1、English Literature after the Second World War,第二次世界大战以后 重要的英国戏剧流派,Theater of the Absurd 荒诞派戏剧,Theater of the Absurd came about as a reaction to World War II. It took the basis of existential philosophy and combined it with dramatic elements to create a style of theatre which presented a world which
2、can not be logically explained, life is in one word, ABSURD! Needless to say, this genre of theatre took quite some time to catch on because it used techniques that seemed to be illogical to the theatre world. The plots often strayed from the more traditional episodic structure, and seem to move in
3、a circle, ending the same way it began. The scenery was often unrecognizable, and to make matters worse, the dialogue never seemed to make any sense.,Major Absurdist Playwrights 主要荒诞派剧作家 Samuel Beckett 撒缪尔贝克特, Eugene Lonesco 尤金尤奈斯库, Harold Pinter 哈罗德品特,Nobel Prize-winner Samuel Beckett has widely in
4、fluenced the course of 20th century literature. The impact of his plays (Waiting for Godot, Endgame), novels & numerous short stories & poems have added the word Beckettian to the literary dictionary. His work depicts the unrelent- ing plight of contemporary exist- ence: living at the edge of an aby
5、ss, in an indifferent universe, trying simply to “go on“ with daily life in the face of recognition of futility. His ability to shape this modern experience into art has led the way for Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, & many other writes.,Waiting for Godot 等待戈多,“Why are we here, that is the question We
6、 are waiting for Godot to come” On a empty road, two tramps are waiting for the mysterious Godot. They quarrel, make up, consider suicide, try to sleep but still Godot doesnt arrive. With its sublime balance of comedy & poignancy, vaudeville 杂耍 & anxiety, Waiting for Godot is one of the most importa
7、nt plays of the 20th century.,Waiting for Godot 等待戈多剧照,Eugene Ionesco 尤金尤奈斯库(1909-1994),Eugene Ionescos main focus is on the futility of communication交流的枉然, so the language of his plays often reflects this by being almost wholly nonsensical 胡言乱语. He approaches the absurdity of life by making his cha
8、racters comical & unable to control their own existence. Ionesco was born in Romania, but grew up in Paris. Then he returned to Romania & attended the University there. While learning to speak English, he noticed in his textbook the illogical phrases & these phrases became the dialogue for his first
9、 play The Bald Soprano 秃头歌女. After This successful play, he went on to write other absurd works such as Rhinoceros 犀牛 & The Chairs 椅子.,Some Plays by Ionesco 部分剧照与海报,In The Chairs, an elderly couple are to tell an important message to the world; they open the door to numerous invisible guests, gradua
10、l- ly fill the stage with chairs, one for each supposed guest. The message is presented by a mute orator, who has been motionless when the old couple commit suicide, plunging themselves through the windows into the water below. The orator. faces the rows of empty chairs, attempting to speak, using s
11、ign language, desperate to make himself understood; then from his throat come moans and groans and the sort of harsh sounds made by deaf mutes 聋哑人.,Rhinoceros 犀牛,Berenger is an ordinary city man. He is unmoved by the news that rhinoceros are at large on the streets. This results a quarrel between hi
12、m & his friend Jean and his secretary Daisy outside a shop. The argument continues and many locals become involved. This results in confusion and chaos. In the government office where Berenger works, he realizes that the staff are gradually becoming Rhinoceros, and Daisy and himself are the only hum
13、an beings left. Then to his surprise, Daisy turns into a rhinoceros as well. He now concludes he will fight against all the rhinoceros.,Harold Pinter 哈罗德品特(1930),Pinter is the leading English language absurdist dramatist. In his plays, he never finds it necessary to explain why things occur or who a
14、nyone is. Besides, the inter- ruption of outside forces upon a stable environment also characterizes his early plays, which were thus named “comedies of menace“. Unlike Becketts or Ionescos works, however, Pinters dramatic world seems at least to be somewhat realistic. His best-known plays include T
