American Literature
◦First American author is considered John Smith
‣ The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (1624) • Written to explaining colonizing opportunities to Englishmen
◦Important topics of this period
‣ Religious disputes
‣ Conflicts and interaction with the indians
‣ Discussion of America culture and identity
‣ Rise of African-American and American Indian literature
‣ Political writings (Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson)
◦Walt Whitman
‣ Leaves of Grass (a poem)
◦Edgar Allan Poe
‣ Themes: Depths of human psychology, science-fiction, first detective story and horror ‣ Works: The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Raven
◦Henry David Thoreau
‣ Themes: Transcendentalism and critique of American culture
‣ Works: Walden
◦Herman Melville
‣ Moby-Dick
◦Mark Twain
‣ Works: Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
◦1920s
‣ Lost Generation
◦Ernest Hemingway
‣ Themes: iceberg theory (the facts flow above the water, other symbols operate out of sight), love, war, travel, wilderness, and loss
‣ Works: Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, The Old Man and the Sea
◦F. Scott Fitzgerald
‣ Themes: peace and economic expansion after WWI, Jazz Age, youth’s dreams dissolving in failure and disappointment, moral disintegration ‣ Works: The Great Gatsby
◦John Dos Passos
‣ Themes: anti-war
‣ Works: Three Soldiers
◦William Faulkner
‣ Themes: American South
‣ Works: Absalom, Absalom!
◦Poets:
‣ T.S. Eliot
‣ Ezra Pound
◦1930s
◦Depression-era
‣ John Steinbeck
◦Post World War II
‣ Joseph Heller
‣ Harper Lee
◦Beat Generation
‣ Literary movement started by a group of authors
‣ Central elements are the rejection of standard narrative values, economic materialism, explicit potrayals of humans, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and sexual liberation an exploration
‣ Authors:
◦Howl
◦ Naked Lunch
◦On the Road
◦One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
‣ Influenced the rise of the hippie movement
◦Eugene O’Neill
‣ Long Day’s Journey into Night
◦Tennessee Williams
‣ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
◦Arthur Miller
‣ Death of a Salesman
◦Edward Albee
‣ Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
British Literature
◦Geoffrey Chaucer
‣ Poetry, The Canterbury Tales
‣ Collection of 24 stories, story-telling conquest by a group of pilgrims
◦William Shakespeare (see William Shakespeare in our materials)
◦Jonathan Swift
‣ Gulliver’s Travels
‣ Satire of human nature and travellers’ tales
◦Daniel Defoe
‣ Robinson Crusoe
‣ Fictional biography of the title character, who spend 28 years on a remote island ◦Henry Fielding
‣ History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
‣ Comic and picaresque novel, exploring human nature
◦Laurence Sterne
‣ Tristram Shandy
‣ Novel, biography of the eponymous (something after whom is something named) character, the joke is that he is telling hi life story, but he cannot explain anything simply, he makes diversion to add context
◦Lord Byron
‣ Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
‣ Travels and reflections of a world-weary young man who seeks distractions from his disillusionment in foreign countries
◦Percy Bysshe Shelley
‣ Prometheus Unbound, Ozymandias
‣ A play focusing on greek mythological figure, sonnet discovering that even the greatest men and empires are impermanent, their legacies fated to decay into oblivion ◦Mary Shelley
‣ Frankenstein
‣ Story about unorthodox scientific experiment
◦Jane Austen
‣ Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility
‣ Novels of manners, the titles speaks for themselves, women’s novel
◦Walter Scott
‣ Ivanhoe
‣ historical novel
◦Charles Dickens
‣ Oliver Twist
‣ Portrayal of the cruel treatment of orphans in London in the mid-19th c.
