nightingale and the Rose) and despises egoism and greed (The Selfish Giant, The
Devoted Friend).
Though in Wilde's opinion art does not mirror life, the theme of most of his works, even
of his tales, is quite realistic. He shows the contrast between wealth and poverty.
Though according to Wilde's theory an author must be impartial to his characters, that is
to say, must not have any likes and dislikes, his own sympathy for poor labouring people
is quite evident, as well as his hatred of the rich who live at the expense of the poor (The
Devoted Friend, The Young King).
The hard life of English weavers, which is described by Oscar Wilde in his tale The
Young King, reminds the reader of Percy Bysshe Shelley's revolutionary poem Song to
the Men of England.
The most popular tales of Oscar Wilde are The Happy Prince, The Nightingale and the
Rose, The Selfish Giant, The Devoted Friend, The Remarkable Rocket.
The Twentieth Century English Literature
George Bernard Shaw (1856 –1950

Văn học Anh Mỹ - EN16

 Trung tâm Đào tạo Trực tuyến Cơ hội học tập cho mọi người

George Bernard Shaw ,known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish
playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre,
culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more
than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and
Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating
both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of
his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to London in 1876, where he struggled to establish himself
as a writer and novelist, and embarked on a rigorous process of self-education. By the
mid-1880s he had become a respected theatre and music critic. Following a political
awakening, he joined the gradualist Fabian Society and became its most prominent
pamphleteer. Shaw had been writing plays for years before his first public success, Arms
and the Man in 1894. Influenced by Henrik Ibsen, he sought to introduce a new realism
into English-language drama, using his plays as vehicles to disseminate his political,
social and religious ideas. By the early twentieth century his reputation as a dramatist was
secured with a series of critical and popular successes that included Major Barbara, The
Doctor's Dilemma, and Caesar and Cleopatra.
Shaw's expressed views were often contentious; he promoted eugenics and alphabet
reform, and opposed vaccination and organised religion. He courted unpopularity by
denouncing both sides in the First World War as equally culpable, and although not
a republican, castigated British policy on Ireland in the postwar period. These stances had
no lasting effect on his standing or productivity as a dramatist; the inter-war years saw a
series of often ambitious plays, which achieved varying degrees of popular success. In
1938 he provided the screenplay for a filmed version of Pygmalion for which he received
an Academy Award. His appetite for politics and controversy remained undiminished; by
the late 1920s, he had largely renounced Fabian Society gradualism, and often wrote and
spoke favourably of dictatorships of the right and left—he expressed admiration for
both Mussolini and Stalin. In the final decade of his life, he made fewer public statements
but continued to write prolifically until shortly before his death, aged ninety-four, having
refused all state honours, including the Order of Merit in 1946.
Since Shaw's death scholarly and critical opinion about his works has varied, but he has
regularly been rated among British dramatists as second only to Shakespeare; analysts
recognise his extensive influence on generations of English-language playwrights. The
word Shavian has entered the language as encapsulating Shaw's ideas and his means of
expressing them.
Henry Graham Greene (1904 –1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by
many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary
acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as
a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he
termed them). He was shortlisted, in 1966 and 1967, for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Văn học Anh Mỹ - EN16

 Trung tâm Đào tạo Trực tuyến Cơ hội học tập cho mọi người

Through 67 years of writing, which included over 25 novels, he explored the conflicting
moral and political issues of the modern world. He was awarded the 1968 Shakespeare
Prize and the 1981 Jerusalem Prize.
Greene’s writing career
Greene originally divided his fiction into two
genres: thrillers (mystery and suspense books), such as The Ministry of Fear, which he
described as entertainments, often with notable philosophic edges; and literary works,
such as The Power and the Glory, which he described as novels, on which he thought his
literary reputation was to be based.
As his career lengthened, both Greene and his readers found the distinction between
"entertainments" and "novels" to be less evident. The last book Greene termed an
entertainment was Our Man in Havana in 1958. When Travels with My Aunt was
published eleven years later, many reviewers noted that Greene had designated it a novel,
even though, as a work decidedly comic in tone, it appeared closer to his last two
entertainments, Loser Takes All and Our Man in Havana, than to any of the novels.
Greene, they speculated, seemed to have dropped the category of entertainment. This was
soon confirmed. In the Collected Edition of Greene's works published in 22 volumes
between 1970 and 1982, the distinction between novels and entertainments is no longer
maintained. All are novels.
Greene was one of the more "cinematic" of twentieth-century writers; most of his novels
and many of his plays and short stories have been adapted for film or television.
The Internet Movie Database lists 66 titles between 1934 and 2010 based on Greene
material. Some novels were filmed more than once, such as Brighton Rock in 1947 and
2011, The End of the Affair in 1955 and 1999, and The Quiet American in 1958 and 2002.
The 1936 thriller A Gun for Sale was filmed at least five times under different titles,
notably This Gun for Hire in 1942. Greene received an Academy Award nomination for
the screenplay for the 1948 Carol Reed film The Fallen Idol, adapted from his own short
story The Basement Room. He also wrote several original screenplays. In 1949, after
writing the novella as "raw material", he wrote the screenplay for a classic film noir, The
Third Man, also directed by Carol Reed, and featuring Orson Welles. In 1983, The
Honorary Consul, published ten years earlier, was released as a film under its original
title, starring Michael Caine and Richard Gere. Author and screenwriter Michael
Korda contributed a foreword and introduction to this novel in a commemorative edition.

Văn học Anh Mỹ - EN16