1897 - 1898: The Fruits of the Earth to Turn of the Screw.

Chronology of World, British and American Literature.

Andre Gide. French. 1897. Poetry. The Fruits of the Earth. Hymn to the beauty of all experience. Cast off all that is artificial or merely conventional.

Anton Chekhov. Russian. 1897. Story. “Peasants.” Somber picture of peasant life in Russia. Stirred debate.

Arthur Wing Pinero. British. 1898. Play. Trelawny of the Wells. Actress becomes engaged to an aristocrat. When she returns to the stage, he becomes an actor, too.

Stephen Crane. American. 1898. Story. “The Open Boat.” Escape from a sinking ship. Three survive. One dies, just as he is about to reach safety.

Henry James. American/British. 1898. Novel. The Turn of the Screw. Governess vs. children who are malevolently inspired by two ghosts.

1897: Recessional to The Devil's Disciple

Chronology of World, British and American Literature.

Rudyard Kipling. British. 1897. Poetry. Recessional. Celebrates the 60^th anniversary of the accession of Queen Victoria. Warning to the British not to be overconfident in their hour of greatest glory.

Leo Tolstoy. Russian. 1897. Nonfiction. What Is Art? Considered art an extension of morality. Felt it should have a morally uplifting spirit. Work of art must be simple enough for every one, not just the well educated, to understand. Tolstoy’s views became the framework for Soviet extraliterary standards by which to judge a work of art: “Socialist Realism.”

Joseph Conrad. British. 1897. Novel. The Nigger of the Narcissus. Study of men’s characters under stress. Black sailor dying of TB. Presence of death brings out the best and worst of the crew.

Henry James. American/British. 1897. Novel. What Maisie Knew. Twelve-year-old Maisie sees divorced parents’ extra marital infidelities. Gives her a realistic knowledge of the adult world. Chooses to live with her governess, not her parents.

George Bernard Shaw. British. 1897. Play. The Devil’s Disciple. American Revolution. Convention and circumstances fix one’s life. In crises, people change, learn about themselves.

Note: Will resume blog on Monday, November 30, 2009. RayS.

1896: Weir of Hemiston to John Gabriel Borkman.

Chronology of World, British and American Literature.

Robert Louis Stevenson. British. 1896. Novel. Weir of Hermiston. Battle of wills between father and son with father, a judge, convicting his son of murder and condemning him to death. Son is rescued by relatives of his lover for whom he had murdered. Unfinished at Stevenson’s death. Promised to be his masterpiece.

Sarah Orne Jewett. American. 1896. Stories. The Country of the Pointed Firs. Maine seaport town from the point of view of a summer resident. Townspeople sympathetically drawn.

Joseph Conrad. British. 1896. Novel. An Outcast of the Islands. Marries native girl and is shot by her.

Anton Chekhov. Russian. 1896. Story. “My Life.” Member of intelligentsia becomes a laborer. Criticism of Tolstoy?

Henrik Ibsen. Norwegian. 1896. Play. John Gabriel Borkman. Story of a man who sacrificed love for ambition. The unforgivable sin is to murder love in a human soul.

1896: Sunken Bell to La Ronde.

Chronology of World, British and American Literature.

Gerhart Hauptmann. German. 1896. Verse Drama. The Sunken Bell. Artist caught between the world of nature and man, between paganism and Christianity. Experiences life of bliss on mountain with a beautiful sprite. Returns to earth. Realizes he cannot exist in either world, accepts lethal poison and dies.

Anton Chekhov. Russian. 1896. Play. The Sea Gull. Failed writer kills a seagull as a symbol of his destroyed love for an actress. She leaves him for another lover. Abandoned, she returns when he is successful, but compares herself to the dead seagull, destroyed by a man’s mere momentary whim. She leaves him again and he succeeds in his second attempt at suicide.

H Sienkiewicz. Polish. 1896. Novel. Quo Vadis? Rome of Nero and early Christian martyrs. Petronius represents dying paganism. Richly colorful life of ancient Rome. Christian girl eventually marries her converted seducer.