◦The Brontë sisters
‣ Charlotte Brontë
◦Thomas Hardy
‣ Tess of the d’Urbervilles
‣ Fight for rights, mixed reviews, cahllenging sexual morals of late Victorian England ◦Joseph Conrad
‣ Lord Jim
‣ Story of abandoned passenger ship in distress by its crew
◦Genre fiction
‣ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
‣ H. G. Wells
‣ Bram Stoker
◦Oscar Wilde
‣ Importance of being Earnest. The Picture of Dorian Gray
‣ Comedic play and novel satirizing victorian society
◦George Bernard Shaw
‣ Pygmalion
‣ Musical about Pygmalion who fell in love with one of his sculptures
◦Virginia Woolf
‣ Mrs Dalloway
‣ Story of a fictional upper-class woman
◦George Orwell
‣ 1984, The Animal Farm
‣ Social and political commentaries and satires of 20th century ◦Aldous Huxley
‣ Brave New World
‣ Dystopia
◦Anthony Burgess
‣ A Clockwork Orange
‣ dystopia
◦Sir Salman Rushdie
‣ The Satanic Verses
‣ Controversial novel inspired by the life of Muhammad
◦Samuel Beckett
‣ Waiting for Godot
‣ Absurd drama, two friends waiting for something that never comes ◦Aghata Christie
‣ Detective stories
◦Fantasy
‣ J.R.R. Tolkien
‣ C.S.Lewis
‣ Terry Pratchett
‣ J.K. Rowling
‣ James Bond franchise
◦Arthur C. Clarke
‣ 2001: A SPace Odyssey
◦Rev W Awdry
‣ The Railway Series
◦P.L. Travers
‣ Mary Poppins
My favourite English-writing author
◦Which works have you read?
◦Was he American or British author (or other nations)?
◦In which period did he write?
◦His other works
◦Which genre was it?
◦Quick and brief plot summarization
‣ Don’t bother with overexplaining the story
‣ Really, don’t
◦What are the main themes?
◦Did you like it?
◦Which characters were your favorite and why?
Zdroje:
https://www.britannica.com/art/English-literature
https://www.britannica.com/art/American-literature
wikipedia.org
• Life
◦Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England on 26 April 1564
◦He was third of eight children
◦Educated at the King’s New School (probably)
◦At the age of 18, he married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway
‣ Daughter Susanna, son Hamnet and daughter Judith
◦Some of his plays were on the London stage by 1592
‣ Attacked by Robert Greene in print
‣ Earliest evidence of Shakespare’s work in theatre
◦After 1594, Shakespeare’s plays were performed only by Lord Chamberlain’s Men ‣ Company owned by group of players, including Shakespeare
‣ Soon it became the leafing playing company in London
‣ After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, the company was awarded a royal patent by the new King James I
◦In 1599 they built their own theatre on the south bank of the River Thames, called the Globe ◦Association with the company made Shakespeare very wealthy man
◦After his success as a playwright, he continued to act in plays
◦He retired in 1613
‣ His successor was John Fletcher
◦Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616, at the age of 52
‣ The reason is unknown
◦He was buried in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church
◦His collection of plays is often referred as the First Folio
◦His dramatic works can be divided into periods
‣ Historical plays
‣ Comedies
‣ Tragedies
‣ Romances
◦He also wrote poems and sonnets
‣ Poems
‣ Sonnets
◦Shakespeare’s favourite themes:
‣ Love, revenge, witchcraft and magic, fate, youth, jealously, justice and many more ‣ Probably themes that are common in everyone’s life, that’s reason why Shakespeare is so actual even after four centuries
◦Style
‣ Standard poetic form was blank verse
◦Unrhymed verses, ten syllables to a line, stress on every second syllable
◦Shakespeare expanded the dramatic potential of characterisation, plot, language, and genre ◦Heavily influenced later poetry
◦Two operas of Giuseppe Verdi
‣ Otello, Falstaff
◦Shakespeare contributed by 3,000 words to the English language
‣ Some of them are used to present day
‣ He helped to shape modern English
◦The women were not able to play in his days
sources:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare?oldid=715990424
What is the Europe?
