CONTENTS
Lesson One Historical Context ……………………………………………………1
1 The First Half of the Twentieth Century …………………………………1
2 The Second Half of the Twentieth Century………………………………6
3 Study Questions……………………………………………………………8
Lesson Two Joseph Conrad …………………………………………………… 9
1 Life…………………………………………………………………………9
2 Literary Career and Major Writings………………………………………11
3 Attitudes and Views………………………………………………………13
4 Aesthetic Principles and Writing Techniques………………………………19
5 Selected Readings…………………………………………………………22
Heart of Darkness / “Preface to The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’”
6 Study Questions……………………………………………………………33
Lesson Three E. M. Forster……………………………………………………34
1 Life…………………………………………………………………………34
2 Literary Career and Major Writings………………………………………36
3 Attitudes and Views………………………………………………………39
4 Aesthetic Principles and Writing Techniques………………………………44
5 Commentary………………………………………………………………47
A Passage to India / Aspects of the Novel
6 Study Questions ……………………………………………………………54
Lesson Four Katherine Mansfield……………………………………………55
1 Life…………………………………………………………………………55
2 Literary Career and Major Writings………………………………………57
3 Attitudes and Views………………………………………………………57
4 Aesthetic Principles and Writing Techniques………………………………60
5 Selected Readings…………………………………………………………64
“The Garden Party” / “Seriousness in Art”
6 Study Questions…………………………………………………………… 78
Lesson Five William Butler Yeats……………………………………………… 79
1 Life………………………………………………………………………… 79
2 Literary Career and Major Writings… …………………………………… 81
3 Attitudes and Views… …………………………………………………… 82
4 Aesthetic Principles and Writing Techniques……………………………… 85
5 Selected Readings… ……………………………………………………… 90
“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” / “Easter, 1916” / “Sailing to Byzantium” /
“Ireland and the Arts”
6 Study Questions…………………………………………………………… 99
Lesson Six D. H. Lawrence… ……………………………………………… 100
1 Life……………………………………………………………………… 100
2 Literary Career and Major Writings… ………………………………… 102
3 Attitudes and Views… ………………………………………………… 105
4 Aesthetic Principles and Writing Techniques…………………………… 109
5 Selected Readings… …………………………………………………… 112
The Rainbow / “Nottingham and the Mining Country”
6 Study Questions………………………………………………………… 124
Lesson Seven T. S. Eliot … ………………………………………………… 125
1 Life……………………………………………………………………… 125
2 Literary Career and Major Writings… ………………………………… 127
3 Attitudes and Views… ………………………………………………… 129
4 Aesthetic Principles and Writing Techniques…………………………… 135
5 Commentary… ………………………………………………………… 138
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock / The Waste Land / “Tradition and
the Individual Talent”
6 Study Questions………………………………………………………… 147
Lesson Eight James Joyce…………………………………………………… 148
1 Life……………………………………………………………………… 148
2 Literary Career and Major Works… …………………………………… 150
3 Attitudes and Views… ………………………………………………… 152
4 Aesthetic Principles and Writing Techniques … ……………………… 155
5 Selected Readings… …………………………………………………… 161
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man / Joyce’s Letter to Grant
Richards, May 5, 1906
6 Study Questions…………………………………………………………173
Lesson Nine Virginia Woolf…………………………………………………174
1 Life………………………………………………………………………174
2 Literary Career and Major Works………………………………………175
3 Attitudes and Views……………………………………………………178
4 Aesthetic Principles and Writing Techniques……………………………183
5 Selected Readings………………………………………………………187
Mrs. Dalloway / “Modern Fiction”
6 Study Questions…………………………………………………………200
Lesson Ten Aldous Huxley…………………………………………………201
1 Life………………………………………………………………………201
2 Literary Career and Major Works………………………………………203
3 Attitudes and Views……………………………………………………205
4 Aesthetic Principles and Writing Techniques……………………………210
5 Commentary……………………………………………………………213
Brave New World / “Science and Civilization”
6 Study Questions…………………………………………………………221
Lesson Eleven Samuel Beckett………………………………………………222
1 Life………………………………………………………………………222
2 Literary Career and Major Writings……………………………………223
3 Attitudes and Views……………………………………………………224
4 Aesthetic Principles and Writing Techniques……………………………229
5 Commentary ……………………………………………………………234
Waiting for Godot / “Proust and Three Dialogues with Georges Duthuit”
6 Study Questions…………………………………………………………238
Lesson Twelve William Golding……………………………………………239
1 Life………………………………………………………………………239
2 Literary Career and Major Writings……………………………………240
3 Attitudes and Views……………………………………………………241
4 Aesthetic Principles and Writing Techniques……………………………247
5 Commentary……………………………………………………………249
Lord of the Flies / “Fable,” “Utopias and Antiutopias,” “Belief and Creativity”
6 Study Questions………………………………………………………… 256
Appendices
1 The Sources of the Quotations in the Lectures… ……………………… 257
2 The Other Writers during the Same Period… ………………………… 261
3 A Suggested Course Schedule… ……………………………………… 267
后 记………………………………………………………………………… 268
