Literature Analysis: Past Literary Works PDF

**The Three Strangers 1883 -- Thomas Hardy** - Late Victorian (traditional realism, early scifi, supernatural elements -- Jekyll and Hyde) - Story set in rural England, revolving around a Cottage where three strangers individually arrive on a stormy night, they ale have distinctive...

**The Three Strangers 1883 -- Thomas Hardy** - Late Victorian (traditional realism, early scifi, supernatural elements -- Jekyll and Hyde) - Story set in rural England, revolving around a Cottage where three strangers individually arrive on a stormy night, they ale have distinctive characteristicks and are somewhat tied too the upcoming execution **The Playboy of the Western World -- John Millington Synge** - Modern Irish Drama 1907 (Oscar Wilde -- The importance of being earnest, G. B. Shaw -- Pygmalion) - Story set in rural Irish village in county Mayo, it follows young man Christy Mahon as he claimms to have killed his father in a fot of rage. His story earns him admiration from young woman Pegeen Mike. Ultimately Christy father is revealed to be alive. **Easter 1916 -- W. B. Yeats** - Modern irish literature, direct reflection to easter rising (James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge) - The poem reflects on the sacrifice of the irish rebels during easter rising (rebellion against british ruke in ireland), first sceptical of their cause he finally acknowledges their courage and pprofound transformation their actions brought to irish history **The Destructors -- Graham Greene** - British fiction between wars 1954 (Evelyn Waugh -- Decline and Fall) - Set in post WW2 London, the story follows The Wormsley common gang as they plot to destroy the house of Mr Thomas -- a kind elderly man, the house is the symbol of pre war grandeur and the destruction becomes metaphor for the boys -rebellion against tradition, reflection of the physical ruins left by war **Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley** - British fiction between wars 1932 ( George Orwell -- Animal Farm) - The story follows Bernard Marx, and outsider due to his physicala and emotional differences with the dystopian society, his interactions with John -- The Savage (man raised outside the Worlds State, John struggles to reconcile his ideals with the hedonistic and dehumanized society, drug called soma **The Waste Land -- T. S. Elliot** - - Fragmented poem that reflects dissilusionment and despair of the post WW1 generation - It moves thoughout five sections with help of different voices and images, blending mythology, religious symbolism, it even portrays a spiritual landscape, capturing the moral and cultural decay of modern life **Eveline -- James Joyce** - Irish Modernism (Yeats, Synge, the collection Dubliners -- circular stories revolving around epiphany) - Eveline is young woman living in Dublin with her abusive father, Burdened by family responsibilities and memories of her deceased mother, she feels trapped in her mundane life. Dreaming of escaping with her lover Frabj to Argentina for a new start. However at the last moment paralyzed by fear and guilt she is unable to board the ship and stays behind. - Britain at the beginning of 20th century, british modernism (Katherine Mansfield, D. H. Lawrence) - Novel that takes place over a single day in London. It follows Clarissa Dalloway, a high society woman as she prepares for a party. The novel interweaves her lives with other chaaracters, mainly Septimus Warren Smith, shell shocked WW1 veteran - Angry Young men - a group of mostly working and middle class British **playwrights and novelists** who became prominent in the **1950s** (John Osborne -- Look back in Anger, Arnold Wesker -- The Kitchen) - Follows Jim Dixon, a disenchanted junior lecturer at British university, he struggles to fit in the academic world, detesting the pretentious people, especially his boss Professor Welch. While navigation his awkward romantic entanglements -- manipulative Margaret, charming Christine, Jim finds himself in drunnken escapade gaining respect of others, by rejection the university environment directly, he ends up with Christine and gets even better job - Postcolonial literature 1960s (V. S. Naipaul -- A bend in the river, Andrea Levy -- Small Island 2004) - The story follows Miss Rehana, a beautiful and self-assured woman, as she arrives at the British Consulate in Lahore to seek emigration to the UK. She encounters Muhammad Ali, an elderly \"advice-giver\" who offers his services to help her navigate the process, though often through dubious means. Despite his warnings about the challenges of immigration, Miss Rehana chooses to approach her interview with honesty and optimism. In a surprising twist, she reveals that she does not truly want to leave Pakistan, as her migration is tied to an unwanted unwanted marriage - Postwar british women writers, magical realism, feminism (Jeanette Winterson, Iris Murdoch) - The story is narrated by a young woman whose father loses her to a mysterious Beast in a card game. Taken to the Beast\'s palace, she discovers he is a hybrid of man and animal. Initially resistant to his advances, she comes to understand the Beast's vulnerability and desire for authenticity. In a climactic moment, she sheds her human skin to join him as an equal, embracing her own feral nature - Postmodern literature 1960 (William Golding -- Lord of the flies, Martin Amis -- Experience, Money, Ian McEwan -- Cement Garden) - Story follows narrator obsessed with an inherited journal from his great grandfather, detailing experiments with geometry that claim to manipulate space and reality. His obsession estranges him from his wife, leading to surreal conclusion involving geometric manipulation and disappearance - The theater of absurd, first half of the 20th century (Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter) - Tragicomedy about two characters -- Vladimmir and Eastragon (didi and gogo) who wait endlessly for someone named Godot, while they engage in conversations, meet other characters (pozzo and his servant lucky), godot never arrives, leaving the hint of existential reflection