Teaching syllabus FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ENGLISH FOR LITERATURE (for literature students)

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUẢNG BÌNH KHOA NGOẠI NGỮ -    - Teaching syllabus FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ENGLISH FOR LITERATURE (For literature students) Tran Thi Phuong Tu Quang Binh, 2017 INTRODUCTION This course of English for literature is designed to meet non- English major students’ needs of English in their literature course provided by Quang Binh University The purpose of this course is to help students in understanding of the specific words and academic words regarding British, American and Vietnam Literature Students who master those knowledge of literature can be able to read more academic materials and authentic books for their professional development of Prose, Poetry or Drama They also, may publish their articles in English through the international press It is hoped that learners will find the course useful and practical The material presented here borrows heavily from online website sources listed in Reference This book is used internally for Quang Binh students only Quang Binh, 2016 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CONTENTS Unit 1: LITERATURE MAJOR FORMs Poetry .3 Prose Drama .7 Unit 2- LITERATURE OF VIETNAM Vietnamese Language History .8 Modern literature before 1945 13 Modern Literature 1945-1975 .15 UNIT 3- VIETNAMESE AUTHORS 21 Unit 4- THE TALES OF KIEU .24 UNIT 5: DUMB LUCK .28 UNIT 6: AMERICAN AND BRITISH LITERATURE .31 UNIT 7- FOREIGN AUTHORS 35 UNIT 8: THE LAST LEAF 39 UNIT 9: HAMLET 41 UNIT 10: THE SCARLET LETTER 43 REFERENCE 45 Unit 1: LITERATURE Literature, in its broadest sense, is any single body of written works More restrictively, it is writing considered as an art form, or any single writing deemed to have artistic or intellectual value, often due to deploying language in ways that differ from ordinary usage It was used to refer to all written accounts, though contemporary definitions extend the term to include texts that are spoken or sung (oral literature) Literature can be classified according to whether it is fiction or non-fiction and whether it is poetry or prose; it can be further distinguished according to major forms such as the novel, short story or drama; and works are often categorized according to historical periods or their adherence to certain aesthetic features or expectations (genre) MAJOR FORMs Poetry Poetry is a form of literary art which uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, prosaic ostensible meaning.[13] Poetry has traditionally been distinguished from prose by its being set in verse;[a] prose is cast insentences, poetry in lines; the syntax of prose is dictated by meaning, whereas that of poetry is held across metre or the visual aspects of the poem.[18] Prior to the nineteenth century, poetry was commonly understood to be something set in metrical lines; accordingly, in 1658 a definition of poetry is "any kind of subject consisting of Rythm or Verses".[13] Possibly as a result of Aristotle's influence (his Poetics), "poetry" before the nineteenth century was usually less a technical designation for verse than a normative category of fictive or rhetorical art.[4] As a form it may pre-date literacy, with the earliest works being composed within and sustained by an oral tradition;[19][20] hence it constitutes the earliest example of literature Biển The Sea Anh không xứng biển xanh Nhưng anh muốn em bờ cát trắng Bờ cát dài phẳng lặng Soi ánh nắng pha lê I don't deserve to be the ocean blue But I want thee to be the white beach sand The sandy beach stretching calmly its hue Under the crystal sun Bờ đẹp đẽ cát vàng Thoai thoải hàng thông đứng -Như lặng lẽ mơ màng Suốt ngàn năm bên sóng The comely beach of yellow sand Extending to the rows of pine So dreamily and quietly For eons by the roaring brine Anh Hôn Let me be the clear turquoise swells That kiss ceaseless thy yellow sand xin làm cát sóng vàng biếc em Hơn thật khẽ, Hơn êm đềm mãi thật êm The gentle kiss that softly The quiet kiss that has no end Đã hôn rồi, hôn Cho đến muôn Đến tan đất Anh dạt lại đời trời I will kiss thee again, again From here clear to eternity Till none of this wide world remains Before my heart can beat calmly Cũng có Như nghiến nát bờ Là lúc triều yêu Ngập bến ngày đêm ạt em mến There're times when I would fain surge in As if to crush thy edges dear It's when my billows roar passion To drown thee in ceaseless love sheer Anh không xứng biển xanh Nhưng xin làm bể biếc Để hát bên gành Một tình chung không hết, I don't deserve to be the ocean blue But want to be the turquoise sea To sing eternal songs by thee In endless love for dear thee true Để bọt tung trắng xóa Và gió bay tỏa nơi nơi Như hôn ngàn năm không thỏa, Bởi yêu bờ lắm, em ! So when the foam comes boiling white And wind gusts in from everywhere, Insatiably I'll kiss with might 'Cause I love so thy sand edge bare Xuân Diệu Translated by Thomas 28 October 2004 Here Comes Autumn Đây Mùa Thu Tới Rặng liễu đìu hiu đứng chịu tang Tóc buồn buông xuống lệ ngàn hàng Đây mùa thu tới mùa thu tới Với áo mơ phai dệt vàng Hơn loài hoa rụng cành Trong vườn sắc đỏ rũa màu xanh Những luồng run rẩy rung rinh Đôi nhánh khô gầy sương mỏng manh Thỉnh thoảng nàng trăng tự ngẩn ngơ Non xa khởi nhạt sương mờ Đã nghe rét mướt luồn gió Đã vắng người sang chuyến đị Mây vẩn khơng, chim bay D dwells Le The grieving willows droop in deep mourning, Their sad hair streaming like teardrops falling Here comes autumn, here comes the autumn cold In its faded mantle woven with leaves of gold Various blossoms have fallen off their branch Amidst a garden where the red mingles with blue The trembling breath of breeze shakes the leaves and A few shriveled limbs like fragile bones in Khí trời u uất hận chia ly Ít nhiều thiếu nữ buồn khơng nói Tựa cửa nhìn xa nghĩ ngợi (Tập Thơ Thơ, 1938) Xuân Diệu somber hue At times the moon appears with all her puzzled look And on the far side mountains start to veil with fog I hear the bitter cold stirring the wind, But see no boats making their cross-stream run High in the cloudy sky the birds flee on While the leaden air broods o'er the parting A few sad girls against the door lean in silence Looking pensively into the distance (From Poetry Poetry, 1938) Translated by 16 February 2009 Thomas D Le Prose Prose is a form of language that possesses ordinary syntax and natural speech rather than rhythmic structure; in which regard, along with its measurement in sentences rather than lines, it differs from poetry.