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Grex > Books > #70: YOUR FAVORITE british author. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!! | |
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deigert
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YOUR FAVORITE british author. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!
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Mar 30 21:40 UTC 1998 |
HELP! I have to do a twenty page paper on a British Literature author and
a novel of his. I would rather do a recent novel (20th or late 19th
centuries) but is not necessary. The author has to have/had an impact on
society and to write this paper will have to have many resources (criticisms,
critiques, summaries, critical analyses, and various other articles) Anything
from the twenty's to the nineties would be eccelent. Any ideas? I like
symbolism and strong themes. For example, I liked The Metamorphisis by Franz
Kafka. I would really appreciate it. Someone suggested The Magus by Fowler.
Would this be a good idea? If so why? A twenty page answer would be nice.
;=) Only two pages can be devoted to the autor and his life. The novel and
impact should constitute most of it.
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| 16 responses total. |
rcurl
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response 1 of 16:
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Mar 31 16:30 UTC 1998 |
writing 208 has been linked to books 70.
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remmers
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response 2 of 16:
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Mar 31 16:47 UTC 1998 |
If you're in the mood to slog through a really *long* novel,
you could do James Joyce's "Ulysses", if Joyce counts as
British. (He was Irish.) As Joyce is regarded as one of the
major 20th century figures in literature, there's a ton of
critical analyses and other articles available.
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rcurl
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response 3 of 16:
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Mar 31 16:53 UTC 1998 |
The quintessential British author was Thomas Hardy - late 19th century. A
far cry from Kafka - but isn't everyone? Impact? Probably very
significant, but I'm no book critic in that sense. Movies have been made
from his novels (_Return of the Native_, _Mayor of Casterbridge_, _Tess of
the D'Urbervilles_, etc), but what other kinds of "impacts" do novelists
have (except on other novelists)?
Let's see, who else can I think of of that era or later: G. K. Chesterton
("Father Brown" series); Agatha Christie; Arthur Conan Doyle ("Sherlock
Holmes" - lots of 'impacts' there); C. S. Forester ("Hornblower" series);
John Galsworthy ("Forsythe Saga")....well, I found a list, as you can see.
Two names that came to me with no prompting were H. G. Wells ("War of the
Worlds"), and W. H. Hudson ("Green Mansions" - because I read it
recently). Hmmm...how about J.R.R. Tolkien, to match against Kafka (still
not crazy enough, I guess)?
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rcurl
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response 4 of 16:
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Mar 31 16:59 UTC 1998 |
remmers slipped in....Joyce is a good candidate, except for not being
British. Good thing for him remmers doesn't live in Ireland - might
get hit by a shillalah some dark night.
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keesan
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response 5 of 16:
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Mar 31 18:26 UTC 1998 |
I think David said the authors were supposed to have a social impact, and
therefore most of his class chose Dickens (or Shakespeare). He would like
to choose someone other than these two. I liked Rudyard Kipling, especially
Kim, but did Kipling have a social impact?
(Shillelagh also shillelah - cudgel)
David would like to be premed. I suggested George Eliot's Middlemarch, about
a doctor who would have liked to do some good but married a woman who just
wanted him to make money. (Good video is available at the public library).
Did Eliot actually have any social impact?
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deigert
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response 6 of 16:
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Mar 31 21:10 UTC 1998 |
Thanks sindi. I also will check out the book "Ulysses" by James Joyce.
I really appreciate the idea, whoever that was. I've been wondering how much
impact a book can really have on society other than Shakespeare and Dickens.
How could a novel nowadays, with the invention of television and multiplex
movie-theatres, have an impact at all in our lives. The mass of Americans
didn't even know Schindler's List was a book untill the movie came out. It
seems good books are made into movies, and those movies impact us. Any
ideas? What kind of impact did "Ulysses" have on the British/World? What
about Shakespeare or Dickens? I geuss I don't understand "impact"
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davel
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response 7 of 16:
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Apr 1 01:47 UTC 1998 |
C. S. Lewis.
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rcurl
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response 8 of 16:
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Apr 1 06:37 UTC 1998 |
I was worrying about the idea of "impact" too. If we define it as affecting
a change in ideas, I'm not sure Dickens (or even Shakespeare) would be
cited as having had an impact. If we define it as creating a body of
literature that has wide appeal (and sells lots of books), then Dickens
and Shakespeare had an impact. Since I like Thomas Hardy's stories a lot
more than Dicken's, Hardy has more impact on me than does Dickens. I
think the answer is that *there are many different kinds of impact*, from
social to financial.