15、he Room, The Dumb Waiter 送菜升降机,Caretaker看房人 and The Birthday Party生日晚会.His sparse style and gift for creating tension and horror through the most eco- nomic of means has made him one of the most valued playwrights today & won him the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature.,Some Plays by Pinter 部分剧作,Harold
16、Pinter 哈罗德品特 (1930),The Dumb Waiter 送菜升降机,In a seedy basement below a caf, two professional killers await orders for their next task. Prepared and ready, they dont know when the call will come, or who their next victim will be. One things for sure: they arent expecting an order for steak and chips!T
17、he Dumb Waiter is typical of Pinters early play: claustrophobic, bare, simultaneously menacing and amusing. With its echoes of current world events, the play raises quest- ions about power, politics, class, friendship &, ultimately, betrayal & is a partner play to The Caretaker.,Some Plays by Pinter
18、 部分剧本与海报,部分剧照: 生日晚会、房间、背叛、看房人,Angry Young Men 愤怒的青年,The term “Angry Young Men” applied to a group of English writers of the 1950s whose heroes share certain rebellious and critical attitudes toward society. This phrase, originally taken from the title of Leslie Allen Pauls autobiography, Angry Young
19、 Man (1951), became current with the creation of John Osbornes play Look Back in Anger (1956). The word angry is probably in- appropriate; dissatisfied is perhaps more accurate. The group not only expressed discontent with the staid, hypocritical insti- tutions of English societythe so-called Establ
20、ishmentbut betrayed disillusionment with itself and with its own achieve- ments. Included among the angry young men were the play- wrights John Osborne and Arnold Wesker & the novelists Kingsley Amis, John Braine, John Wain, & Alan Sillitoe. In the 1960s these writers turned to more individualized t
21、hemes and were no longer considered a group.,More “Angry Young Men”: 愤怒的青年(其他人) Arnold Wesker , Kingsley Amis & John Braine,John Osborne 约翰奥斯本（1929-1994）,John Osborne - the man who turned anger into artJohn Osborne changed the face of British Theatre. His play “Look Back in Anger“ was the turning po
22、int in postwar British theatre. He was an angry young man who spent his happiest yearsin Shropshire.,John Osborne 约翰奥斯本（1929-1994）,British playwright & film Producer whose Look Back in Anger (1956) ushered in a new movement in British drama & made him known as the first of the “Angry Young Men” The
23、son of a commercial artist and a barmaid, Osborne used insurance money from his fathers death in 1941 for a boarding- school education at Belmont College, Devon.,Look Back in Anger：愤怒的回顾 Its Importance 重要性,The first production of John Osbornes Look Back in Anger in 1956 provoked a major controversy.
24、 There were those, like the leading critic Kenneth Tynan, who saw it as the first totally original play of a new generation. There were others who hated both it and the world that Osborne was showing them. But even these critics agreed that the play, written in just one month, marked a new voice on
25、the British stage.,Look Back in Anger: the story,The three-act play takes place in a one-bedroom flat in the Midlands. Jimmy Porter, lower middle-class, university-educated, lives with his wife Alison, the daughter of a retired Colonel in the British Army in India. His friend Cliff Lewis, who helps
26、Jimmy run a sweet stall, lives with them. Jimmy, intellectually restless & dissatisfied, reads the papers, argues and taunts his friends over their acceptance of the world around them. He rages to the point of violence, reserving much of his anger for Alisons friends and family. The situation is exa
27、cerbated by the arrival of Helena, an actress friend of Alisons from school. Appalled at what she finds, Helena calls Alisons father to take her away from the flat. He arrives to take Alison away when Jimmy is visiting a friends mother. As soon as she has gone, Helena moves in with Jimmy. Alison returns to visit, having lost Jimmys baby. Helena can no longer stand living with Jimmy and leaves. Finally Alison returns to Jimmy and his angry life.,Look Back in Anger （1956）愤怒的回顾,愤怒的回顾部分剧照和电影海报,