[18][21] On the historical development of prose, Richard Graff notes that "[In the case of Ancient Greece] recent scholarship has emphasized the fact that formal prose was a comparatively late development, an "invention" properly associated with the classical period".[22] Drama Drama is literature intended for performance.[42] The form is often combined with music and dance, as in opera and musical theatre A play is a subset of this form, referring to the written dramatic work of a playwright that is intended for performance in a theatre; it comprises chiefly dialogue between characters, and usually aims at dramatic or theatrical performance rather than at reading A closet drama, by contrast, refers to a play written to be read rather than to be performed; hence, it is intended that the meaning of such a work can be realized fully on the page.[43] Nearly all drama took verse form until comparatively recently Unit 2- LITERATURE OF VIETNAM Vietnamese Language History Some 3,000 years ago, communities of Mon-Khmer and Tay people merged in the northern Red River and Ma River Deltas These two groups developed a shared language, known as Viet-Muong, which was composed of two main dialects Lowlanders spoke what was known as the “City” dialect, while people in midland and mountain regions spoke the “Highlanders” dialect About 60 percent of modern Vietnamese words are of Chinese origin Many basic words, like geographical terms, were adopted from monotonal Mon-Khmer languages, while tonality came from Tai In Vietnamese, each syllable has one of six tones, which completely alters the meaning of the word, and one, two or three of 11 distinct vowel sounds This is a complicated language, which, not surprisingly, has a complicated past The Chinese Chu Nom – VietnameseThe Chinese annexed Giao Chi (the Tonkin Delta) in 111 A.D In a bid to assimilate the lowland Viets, they introduced a Chinese-style administrative system headed by Chinese governors, and opened schools to teach Chinese characters During the 1,000 years of Chinese rule, while Han (classical Chinese) was the official written language, the spoken language continued to develop The City dialect became the common Viet language, while the Highlanders dialect developed into the present Muong language By the l0th century, when the Viets recovered their independence and established the nation of Dai Viet, the linguistic spilt between Viet and Muong was complete Through the following ten centuries of national independence, the Vietnamese imperial court and ruling classes continued to emulate Chinese cultural practices Civil service exams and academic literature were written in Chinese characters The spoken language, however, was Vietnamese, and here arose a paradox: the script approved by the imperial court was not used to transcribe the national language Instead, the Viets adapted Chinese characters into their own script, chữ nôm, a half-phonetic and half-ideographic writing system According to the annals, Han Thuyen became the first poet to write in chữ nôm at the end of the 13th century Chinese characters were still used for Chinese-style Tang dynasty poetry and for literary prose, such as Hoang Le Nhat Thong Chi (A Tale of the Later Le Dynasty), Truyen Ky Man Luc (A Random Collection of Fantastic Stories and Linh Nam Trich Quai, (A Collection of the Supernatural Beings of Linh Nam) In the 17th and 18th centuries, poets used chữ nôm to write some of Vietnam’s most famous literary classics, including narrative poems like Nguyen Du’s Kim Van Kieu (The Tale of Kieu), and Chinh Phu Ngam (Laments of a Warrior’s Wife), a long lyrical poem translated from the original Chinese by Doan Thi Diem, a woman poet However, while many poems were written in chữ nôm, most other texts were written in Han characters In fact, the mandarin class held national and popular culture in such contempt that, at one point, chữ nôm was officially banned Since there was no official, uniform system for transcribing the Vietnamese language with chữ nôm, authors developed their own rules This has led to many interpretations of literature written in chữ nôm Loan Word Due to frequent contacts between Vietnam and China, the Vietnamese language absorbed many Han words Today, many of these “loan-words” have been Vietnamized to such an extent that few people are aware of their Chinese origins Examples include Tiền (money), Hàng (goods/merchandise), chợ (market), and Mùa (season) A second group of literary terms, known as “Sino-Vietnamese” words, was assimilated into Vietnamese during the Tang era (5th to 7th century) These terms are incompletely Vietnamized When speaking, one may not mix these two types of words For example, since a one-syllable “pure” Vietnamese word for mountain (núi) already exists, one should not use the Chinese counterpart (sơn-which also means mountain) to build a sentence like “Tôi lên sơn” (I climb the mountain) The word núi must be used instead But, one may use the Chinese synonym sơn to replace nói in two-syllable words, such as in the sentence: “Có sơn nữ vùng sơn cước hát sơn ca sơn trại” (There was a highland girl in a mountain area who was singing a