John Galsworthy his life and work. Forsyte Saga and Modern Comedy. Forsytism as a phenomenon of the English society. Plan: Introduction 3

1.2 Important person concerning English realism
Another very important novel of the 1950s is J. D. Salinger’s „The Catcher in the Rye“ published in 1951. This novel is about a boy / young man called Holden Caulfield who is expelled from school. But instead of going home to his parents he goes to New York and spends some days there, thinking about his past life as well as about his future. Although Holden Caulfield is not in love and doesn’t comitt suicide in the end „The Catcher in the Rye“ ist often associated with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s „The sorrows of young Werther“, because both Werther and Holden are lonley, desperate and looking for their real purpose in life.
Not only Salinger’s novel is interesting, but also Salinger himself. He strictly refuses to do all things authors normally have to do. After the success of „The Catcher in the Rye“ he hasn’t published any other novel, he never promoted his book, never gave and still doesn’t give interviews and photos of him virtually don’t exist. Sometimes people even wonder if he is still alive becaus he has not been seen in public for such a long time.
Another important Englishauthor is John Updike, who got famous by a series of novels about a man fleeing reality as well as his social responsability.
When talking about recent literature in the U.S. black literature should of course also not be forgotten. Basically Afro - Englishauthors still write about the same subjects as their predecessors of the Harlem Renaissance: the problems of black people in Englishsociety. A famous Afro - Englishwriter is Toni Morrison, who wrote e.g. „Beloved“ published in 1987. „Beloved“ is about a female slave, who tries to escape with her children, but who fails and decides to kill her kids, so that they don’t have to suffer under their cruel owner. She only suceeds in killing her oldest dughter, who haunts her as a ghost 20 years later. In 1993 Morrison was awarded with the Nobel Prize.
Alice Walker, another Afro Englishauthor achieved the Pulitzer Prize for her novel „The Color Purple“ out of which Stephen Spielberg made a very successful film. The novel shows the struggle of black women for sexual and racial equality. But while the female characters in the book get strong, creative individuals at last, the male ones are decribed in a very negative way, for which she has often been critizised. Nevertheless the book became a bestseller and maybe it’s important to mention, that „The Color Purple“ seems especially realistic, because she wrote it in the dialect of the black population of the EnglishSouth. Of course we can not jugde from this point which Englishauthors of our days will be known and important in the future.
A novelist who is quite famous today and might also be known to future generations is John Irving, who tries to combine in his novels a satiric and humorous point of view with important lessons about life. His novels are very grotesque and sometimes full of violence, but nervertheless or maybe exactly because of that he is one of the most successful Englishauthors of the present. One of his books „The Cider House Rules“ was made a film in 1999 and Irving got an Oscar, for he wrote the script for this film.
Last but not least the Pulitzer Prize, the most important EnglishAward for achievements in literature, journalism and music should be mentioned. Joseph Pulitzer was an Englishpublisher who owned several newspapers and who is said to be the creatoir of the modern Englishdaily press. In his will he defined that every year a committee, the Pulitzer Prize Board should choose who is to get the award. There are 5 pizes for literature, eight for journalism and one for music. The winners are announced by the Columbia University in New York and the prizes are given to them there.
Concerning drama the beginning of the 20th century brought the most radical changes one can think of.
In the 19th century Englishdrama consisted merely of immitations of European plays and stage adaptations of novels such as „Uncle Tom’s Cabin“.There was no real copyright law to protect dramatists and Americans were more focused on seeing famous actors than on attending Englishplays. European plays as well as European actors had a much better reputation than Englishstage productions.
But suddenly things started to change and the Englishdrama scene flourished. Along with various other reasons this was due to Eugene O’Neill, probably the most important Englishplaywright.
His plays are, generally speaking about the working class and poor people, obsessions and sex, for O’Neil was influenced by his contemporary Sigmund Freud very much and about the relationships between people. Two of his most famous plays are „Strange Interlude“, published in 1928 and „Mourning Becomes Electra“ published in 1931.
„Strange Interlude“ deals with a woman and her complex relationships and has got nine acts. „Mourning Becomes Electra“ is actually a trilogy based on Sophocles‘ Oedipus trilogy and it takes nine hours to perform. O’Neill got especially famous for his use of uncommon techniques of staging a play. He introduced Shakespearian monologue and Greek choruses as well as masks that had been used in ancient Greek and Asian theatre. He also produced special effects by lighting and sound. In 1936 Eugene O’Neill received the Nobel Prize as the first Englishplaywright.
At the same time, Maxwell Anderson published his plays, which were mostly historical ones. He wrote e.g. „Elizabeth the Queen“ (1930), „Mary of Scotland“ (1933), and „Anne of the Thousand Days“ (1948) about King Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn.
Another famous Englishdramatist in the first half of the 20th century was Thornton Wilder, known e.g. for „Our Town“, about a typical family living in a small Englishcountry town. The only equipment on the stage in this play is a set of tables, chairs and some ladders; the play consists of several episodes and the characters use a lot of pantomime. There is also a kind of narrator who communicates directly with the audience and who tries to explain them what’s happening.
An important literary figure of the mid- 20th century is the homosexual dramatist Tennesse Williams. In his more than 20 dramas, he deals with disturbed emotions and unresolved sexuality. For Williams, Sigmund Freud and his exploration of sexual desire play an important role. His most famous plays are „The Glass Menagerie“ (1944) and „A Streetcar named Desire“ (1947) about a faded Southern beauty called Blanche Dubois and her social descend. In the end she is raped by her brother-in-law and commits suicide.
In the 1950s the career of Arthur Miller reached ist peak. His masterpiece „Death of a Salesman“, about a man searching for merit and worth in his life, who finally fails, was published in 1949. „Death of a Salesman“ combines realism with naturalism - a typical feature of the late 1940s - and Miller managed to create a round plot as well as round charakters. Although Miller’s suceeding plays didn’t reach the same level of success, they were also quite popular. „The Crucible“ e.g. is a histroical play about the Salem witchcraft trials in the 17th cenntury. Although it is set in colonial times it had quite a topical meaning in the 1950s, for it referred to Senator Mc Carthy’s desperate hunt for Communists at that time. Miller is today still one of the most influential persons concerning Englishdrama.
Another important dramatist is Edward Albee, who’s plays combine realistic and abstract themes. „Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf“ published in 1962 e.g. is a story about four people, two married couples, who are sitting in a room leading a conversation. In the course of time these conversation reveals intimate facts about one of the couples and the end of the play leaves them standing exposed, their marriage, a farce anyway, torn into pieces. „Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf“ was often critizised because of ist harshness and drastic language, but on the other hand it is regarded as one of the most extraordinary abstract comedies of the 20th century.
In the past few years Englishtheatre got a lot of concurrence: movies, TV and musicals, like e.g. the Box Office hit „The Producers“. Playwrights are therefore often not simply playwrights anymore, but also responsible for films etc. One example for this development is Marvin Neil Simon, who published a lot of plays, some of them running at the Broadway simultaneously, but who also directed a number of films, some of whch were adaptations of his plays. In 1991 Simon was awarded with the Pulitzer Prize for his play "Lost in Yonkers“.
It was the same with poetry as with drama - Englishpoetry and poetry in general was not very influential in the first years of the 20th century.