Alfred Jarry. French. 1896. Play. Ubu Roi. Satirizes tendency of successful bourgeois to abuse their authority and become complacent. Anticipates Dada movement and Theatre of the Absurd.

Arthur Schnitzler. Austrian. 1896. Play. La Ronde. Ten scenes, each ending before ten couples have sexual intercourse. Interlocking. Circular. Begins and ends with a prostitute. Symbolizes the unending frenetic quality and sameness of erotic behavior.

1895 - 1896: The Importance of Being Earnest to "My Lost Youth."

Chronology of World, British and American Literature.

Oscar Wilde. British. 1895. Play. The Importance of Being Earnest. Satire on the British nobility and clergy. Apparently lower class, Worthing is found to have had noble parents.

Alexandre Dumas. French. 1895. Historical Romance. The Black Tulip. Set in Holland in the 17^th century. Tale revolves about the struggle between two political factions.

H. G. Wells. British. 1895. ScFi. The Time Machine. Travels into the future; stages in the evolutionary degeneration of life.

Marcel Proust. French. 1895-99. Novel. Jean Santeui (Unfinished). Adapted version of his own life to 1895. Characters, incidents are prototypes of Remembrance of Things Past.

H W Longfellow. American. 1896. Poem. “My Lost Youth.” “A boy’s will is the wind’s will…, etc.”

1895: Red Badge of Courage.... to Light o' Love.

Chronology of World, British and American Literature.

Stephen Crane. American. 1895. Novel. The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War. Psychological study of fear. Romantic notions about war are soon destroyed. “Red badge” is from the gun butt of a fellow soldier. Merges with the body of soldiers.

Andrew Paterson. Australian. 1895. Ballad. “Waltzing Matilda.” Swagman (hobo) steals and butchers a jumbuck (sheep), leaps to death in a billabong (pond after heavy rains) when pursued by squatter (landowner) and police. Pack bouncing as he hikes is nicknamed “Waltzing Matilda.” Rollicking verse epitomizes Australian gusto. Theme is of little man against repressive Establishment. Australia’s unofficial national anthem.

Thomas Hardy. British. 1895. Novel. Jude the Obscure. Dramatizes conflict between carnal and spiritual life. Traces Jude’s life from boyhood aspirations of intellectual achievement to miserable early death.

Stephen Crane. American. 1895. Poetry. The Black Riders and Other Lines. Inspired by Emily Dickinson. After watching waves beat on the shore, dreamed of black horses coming from the surf.

Arthur Schnitzler. German. 1895. Play. Light o’ Love. Man torn between two women, one of low, the other of high social standing.

1894: ...Pudd'nhead Wilson to Arms and the Man.

Chronology of World, British and American Literature.

Mark Twain. American. 1894. Novel. The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson. Pudd’nhead is a combination of wisdom and eccentricity. White, mulatto children switched at birth. Mulatto is a scoundrel, finally convicted of murder by fingerprints. Epigrams.

George DuMaurier. French. 1894. Novel. Trilby. Under the influence of Svengali’s mesmeric powers, woman becomes a great singer. Loses her voice when he suddenly dies of heart failure. She dies soon after.

Theodor Fontane. German. 1894. Novel. Effi Briest. Effi is impetuous, spontaneous and open. She is married to a cold, calculating, rational Prussian husband. She is seduced by a mustachioed gambling ladies’ man. Husband duels and wins. Effie is sent home to her parents without her children. She enjoys the simple pleasures of everyday life in the days before her death. German realism. On a par with Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina.

William Dean Howells. American. 1894. Novel. Traveller from Altruria. Returned from a utopia, traveler contrasts it with the American system.

George Bernard Shaw. British. 1894. Play. Arms and the Man. Set in Bulgaria. Satirizes romantic attitudes about war. Libretto of The Chocolate Soldier is based on it.