mountain song at a mountain farm) European Influence The Roman-based script used in Vietnam today dates back to the 17th century French, Portuguese and Spanish Catholic missionaries, aided by Vietnamese preachers, developed a new writing system as a means of spreading the gospel to a wider audience The man credited with developing the current Roman based Chữ quốc ngữ (script of the national language) is Alexandre De Rhodes, a Frecnh Jesuit missionary who came to Vietnam in 1627 Within six months of his arrival, De Rhodes was reportedly preaching in fluent Vietnamese UNIT 6: AMERICAN AND BRITISH LITERATURE BRITISH LITERATURE The Development of English Literature (Summary) Old English, Middle English and Chaucer Old English English, as we know it, descends from the language spoken by the north Germanic tribes who settled in England from the 5th century A.D onwards They had no writing (except runes, used as charms) until they learned the Latin alphabet from Roman missionaries The earliest written works in Old English (as their language is now known to scholars) were probably composed orally at first, and may have been passed on from speaker to speaker before being written We know the names of some of the later writers (Cỉdmon, Ỉlfric and King Alfred) but most writing is anonymous Old English literature is mostly chronicle and poetry - lyric, descriptive but chiefly narrative or epic Middle English and Chaucer From 1066 onwards, the language is known to scholars as Middle English Ideas and themes from French and Celtic literature appear in English writing at about this time, but the first great name in English literature is that of Geoffrey Chaucer (?1343-1400) Chaucer introduces the iambic pentameter line, the rhyming couplet and other rhymes used in Italian poetry (a language in which rhyming is arguably much easier than in English, thanks to the frequency of terminal vowels) Some of Chaucer's work is prose and some is lyric poetry, but his greatest work is mostly narrative poetry, which we find in Troilus and Criseyde and The Canterbury Tales Other notable mediaeval works are the anonymous Pearl and Gawain and the Green Knight (probably by the same author) and William Langlands' Piers Plowman Renaissance drama The first great English dramatist is Marlowe Before the 16th century English drama meant the amateur performances of Bible stories by craft guilds on public holidays Marlowe's plays (Tamburlaine; Dr Faustus; Edward II and The Jew of Malta) use the five act structure and the medium of blank verse, which Shakespeare finds so productive Shakespeare develops and virtually exhausts this form, his Jacobean successors producing work which is rarely performed today, though some pieces have literary merit, notably The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil by John Webster (1580-1625) and The Revenger's Tragedy by Cyril Tourneur (1575-1626) The excessive and gratuitous violence of Jacobean plays leads to the clamour for closing down the theatres, which is enacted by parliament after the Civil war Romanticism A movement in philosophy but especially in literature, romanticism is the revolt of the senses or passions against the intellect and of the individual against the consensus Its first stirrings may be seen in the work of William Blake (1757-1827), and in continental writers such as the Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the German playwrights Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The publication, in 1798, by the poets William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772- 1834) of a volume entitled Lyrical Ballads is a significant event in English literary history, though the poems were poorly received and few books sold The elegant latinisms of Gray are dropped in favour of a kind of English closer to that spoken by real people (supposedly) Actually, the attempts to render the speech of ordinary people are not wholly convincing Robert Burns (1759 1796) writes 31 lyric verse in the dialect of lowland Scots (a variety of English) After Shakespeare, Burns is perhaps the most often quoted of writers in English His Auld Lang Syne is sung every New Year's Eve Early 20th century poets W.B (William Butler) Yeats (1865-1939) is one of two figures who dominate modern poetry, the other being T.S (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888-1965) Yeats was Irish; Eliot was born in the USA but settled in England, and took UK citizenship in 1927 Yeats uses conventional lyric forms, but explores the connection between modern themes and classical and romantic ideas Eliot uses elements of conventional forms, within an unconventionally structured whole in his greatest works Where Yeats is prolific as a poet, Eliot's reputation largely rests on two long and complex works: The Waste Land (1922) and Four Quartets (1943) The work of these two has overshadowed the work of the best late Victorian, Edwardian and Georgian poets, some of whom came to prominence during the First World War Among these are Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), A.E Housman (1859-1936), Edward Thomas (1878-1917), Rupert Brooke (1887-1915), Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967), Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) and Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918) Early modern writers The late Victorian and early modern periods are spanned by two novelists of foreign birth: the American Henry James (1843-1916) and the Pole Joseph Conrad (Josef Korzeniowski; 1857-1924) James relates character to issues of culture and ethics, but his style can be opaque; Conrad's narratives may resemble adventure stories in incident and setting, but his real concern is with issues of character and morality The best of their work would include James's The Portrait of a Lady and Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Nostromo