◦Or subcontinent of Eurasia
History
◦Phoenician princess Europa
◦Ancient Greece and ancient Rome
◦Fall of the Western Roman Empire
◦Migration Period
◦End of the Europe’s ancient history and beginning od the Middle Ages ◦Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantine Empire
‣ Most powerful economic, cultural and military force in Europe
‣ Justinian I
◦Feudalism
◦Church
◦The Great Famine of 1315-1317
◦Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science
◦A lot of great works were produced in this period
◦Portugal and Spain
◦The discovery of America
◦Europe played huge role in global affairs
◦European powers colonised America, Africa, Oceania and Asia
◦Church reformations
‣ Martin Luther and his 95 Theses criticising the church
◦French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars
◦began in Great Britain
◦Radical economic, cultural and social change
◦Russian Revolution
◦World Wars
◦Decline in Western Europe dominance in world affairs
◦Iron Curtain
‣ Europe divided between NATO in the West and Warsaw Pact in the East ◦Revolutions of 1989
◦Fall of the Berlin Wall
◦Dissolution of the Soviet Union
European Union
◦the Council of Europe
‣ the idea of unifying Europe to achieve common goals and prevent future wars ◦All European states. Except for Belarus, Russia, and Vatican City
◦The Treaty of Rome
‣ Establishment of European Economic Community
‣ Unified economic policy and common market
‣ Six founding states:
◦The EEC, European Coal and Steel Community, and Euratom formed the European Community
◦This Community became the European Union (EU)
◦More countries began joining
◦The UK withdrew from the EU on 31 January 2020
◦Result of a June 2016 referendum
◦Nordic Council
‣ Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Aland ‣ Inner-parliamentary cooperation
◦the Benelux
‣ Politico-economic union and intergovernmental cooperation
‣ Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg
◦The Baltic Assembly
‣ Regional organisation, intergovernmental cooperation
‣ Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
◦The Visegrád Group
‣ Cultural and political alliance
‣ Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia
Important benefits of the EU
◦Euro
◦Telephone and digital services
‣ Phone and online services at no extra cost across the EU
◦ERASMUS+
◦Food safety
◦EU-wide law covers the entire food production and processing chain within the EU ◦As well as imported and exported goods
◦Strict environmental standards
‣ EU policy seeks to minimise risks to the climate, health and biodiversity
• Freedom
◦Free speech and tolerance
◦Employment rights
‣ Maximum of 48 working-hours
◦Digital rights
‣ Online shopping
‣ Protection of personal data
◦Consumer rights
‣ Zero fees for credit or debit card purchases
◦Human rights
◦Humanitarian aid
◦Diplomacy
◦Abolishes border and immigration controls between most of its member states
• Eurozone
◦Monetary area
◦19 states
◦The euro as primary currency in these countries
Symbols
◦Beethoven’s `Ode to Joy`
◦9 May
◦Yellow stars in circle in the middle of the flag on the blue background
• Motto
◦“United in diversity”
Future
◦more sustainable future
◦Using resources efficiently
◦Restoring biodiversity and cutting pollution
◦European Green Deal
‣ No emissions of greenhouse gasses by 2050
Interested in more info? Try this link:
https://what-europe-does-for-me.eu/en/home
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#Culture
https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en
Environmental Issues
◦Effects of human activity on the biophysical environment
◦Most of them are harmful and cause environmental degradation
‣ Global, ongoing problem
◦The solution is environmental protection
◦Many movements were created to fight this problems
◦Why is it a problem?
‣ Causing more environmental problems
‣ Bigger demand for food, water and other resources
◦What are the causes?
‣ Falling mortality rate
‣ World is a safer place
‣ There is no need for more than two children
◦What are the solutions?
‣ The growing population itself is not the problem, there is no need for genocide or one child policy, the thing we should be aware of is to wisely divide the resources
◦Why is it a problem?
‣ It harms habitats and the animals that live in them
‣ Toxic substances get into the water, air or ground
◦What are the causes?
‣ Human activity, industrial disasters, irresponsible human activity
◦What are the solutions?
‣ Inspections and penalization for companies that are polluting the environment
• Loss of biodiversity (soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion)
◦Why is it a problem?
‣ Rapid growth of human consumption results using more of the Earth’s resources than it can replenish naturally
‣ Event of a huge decline of species
‣ So called sixth mass extinction
‣ More than 500 species are on the edge of extinction
◦Why is it a problem?
‣ The greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are blocking the heat from the sun to escape the atmosphere and that leads to increase of temperatures
◦What are the solutions?
‣ Reduce production of greenhouse gases
◦Why is it a problem?
‣ Big environmental problem, we are producing a lot of waste
◦What are the solutions?
‣ Recycle, turn waste into economical advantage
◦Why is it a problem?
‣ Increased emission of the greenhouse gases caused rapid and steady increase in global temperatures. It is destroying the ozone layer of our planet which is protecting us from the dangerous rays from the space. Greenhouse gases are also blocking the heat from the
sun to escape the atmosphere and therefore temperatures are rising – that is call greenhouse effect.
‣ That leads to catastrophic consequences in the world. For example: bushfires, locusts swarming across parts of the world and decimating crops, heatwave in Antarctica (temperatures over 20 degrees), frequent and intense drought (water is needed for harvesting), storms, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, melting permafrost in Arctic regions.
