DANIEL DEFOE Robinson Crusoe, 1719 “[My father] bid me observe it, and I should always find, that the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind; but that the middle station had the fewest disasters, and was not expos'd to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind;” A 20’overview of the novel in 18th century Britain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?N R=1&feature=endscreen&v=FNzns 759wqM T.S. ELIOT “The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, 1917 “(…) I grow old . . . I grow old . . . I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think they will sing to me. I have seen them riding seaward on the waves Combing the white hair of the waves blown back When the wind blows the water white and black. (…)” Prufrock and Other Observations T.S. Eliot reading the poem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= A2khDhfwsoE ZADIE SMITH Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, 2009 “Some writers are the kind of solo violinists who need complete silence to tune their instruments. Others want to hear every member of the orchestra—they’ll take a cue from a clarinet, from an oboe, even. I am one of those. My writing desk is covered in open novels. I read lines to swim in a certain sensibility, to strike a particular note, to encourage rigour when I’m too sentimental, to bring verbal ease when I’m syntactically uptight.” Z. Smith reads from her book : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v= mQmShJvC-lc
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QUOTE / UNQUOTE 6 Daniel Defoe [dI"f@U] (1660-1731) – an English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer and spy (espion). He is famous for his novel "Robinson "Crusoe ["kru:s@U], considered the first English novel per se. He "popularised the English novel in Britain along with other authors such as Samuel Richardson. Pro"lific and "versatile [aI] (aux talents divers), he wrote more than 500 books, pamphlets and journals (revues) on "politics, crime, re"ligion, "marriage, psy"chology and the %super"natural. if you ‘bid’ (bade/bid, bidden/bid) sb do something, you ask or invite them to do it ob"serve [z] ca"lamities the upper and lower part of mankind : the + comparative because only two elements are compared the fewest : the + superlative because more than two elements are compared di"sasters vi"cissitudes T. S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888-1965) Although born in Mi"ssouri [z] in 1888, he died a British citizen. His first book of poems, Prufrock and Other Observations [z], 1917, immediately established him as a leading poet of the avantgarde. The Waste Land (La Terre Vaine), 1922, is considered to be the single most influential poetic work of the 20th century. He was awarded the No"bel Prize for Literature in 1948. you use ‘grow’ (grew, grown) to say that sb or sth gradually changes until they have a new quality, feeling, or attitude ‘shall’ is used like ‘will’ for ‘I’ or ‘we’ (a very formal use today) the ‘bottom’ of sth is the lowest or deepest part of it if you ‘dare to do sth’, you do sth which requires a lot of courage in fairy stories and legends, a ‘mermaid’ is a woman with a fishtail instead of legs, who lives in the sea seaward: further out to sea to ‘comb’ [k@Um] your hair is to tidy it using a comb, a flat piece of plastic with narrow pointed teeth along one side if the wind ‘blows’ (blew, blown) sth somewhere, the wind moves it there Zadie Smith – a British novelist and essayist born in North London in 1975 to an English father and a Jamaican mother. She read (étudier) English at Cambridge. Her acclaimed first novel, White Teeth (2000), is a vibrant [aI] portrait of con"temporary multicultural London. Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays is a non-fiction book about writing. Zadie Smith teaches fiction at New York University. Her latest (dernier en date) novel is NW, set in north west London %vio"linist [%vaI@"lInIst] com"plete [i:] when sb ‘tunes’ a musical "instrument, they adjust it so that it produces the right notes if you ‘take a cue [kju:] from sb or sth’, you do sth similar "oboe ["@Ub@U] sensi"bility to strike (struck, struck) en"courage [V] "rigour ease ≠ difficulty sb who is %up"tight [%Vp"taIt] is tense, nervous or annoyed
From Angus Ross’ Introduction to the Penguin Edition of Robinson Crusoe: Crusoe’s character is romantically portrayed. He knows his disobedience is wicked. So does the reader : but he is drawn on by Defoe to sympathize with Crusoe. There is a real tension between God’s purpose and Crusoe’s very human impulses. If this had not been the case, the book would have far less interest, and would have shown the imperfection of a humdrum religious tract. In this respect Crusoe is a new kind of hero in fiction: the reader identifies himself with the character. Of course this is true to a certain extent in any kind of fiction. But here the reader is not held at a distance and forced to judge, by the intervention of any traditional form (like the epic or the rogue’s confession), or any literary convention (like the elaborate rhetoric of Nashe’s Unfortunate Traveller). Crusoe is Everyman. ‘So’, we say, ‘if I had been Crusoe, I should have behaved.’ In saying he is Everyman, an obvious link with the old Morality Play can be made. Just as the Morality Play, and later the Elizabethan theatre, was an art enjoyed by many (as opposed to the purely courtly culture), so fiction on the lines sketched by Defoe became a highly popular art. This does not mean ‘easily understood by all’ but ‘not demanding an “inside” knowledge or esoteric orientation for its enjoyment’.
an ‘epic’ is a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero ‘rogues’ live begging, stealing and traveling with false passports. The Unfortunate Traveller: or, the Life of Jack Wilton by Thomas Nashe (1594) is a picaresque novel set during the reign of Henry VIII of England. a ‘Morality Play’ was an allegorical play popular especially in the 15th and 16th centuries in which the characters personify abstract qualities or concepts (as virtues, vices, or death)