and The Secret Agent We should also includeR.L Stevenson (1850-94) writer of Kidnappe, Treasure Island, and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), author of The Importance of Being Earnest, and The Portrait of Dorian Gray AMERICAN LITERATURE The Period of Romanticism (the first half of the 19th century) Social background: Industrial Revolution; western expansion; immigrant’s contribution, political ideal of quality and democracy; the influence of European Romanticists Literature: American Romanticism; New England Transcendentalism - American Romanticism: the real beginning of American literature; the first American Renaissance; emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature, a liking for the picturesque, the exotic, the sensuous, the sensational and the supernatural; the strong tendency to exalt the individual and the common man - New England: Transcendentalism: the Romanticism on the Puritan soil; emphasis on spirit, or the Oversoul; “a transparent eyeball;” the stress of the importance of the individual as the most important element of society; a fresh perception of nature as symbolic of the spirit or God; inspiration of a whole new generation of famous authors such as Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman and Dickinson 32 - Washington Irving: father of American short stories; the first who won international fame; representative works The Sketch Book and two important humorous short stories “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” - James Fenimore Cooper: father of American fiction; Leather stocking Tales, a series of five novels about the frontier life of American settlers The Period of Realism (the latter half of the 19th century) Social background: the impact of American Civil War; increasing industrialization; the widening contrast of wealth and poverty; popular feeling of frustration and disillusionment Literature: American Realism; Local Colorism - Realism: reaction against Romanticism or a move away from the bias towards romance and self¬ creating fictions; a great interest in the realities of life, everyday existence, what was brutal or sordid and class struggle; three dominant figures, William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and Henry James Local Colorism the beginning of Realism; the presentation and interpretation of the local character, the truthful color of local life *Mark Twain: the true father of American literature by H L Mencken; penname of Samuel Langhorne Clemens; rough humor and social satire; magic power with language, the use of vernacular and colloquial speech; representative works: Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi, The Adventure of Tom Sawyer - American Naturalism: (last decade of the 19th century) Social background: the impact of Darwin’s evolutionary theory on the American thought; the influence of the 19th century French literature Literature: - Naturalism: The naturalists chose their subjects from the lower ranks of the society, portrayed misery and poverty of the underdogs who were demonstrably victims of society and nature And one of the most familiar themes in American Naturalism is the theme of human bestiality, especially as an explanation of sexual desire - Stephen Crane: Red Badge of Courage; Maggie, A Girl of the Street Frank Norris Mc Teague Theodore Dreiser Sister Carrie; An American Tragedy- Jack London The Call of the Wild; Martin Eden Modernism in America (the 20th century) Social background: booming industry and material prosperity in contrast with a sense of unease and restlessness underneath; a decline in moral standard described as a spiritual poverty; the impact of war, feelings of fear, loss, disorientation and disillusionment Literature: Imagist Movement; modernism in poetry; the Lost Generation; depression period; the Beat Movement; American fiction after WWII; new fiction: twentiethcentury American Drama - Magist Movement: Pound and Flint laid down three main principles: direct treatment of poetic subjects, elimination of merely ornamental or superfluous words, and rhythmical composition in the sequence of the musical phrase rather than in the sequence of a metronome Pound and “In a Station of the Metro;” Sandburg and “the Fog;” William Carlos Williams and “The Red Wheelbarrow.” 33 - modernism in poetry: the feeling of frustration and failure; the commercialization and debasement of art in Pound’s “Mauberley”; Pound’s attempt to impose, through art, order and meaning upon a chaotic and meaningless world in “Cantos;” T S Eliot revealed the spiritual crisis of postwar Europe in his epochal epic The Waste Land, a trivial world of total emptiness and the split nature of modern man in “Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock” 34 UNIT 7- FOREIGN AUTHORS I SHAKESPEARE Life Before the Stage The exact date of Shakespeare's birth is unknown, but it is accepted that he was born in April of 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England, and baptized in the same month He was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman, and Mary Arden, the daughter of the family's landlord and a well-respected farmer He was one of eight children and lived to be the eldest surviving son of the family From roughly 1594 onward he was an important member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men company of theatrical players Written records give little indication of the way in which Shakespeare’s professional life molded his artistry All that can be deduced is that over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote plays that capture the complete range of human emotion and conflict Mysterious Origins Known throughout the world, the works of William Shakespeare have been performed in countless hamlets, villages, cities and metropolises for more than 400 years And yet, the personal history of William