‣ These consequences could directly harm species and destroy the places they live in. The people are also in danger. Heat can be dangerous for people as well as extreme weather.
◦What are the reasons that this is happening?
‣ We mentioned that the main reason is the increased emission of the greenhouse gases, but where do they come from?
‣ The primary sources of greenhouse gases are following:
◦Burning fossil fuels for almost every single vehicle
◦Burning coal and natural gas are also producing a great share of greenhouse gases
◦Producing materials and energy
◦Land and forest areas can act as a carbon sink
‣ Absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
◦Due to deforestation, carbon sinks can function no more
◦What are the solutions?
‣ Improvements to energy efficiency
‣ Vehicle fuel economy
‣ Using alternative fuels and sources of energy (nuclear, solar, wind geothermal energy) ‣ Protecting forest
◦Why is it a problem?
‣ Amazon rainforest and other forest plays significant role in the carbon and oxygen circles ‣ They can act as a carbon sinks and absorb the carbon dioxide
‣ All forests can be gone in less than 100 years
◦What are the reasons?
‣ Agricultural expansion, wood extraction and infrastructure expansion
◦What are the solutions?
‣ Unfortunately, one person can not do so much about this problem, but they are still some solutions
‣ Consume less, avoid single.use packaging, choosing recycled or responsibly-produced wood products
◦Why is it a problem?
‣ The ocean absorbs about 30% of the carbon dioxide
‣ Because of this the pH of the ocean lowers (it is becoming more acidic)
‣ This change is impacting many ocean species
◦What are the solutions?
‣ Producing less CO2
Global Issues
◦Why is it a problem?
‣ According to statistics, one third of the food produced (around 1.3 billion tons) is wasted or loss
‣ That is enough to feed 3 billion people
‣ It happens at all levels of productions and consumption of food
‣ Buy only what you need
‣ Store food wisely
‣ Use your leftovers
‣ Put the food waste to use
◦World Bank’s International Poverty Line is currently $1,90, which means anyone living less than this is in extreme poverty
◦The goal is to reduce extreme poverty and make access to basic needs for those people
• Climate change
See: Environmental problems
◦The pandemic caused increase in anxiety and depression
◦Social isolation, fear of sickness, gried, and financial anxieties
◦Dealing with this problem is also economic decision
‣ It is directly affecting efficiency of the workers
◦The current trend is to digitalize everything
◦Our data is safe in most cases, but sometimes cyberattack could occur and our data could be exposed
◦Cybersecurity in the countries needs to keep up
◦With the internet, information could not be spread at higher speed
◦Hoaxes and false information are easily spread and more easily believed
◦Solution is to learn critical thinking, always search for reliable data
◦Most of of the people are living in a country where press freedom has gone down in the past years
◦Worst situation is in China, Russia, Arabic countries, Venezuela
‣ Source: https://rsf.org/en/index
◦Freedom of press is often threatened by government itself or by privately owned media
• Corruption
◦Bribery, election manipulation, fraud
◦Ending corruption would lead to more prosperity
‣ Money would be used efficiently
◦Solution is reform, better accountability systems and transparency
◦Restoring trust and building cooperation across the nations is crucial to face new challenges and preventing the world from drifting apart
◦In the early of 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine and started a war that is still going on (September 2022), fortunately, Ukraine is able to successfully defend itself and strike back
•Authoritarianism
◦Global freedom has been declining in last few years
◦China, Russia, and other authoritarian countries have gained more power
‣ Source: https://freedomhouse.org
Useful sources:
https://rsf.org/en
https://www.academia.edu
https://www.jstor.org
https://www.gapminder.org
https://www.un.org/en/
https://scholar.google.com
https://www.who.int
https://www.worldbank.org/en/home
Sources:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/global-warming-solutions
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions
https://ec.europa.eu/clima/climate-change/consequences-climate-change_en
https://unity.edu/hybrid-learning/the-5-biggest-environmental-issues-of-our-time/
https://earth.org/the-biggest-environmental-problems-of-our-lifetime/
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/world/#environment
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/forests/solutions-to-deforestation/
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Deforestation/deforestation_update3.php
https://www.fao.org/fao-stories/article/en/c/1309609/
https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/ocean-coasts/ocean-acidification
https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/current-global-issues/