British lit 335 final deck Flashcards
dramatic monologue
a poem that reveals a ‘soul in action’ through the speech of one character in a dramatic situation. The character is typically speaking to an identifiable but silent listener at a dramatic moment in the speaker’s life.
dramatic irony
a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character’s words or actions are clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.
motif
a recurring element (image, phase, word, object, etc) in a literary work that has a symbolic meaning
angry young men
1950’s British literary movement that focused on working class, strongly masculine heroes and their hostility towards social norms and institutions
civilizing mission
the notion that europeans had a moral duty to take western culture, religion, and ideals to what they viewed as the “less civilized” cultures of the world. (white mans burden)
colonialism
political and/or economic control of a territory and the people’s therein by a foreign power
anti colonialism
resistance to colonialism or the effort to dismantle it
postcolonialism
Refers to a movement in literature in which (mainly) writers
who live in, have emigrated from, or are descended from immigrants from formerly
colonized countries respond to and critique the
legacies and after effects of (mostly European)
colonialism in their writing. Anticolonial literature
from earlier in the twentieth century is sometimes
folded in under the rubric of postcolonialism
British Nationality Act
- allows all subjects
of British Empire to live and work in UK without a
visa; ship Empire Windrush arrives in England
carrying immigrants from Caribbean.
wind rush generation
Immigrants
arriving from the Caribbean between 1948
and 1971 would come to be known as the
Windrush Generation.
Suez crisis
1956 July. Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser announced nationalization of Suez Canal which upset the British and French. British and French plot military operations. in October, Israel invades Egypt, followed by Britain and France.
British Empire
first colonizing activities involved Norman incursions to Ireland. More sustained colonizing efforts began in early modern period. British imperial activity intensified in the 19th century.
English country house
refers to houses on large estates. date back to medieval estates of aristocrats. more were built in Elizabethan times (link to imperialism). went into decline in 20th century (expensive to maintain). symbol for ideal of englishness or English past.
postmodernism
began in 1950s and 60s, ends at end of 20th century. features:
-questioning of grand narratives
-pastiche
-recognition of the instability and ambiguity of language
-assertion that we can never have unmediated access to the real
-blurring of distinctions between high and low culture
-self-reflexivity to an exaggerated extent
grand narratives
all-encompassing narratives that people use to explain or make sense of history