Shakespeare is somewhat a mystery There are two primary sources that provide historians with a basic outline of his life One source is his work— the plays, poems and sonnets—and the other is official documentation such as church and court records However, these only provide brief sketches of specific events in his life and provide little on the person who experienced those events Married Life William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582, in Worcester, in Canterbury Province Hathaway was from Shottery, a small village a mile west of Stratford William was 18 and Anne was 26, and, as it turns out, pregnant Their first child, a daughter they named Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583 Two years later, on 35 February 2, 1585, twins Hamnet and Judith were born Hamnet later died of unknown causes at age 11 After the birth of the twins, there are seven years of William Shakespeare's life where no records exist Scholars call this period the "lost years," and there is wide speculation on what he was doing during this period One theory is that he might have gone into hiding for poaching game from the local landlord, Sir Thomas Lucy Another possibility is that he might have been working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire It is generally believed he arrived in London in the mid- to late 1580s and may have found work as a horse attendant at some of London's finer theaters, a scenario updated centuries later by the countless aspiring actors and playwrights in Hollywood and Broadway Establishing Himself By 1597, 15 of the 37 plays written by William Shakespeare were published Civil records show that at this time he purchased the second largest house in Stratford, called New House, for his family It was a four-day ride by horse from Stratford to London, so it is believed that Shakespeare spent most of his time in the city writing and acting and came home once a year during the 40-day Lenten period, when the theaters were closed By 1599, William Shakespeare and his business partners built their own theater on the south bank of the Thames River, which they called the Globe In 1605, Shakespeare purchased leases of real estate near Stratford for 440 pounds, which doubled in value and earned him 60 pounds a year This made him an entrepreneur as well as an artist, and scholars believe these investments gave him the time to write his plays uninterrupted Writing Style William Shakespeare's early plays were written in the conventional style of the day, with elaborate metaphors and rhetorical phrases that didn't always align naturally with the story's plot or characters However, Shakespeare was very innovative, adapting the traditional style to his own purposes and creating a freer flow of words With only small degrees of variation, Shakespeare primarily used a metrical pattern consisting of lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, or blank verse, to compose his plays At the same time, there are passages in all the plays that deviate from this and use forms of poetry or simple prose Death Tradition has it that William Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23, 1616, though many scholars believe this is a myth Church records show he was interred at Trinity Church on April 25, 1616 In his will, he left the bulk of his possessions to his eldest daughter, Susanna Though entitled to a third of his estate, little seems to have gone to his wife, Anne, whom he bequeathed his "second-best bed." This has drawn speculation that she had fallen out of favor, or that the couple was not close However, there is very little evidence the two had a difficult marriage Other scholars note that the term "second-best bed" often refers to the bed belonging to the household's master and mistres—the marital bed—and the "first-best bed" was reserved for guests The Shakespeare Influence 36 Shakespeare's influence on art, literature, language and the vast array of the creative arts has long been known and documented He is the most-read playwright in the Western Hemisphere, and the English language is littered with quotes and phrases the originated from his works He is also the inventor of the iambic pentameter, a form of poetry that is still widely used today He is also one of the most influential figures in English literature, having had a profound impact on everyone from Herman Melville and Charles Dickens to Agatha Christie and Anthony Burgess But his influence did not stop at just the arts - the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud used Hamlet as the foundation for many of his theories on human nature, and his influence can be felt in painting and opera as well, particularly from the operas of Giuseppe Verdi and the whole community of Romantic and Pre-Raphaelite painters But Shakespeare was, and still is, the most prominent influential figure in language Phrases such as "breaking the ice" or "heart of gold" are colloquial now, but are also known to have originated in Shakespeare's plays and sonnets There are over seven dozen examples that can be taken from common life and be directly attributed to Shakespeare, meaning that much of how people speak to each other now has a history that dates back to the 17th century Aside from phrases, it is also common knowledge that the dramatist introduced upwards of 1,700 original words to the English language, which, during the 16th and 17th centuries, was not standardized In fact, words such as lonely, frugal, dwindle, and more originate from Shakespeare, who transformed English into the populist language that it is today II William Sydney Porter Synopsis William Sydney Porter, writing as O Henry, wrote in a dry, humorous style and, as in "The Gift of the Magi," often ironically used coincidences and surprise endings Released from prison in 1902, Porter went to New York, his home and the setting of most of