An alternate interpretation of impact is, what book by a British author
has been most influential *in changing society*?
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md
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response 9 of 16:
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Apr 1 11:41 UTC 1998 |
Dickens was a "socially conscious" novelist whose books were
responsible for reform bills, etc. He had a greater "impact"
(stupid word) than most others, in this sense. Jane Austen
is wonderful. Try D.H. Lawrence for something a tad racier
than Austen. The Bronte sisters were very good. Anthony
Powell wrote a series of satirical novels which I enjoyed
very much. Muriel Spark is Scottish but very readable.
Evelyn Waugh is very funny. If you want to try something
lighter but absolutely quintessentially English, read one
of the "Jeeves" books by P. G. Wodehouse. (Pronounced
"Woodhouse.") A special favorite of mine is Zuleika Dobson
by Max Beerbohm. It's about a young woman so beautiful
that the entire Cambridge student body throw themselves
into the river and drown themselves for her. Or was it
Oxford? I think it was Oxford, but in the last scene of the
novel, Zuleika, with no hearts left to break, gets on
the train to Cambridge.
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remmers
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response 10 of 16:
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Apr 1 12:21 UTC 1998 |
David, you might want to ask your teacher for clarification of
"impact on society". (I'm assuming this is a school assignment.)
James Joyce's "Ulysses" had a real impact on society, albeit in
an indirect way. It had been banned for import into the United
States on grounds of "obscenity" until the Supreme Court struck
the prohibition down in the 1930s. the kind of literature
available to the public. In this sense, _Ulysses_ was a ground-
breaker. Ditto for D.H. Lawrence's sexually explicit _Lady
Chatterly's Lover_. When the right to publish and sell this book
in uncut form was upheld by the courts in Britain and the United
States, it greatly widened the scope of what authors could deal
with generally.
George Orwell is a lesser novelist than many of those mentioned so
far, but his book _1984_ has unquestionably had an impact on our
language -- phrases like "big brother" and "doublethink" come
directly from it.
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rcurl
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response 11 of 16:
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Apr 4 01:02 UTC 1998 |
Back momentarily to Dickens, and "impact". While he did write about and to
an extent raise public consciousness about the poor law and other
iniquities, it was other social reformers that did something about them.
An encyclopedic summary of Dickens' work is "Certainly no English novelist
has depicted a greater number of characters. His performance remains, in
spite of attempts to disparage his genius, one of the most vigorous and
lasting in English literature". The operational word is "performance", not
"impact" (except in English literature).
By coincidence, my daughter is enrolling in "British Literature" for her
junior year at Pioneer. Is there any connection between that course and
this item? I don't recall it being explained for what course in which
school the 20 page paper had to be written.
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meatloaf
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response 12 of 16:
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Apr 4 08:09 UTC 1998 |
Why dont you focus on the stiff upper lip and the british sense ofof humour
U'll find plenty of it in Wodehouse P.G.
Its nonsensical and hilarious.
John Mortimer is another bloke who's polished the art of cracking open your
sides.He dwells on life in and arund the courtroom.
I strongly recco either .
Of course the DH Lawrence Jane Austen kind of stuff would have been analsed
and piced pretty threadbare by now.These guys would be something different
I
guess.
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keesan
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response 13 of 16:
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Apr 5 16:44 UTC 1998 |
David goes to Gabriel Richard and is a junior there. He will have to tell
you which course he is taking. I don't think he has had much background in
literature, so don't make too many assumptions. If you recommend an author,
also mention the title of the most likely novel.
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remmers
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response 14 of 16:
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May 11 16:04 UTC 1998 |
Did David choose a novel to write about? If so, I'm curious what
it is.
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keesan
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response 15 of 16:
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May 12 00:32 UTC 1998 |
Well, he read the Magus and then decided it was not worth doing a 15 page
paper on, so he postponed the paper and it will now be on the French
Lieutenant's Woman. (I once saw the movie and could not figure out the plot,
I asked him to tell me if he figured it out). He said the author of the Magus
disparaged his own book.
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bobbyjon
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response 16 of 16:
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Sep 18 04:21 UTC 1998 |
I liked the idea of using Tolkien. Even if you only view it as escapist
literature (I think it more) There were a great many people that used
the Lord of the Rings to give substance to their own reality. Like the
Trekkies of the 80's many disalusioned flower children turned to fiction
to give them an evil they could keep in focus. The good and the bad in
Tolkien's work is clear and easily held. I wish the current generation
would embrace the ideals of the fellowship. I'm afraid many of them
might be more attreacted to the dark promise of Mordor.
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