Genres (from 1945 to the Present) – Summary

 

An Overview

·         In the second half of the 20^th century British literature is characterized by the merging of genres, but novel is still the most popular genre.

·         Literature is tied to the laws of profit and loss.

·         The Booker Prize is an award for fiction in Britain but basically it is a commercial enterprise.

·         The Booker Prize marked the replacement of “English novel” by the “international novel”.

·         In the 60’s poetry became the voice of the mood of the age and it was combined with other art forms.

·         London was the centre of culture.

·         In recent years poetry has to be concerned with poets not nationally English who produce in alternative varieties of English. So contemporary poetry is characterized by plurality and diversity.

·         The Britain multi-culture society has brought about transformation in theatre: casts are racially-mixed and there is more variety in theatrical language.

 

The Development of Fiction

·         The Post-War Novel

o   Response to the psychological and material ruins of the war;

o   Somber tone;

o   Voiced the need to find a new meaning in a shattered world;

o   Political and social concerns.

·         The Novel in the 50s

o   Development of Neo-Realism;

o   The Angry Young Men group expresses the disillusionment of workers and lower middle classes unable to identify themselves with the new social values;

o   Literature of protest which describes the search of identity in a changing society.

·         Modernism

o   Interest in experimentation with narrative technique and interior monologue;

o   Use of symbolism and stream of consciousness;

o   Exploration of profound moral and metaphysical questions;

o   Search of re-establishing connection to tradition and of a centre of meaning;

o   Privilege of high art.

·         Post-Modernism

o   Acceptance of fragmentation;

o   The absence of a centre of meaning and of a fixed system of belief are very liberating;

o   There is no only one authority;

o   Combination of popular culture with high arts.

·         Main Post-Modern Trends

o   Fantasy;

o   Magic realism;

o   Analysis of the nature of the fiction;

o   Post-colonial themes.

·         Post-Modernism and Tradition

o   Return to the grotesque, exploring the perverse and the forbidden;

o   Modification of historical events with fantasy in comic and satirical tone;

o   Tendency to explore the limits of narrative devices;

o   Experimentation of mixing fact and fiction;

o   Intertextuality between past and present.

·         Feminist Fiction

o   Colonial and post-colonial themes;

o   Position of women in man’s world;

o   Use of various narrative techniques;

o   Attempt to find new and more appropriate ways of expressing female sensibility.

·         Present Trends and Themes

o   Historical themes;

o   War between sexes;

o   Battle between generations;

o   Feminist self-discovery;

o   Disintegration of family;

o   Child abuse.