his fiction for the remainder of his life Writing prodigiously, he went on to become a revered American writer Profile William Sydney Porter — better known by his pen name, O Henry — was born in North Carolina and died in New York But his sixteen years in Texas, from 1882 to 1898, made a lasting mark on his life and work 37 In Texas, Porter developed an abiding love for the American West He worked as a ranch hand, a pharmacist, and a draftsman; edited his own newspaper; and met his wife It was also in Texas where Porter was found guilty of embezzling funds from an Austin bank where he worked as a teller He served three years in a federal prison before being released in 1901 While behind bars, Porter began writing and selling short stories to major magazines under assumed names In those stories, Porter portrays the Lone Star state as a vast place with its own laws The stories describe in rich detail the ranches, prairies, and settlements of South and Central Texas Author J Frank Dobie called Porter’s story “The Last of the Troubadours” “the best range story in American fiction.” Today, critics place O Henry among the lesser stars of literature, but his popularity as an author of short stories has rarely been equaled The house where he stayed in San Antonio — saved from destruction by the San Antonio Conservation Society — sits at the corner of Laredo and Dolorosa streets And his former Austin home, now the O Henry Museum attracts thousands of visitors annually 38 UNIT 8: THE LAST LEAF Description and Analysis The Last Leaf - we have the theme of commitment, sacrifice, friendship, compassion, hope and dedication Set in the first decade of the twentieth century the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realises that Henry may be exploring the theme of commitment Throughout the story there is a sense that all three painters mentioned Sue, Johnsy and Behrman are committed to something Sue has a piece to draw and is working on it throughout the story, while Behrman though he hasn’t completed his masterpiece remains focused on it And Johnsy though not painting is committed to dying as soon as the last ivy leaf falls from the vine By highlighting each characters commitment Henry may also be suggesting that those who live their lives artistically are driven or focused Unlike the majority of people who may live their lives working nine to five and forget about work as soon as they clock out Henry also appears to be exploring the theme of friendship There is the obvious friendship between Sue and Johnsy with Sue remaining focused on helping Johnsy get better Also Behrman, though when first introduced to the reader comes across as being a cantankerous old man, he is in reality fond of both Sue and Johnsy This fondness is probably based on Behrman’s understanding of how difficult life is for an artist The sacrifices have to be made in order to pursue their work It is only at the end of the story that the reader realizes just how committed or fond of Johnsy (and Sue) Behrman actually is when he sacrifices his own life in order to save Johnsy’s It is also noticeable that Johnsy very early on in the story gives up any hope of living or beating pneumonia This lack of hope in many ways is mirrored by the doctor He remains practical, aware that there is nothing he can for Johnsy unless she herself also makes some form of commitment (to stay alive) He feels that rather than focusing on the leaves on the vine it would be more practical for her to focus on her recovery from pneumonia Though it is also possible that Henry may have deliberately set the story with one medical doctor and three artists in it to highlight to the reader the differences in interpretation of all three (medical versus artist) when it comes to defining practical Which may further highlight the high levels of commitment (to dying) that are being displayed by Johnsy? Just as all three artists are committed to giving their all for their art, likewise Johnsy is committed to dying There is also some symbolism in the story which may be important Each leaf that Johnsy sees falling from the vine in many ways leads her into further despair However when Behrman paints the one leaf it symbolises hope for Johnsy Something that is noticeable when her health improves on her discovery that the last leaf has not fallen The weather itself may also be symbolic as Henry may be using the weather to highlight how for some people (Behrman) life is not as easy as it is for others It is possible that Henry is suggesting that artists, though many might say they make life difficult for themselves, this may not necessarily be the case Rather as previously mentioned artists are driven by their art unlike the majority of people who will work and then go home An artist’s home is their work It is also noticeable that Henry makes a comparison between the worlds of Art and Literature in the story This line may be important as by comparing both the 39 world of Art and Literature to each other Henry may be highlighting again the sacrifices that an artist or a writer must make Sacrifices that the majority of people will never understand The ending of the story is also interesting because it is only at the end does the reader fully realise the sacrifice that Behrman has made He has given his own life in order to save another person’s life and in many ways the single leaf that he has painted on the wall is his masterpiece It has rejuvenated Johnsy Just as the pneumonia was taking a toll on her lungs (and breathing) the last leaf has given her back her breath or life Something that is noticeable when the doctor arrives and notices an improvement in Johnsy’s well-being It is also interesting that on seeing the last leaf Johnsy no longer views life as negatively as she has previously done throughout the story Rather she realises that ‘it is a sin to want to die.’ This line may be important as it is possible that Henry is suggesting that regardless of how one feels an individual should never give up 40 UNIT 9: HAMLET SUMMARY Prince Hamlet is depressed Having been summoned home to Denmark from school in Germany to attend his father's funeral, he is shocked to find his mother Gertrude already remarried The Queen has wed Hamlet's Uncle Claudius, the dead king's brother To Hamlet, the marriage is "foul incest." Worse still, Claudius has had himself crowned King despite the fact that Hamlet was his father's heir to the throne Hamlet suspects foul play When his father's ghost visits the castle, Hamlet's suspicions are confirmed The Ghost complains that he is unable to rest in peace because he was murdered Claudius, says the Ghost, poured poison in King Hamlet's ear while the old king napped Unable to confess and find salvation, King Hamlet is now consigned, for a time, to spend his days in Purgatory and walk the earth by night He entreats Hamlet to avenge his death, but to spare Gertrude, to let Heaven decide her fate Hamlet vows to affect madness — puts "an antic disposition on" — to wear a mask that will enable him to observe the interactions in the castle, but finds himself more confused than ever In his persistent confusion, he questions the Ghost's trustworthiness What if the Ghost is not a true spirit, but rather an agent of the devil sent to tempt him? What if killing Claudius results in Hamlet's having to relive his memories for all eternity? Hamlet agonizes over what he perceives as his cowardice because he cannot stop himself from thinking Words immobilize Hamlet, but the world he lives in prizes action In order to test the Ghost's sincerity, Hamlet enlists the help of a troupe of players who perform a play called The Murder of Gonzago to which Hamlet has added scenes that recreate the murder the Ghost described Hamlet calls the revised play The Mousetrap, and the ploy proves a success As Hamlet had hoped, Claudius' reaction to the staged murder reveals the King to be conscience-stricken Claudius leaves the room because he cannot breathe, and his vision is dimmed for want of light Convinced now that Claudius is a villain, Hamlet resolves to kill him But, as Hamlet observes, "conscience doth make cowards of us all." In his continued reluctance to dispatch Claudius, Hamlet actually causes six ancillary deaths The first death belongs to Polonius, whom Hamlet stabs through a wall hanging as the old man spies on Hamlet and Gertrude in the Queen's private chamber Claudius punishes Hamlet for Polonius' death by exiling him to England He has brought Hamlet's school chums Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to Denmark from Germany to spy on his 41 nephew, and now he instructs them to deliver Hamlet into the English king's hands for execution Hamlet discovers the plot and arranges for the hanging of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern instead Ophelia, distraught over her father's death and Hamlet's behavior, drowns while singing sad love songs bemoaning the fate of a spurned lover Her brother, Laertes, falls next Laertes, returned to Denmark from France to avenge his father's death, witnesses Ophelia's descent into madness After her funeral, where he and Hamlet come to blows over which of them loved Ophelia best, Laertes vows to punish Hamlet for her death as well Unencumbered by words, Laertes plots with Claudius to kill Hamlet In the midst of the sword fight, however, Laertes drops his poisoned sword Hamlet retrieves the sword and cuts Laertes The lethal poison kills Laertes Before he dies, Laertes tells Hamlet that because Hamlet has already been cut with the same sword, he too will shortly die Horatio diverts Hamlet's attention from Laertes for a moment by pointing out that "The Queen falls." Gertrude, believing that Hamlet's hitting Laertes means her son is winning the fencing match, has drunk a toast to her son from the poisoned cup Claudius had intended for Hamlet The Queen dies As Laertes lies dying, he confesses to Hamlet his part in the plot and explains that Gertrude's death lies on Claudius' head Finally enraged, Hamlet stabs Claudius with the poisoned sword and then pours the last of the poisoned wine down the King's throat Before he dies, Hamlet declares that the throne should now pass to Prince Fortinbras of Norway, and he implores his true friend Horatio to accurately explain the events that have led to the bloodbath at Elsinore With his last breath, he releases himself from the prison of his words: "The rest is silence." The play ends as Prince Fortinbras, in his first act as King of Denmark, orders a funeral with full military honors for slain Prince Hamlet Why Does Hamlet Pretend To Be Mad? Hamlet pretends to go mad in an effort to buy himself some time to prove the guilt of the new king and to find out if his mother was in on the plot to murder his father Had he not adopted this disguise of madness, he would have been more likely viewed as a threat by Claudius and killed quickly His mother, especially, wishes to humor him because she believes that it is the grief over the loss of his father and her hurried wedding to Hamlet's uncle that has caused him to become unbalanced Her feelings of guilt that she may have contributed to her son's condition lead Gertrude to beg Claudius' indulgence of his behavior, although the king is suspicious all along Hamlet says directly to his mother a potent and powerful line, "Seems madam? Nay is." His mother claims that Hamlet "seems" to be still so sad after his father's death Hamlet asserts clearly that he is truly depressed His feigned madness may not be a huge stretch from where he is at emotionally When studying Shakespeare it is always wise to look for foils Hamlet's "feigned" madness is aligned with the true and terrifying madness of Ophelia Hamlet sees the 42 reality of what he is dabbling in He knows he helped cause her situation and is revolted and guilty UNIT 10: THE SCARLET LETTER The Scarlet Letter Summary The year is 1642 Boston is a Puritan settlement, and one of its citizens, Hester Prynne, is led from the prison to the scaffold to stand in judgment before the town magistrates In her arms, she carries her infant daughter Pearl, whose birth has sparked this inquiry On the scaffold, Hester refuses to reveal the name of the child's father As punishment, Hester is forced to wear the scarlet letter A that marks her as adultery Hester's long-lost husband, whom she believed to have been killed by the Native Americans, returns to Boston No one but Hester recognizes him because he has taken the assumed name of Dr Roger Chillingworth He forces her to keep his identity a secret as he conducts an investigation into the identity of Pearl's father Hester lives with Pearl at the edge of town while Chillingworth moves in with the beloved Reverend Dimmesdale Recognizing Dimmesdale as Hester’s one-time lover, Chillingworth torments the guilt-stricken man for years, keeping him alive out of spite Finally, Dimmesdale climbs the scaffold and reveals the letter A that he has been carving into his chest He confesses in front of everyone, then dies of his wounds in Hester's arms Chillingworth dies shortly thereafter, having exacted his revenge Hester leaves Boston, only to return years later and live the rest of her days under the mark of the scarlet letter Sin and Judgment Hawthorne's novel consistently calls into question the notion of sin and what is necessary for redemption Is Hester's initial crime a sin? She married Chillingworth without quite understanding the commitment she made, and then she had to live without him while he was abroad, then fell in love with Dimmesdale perhaps discovering the feeling for the first time Is the sin, then, committing adultery with Dimmesdale and breaking her vow and commitment, or is the sin first marrying Chillingworth without thinking it through? And what is Chillingworth's sin? Essentially abandoning his wife for so long upon their marriage, or failing to forgive her once he knew of the crime? Is Dimmesdale's sin his adultery or his hypocritical failure to change his sermon themes after the fact? Or are all 43 of these things sins of different degrees? For each kind of sin, we wonder if the punishment fits the crime and what must be done, if anything, to redeem the sinner in the eyes of society as well as in the eyes of the sinner himself or herself We also should remember that what the Puritans thought of as sin was different from what went for sin in Hawthorne's time, both being different from what many Christians think of as sin today This should not teach us moral relativism, but it should encourage us to be wary of judging others Memories vs the Present Hester Prynne's offense against society occurred seven years earlier, but she remains punished for it Hester learned to forgive herself for her adultery, but society continues to scorn her for it (One might remember Jean Valjean's permanent identity as criminal after a single minor crime in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.) Indeed, Hester reaches peace with her affair and in that peace comes to see the town as insufficiently forgiving in its thoughts and attitudes Pearl is enough of a reminder of the wild choices in her past, and as Pearl grows up, Hester continues to live in the present rather than in the past Reverend Dimmesdale, meanwhile, is haunted in the present by sins past and seems to reflect (along with Chillingworth) the town's tendency to punish long after the offense In suppressing his own confession, Dimmesdale remains focused on coming to terms with a sinful past instead of looking squarely at the problems of the present 44 REFERENCE Albert, E (1983) History of English Literature London Nelson Tiếng Anh chuyên ngành Văn & Việt Nam học (English for Philology & Vietnamese Studies), Trường Đại học sư phạm Tp Hồ Chí Minh, 2014 Võ Thị Dung (2016), Tài liệu giảng văn học Anh – Mỹ (A course of a survey of English and American literature), Trường Đại học Quảng Bình GC Thornley and Gwyneth Roberts (1998), An outline of English literature, NXB Longman Pete B High (2000), An outline of American literature, Nxb Longman Thomas D Le (2008) Vietnamese Poetry Getting from http://thehuuvandan.org/vietpoet.html Stephen, M (1984) An Introductory Guide to English Literature London Longman c Website: http://www.vietnam-culture.com/zones-15-1/Vietnamese-Literature.aspx http://www.slideshare.net/elly_gaa/vietnamese-literature http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Vietnam/sub5_9e/entry-3423.html http://www.world-english.org/literaturequiz.htm http://www.americanliterature.com/ss/ssindx.html http://www.vietnam-culture.com/vietnamese-language-history.aspx https://www.deanza.edu/faculty/swensson/kieu.html https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nguyen-Du http://vietnamnews.vn/life-style/226174/to-huu-the-peoplespoet.html#zZUwjXyc77OzoFUh.97 10 https://www.rsc.org.uk/shakespeares-life-and-times 11 http://yougothelp.blogspot.com/2016/10/a-complete-analysis-of-last-leafstory.html 12 http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/scarlet/ 45 ...INTRODUCTION This course of English for literature is designed to meet non- English major students’ needs of English in their literature course provided by Quang Binh University... fact that formal prose was a comparatively late development, an "invention" properly associated with the classical period".[22] Drama Drama is literature intended for performance.[42] The form is... interrelated: Folk literature and written literature Folk Literature • Vietnamese folk literature came into being very early and had a profound effect on the spiritual life of the Viet''s The folk literature