Arts and Culture in Great Britain
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НАЦІОНАЛЬНИЙ УНІВЕРСИТЕТ БІОРЕСУРСІВ І ПРИРОДОКОРИСТУВАННЯ УКРАЇНИ Кафедра романо-германських мов і перекладу ARTS AND CULTURE IN GREAT BRITAIN КИЇВ – 2014 ББК 81.432. 1-923 ББК 81.111 Б 12 Рекомендовано до друку вченою радою природничо-гуманітарного ННІ Національного університету біоресурсів і природокористування України (протокол № 4 від “23” грудня 2014р.) Рецензенти: Бабченко Н.В. − кандидат філологічних наук, доцент, завідувач кафедри іноземної філології Університету сучасних знань Іванова О.В. кандидат педагогічних наук, завідувач кафедри романо- германських мов і перекладу Національного університету біоресурсів і природокористування України Бабенко О.В. Arts and culture in Great Britain: Навчально-методичний посібник для студентів зі спеціальності 6.020303 "Філологія" / О. В. Бабенко — К. : ВЦ НУБіП України, 2014. – 162 с. Навчально-методичний посібник складається з декількох частин та тестових завдань, пропонує свіжий погляд на різні аспекти культурного життя Великобританії, знайомить читача з сучасними видами мистецтва. Для успішного засвоєння інформації автор використовує різні методи і прийоми, різнорівневі тестові завдання застосовуються для контролю знань. Матеріал навчально-методичного посібника може бути корисний для всіх тих, хто цікавиться проблемами сучасного лінгвокраїнознавства. ББК 81.432. 1-923 ББК 81.111 Б 12 © Бабенко Е.В., 2014 © НУБіП, 2014 CONTENTS Preface ................................................................................................................. 4 1. The culture of Great Britain: General information………………………5 2. The Arts ........................................................................................................ 6 2.1 Literature ...................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Theatre ........................................................................................................... 8 2.3 Music ......................................................................................................... 10 2.4 Cinema......................................................................................................... 24 2.5 Broadcasting ................................................................................................ 31 2.6 Visual arts .................................................................................................... 32 2.7 Architecture ................................................................................................. 77 2.8 Performing arts ........................................................................................... 87 2.9 Folklore ..................................................................................................... 113 Tests ................................................................................................................ 116 Source material ................................................................................................ 161 3 PREFACE Dear students, Significance of the manual lies in the development of communicative and professional competence as one of the key types of implementation of competence approach in general. This manual is intended for teaching Country Study at the Department of Romanic and Germanic Languages and translation. The purpose of this manual is to help students, as advanced learners of English, to extend their linguistic and professional competence by: presenting supplementary information on Arts and Culture in Great Britain: literature, theatre, music, cinema, broadcasting, visual arts, architecture, performing arts, folklore. helping students preparing for the workshops; increasing their motivation towards further education; developing critical thinking. It helps to brush up theoretical background and practical skills. 4 1. The culture of Great Britain: General information The culture of Great Britain is the pattern of human activity and symbolism associated with the United Kingdom and its people. It is influenced by the UK's history as a developed island country, a liberal democracy and a major power, its predominantly Christian religious life, and its composition of its countries, each of which has distinct customs, cultures and symbolism. Literature,music,music, cinema, art, theatre, media, television, philosophy and architecture are influential and respected across the world. The United Kingdom is also prominent in science and technology. Sport is an important part of British culture; numerous sports originated in the country, including football. The UK has been described as a "cultural superpower", and London has been described as a world cultural capital. The Industrial Revolution, with its origins in the UK, had a profound effect on the socio-economic and cultural conditions of the world. As a result of the British Empire, significant British influence can be observed in the language, culture and institutions of a geographically wide assortment of countries, including Australia, Canada, India, Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa and the United States. These states are sometimes collectively known as the Anglosphere, and are among Britain's closest allies. In turn the empire also influenced British culture, particularly British cuisine. The cultures of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are diverse and have varying degrees of overlap and distinctiveness. 5 2. The Arts 2.1. Literature At its formation, the United Kingdom inherited the literary traditions of England, Scotland and Wales, including the earliest existing native literature written in the Celtic languages, Old English literature and more recent English literature including the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare and John Milton. The early 18th century is known as the Augustan Age of English literature. The poetry of the time was highly formal, as exemplified by the works of Alexander Pope, and the English novel became popular, with Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1721), Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740) and Henry Fielding's Tom Jones(1749). From the late 18th century, the Romantic period showed a flowering of poetry comparable with the Renaissance 200 years earlier and a revival of interest in vernacular literature. In Scotland the poetry of Robert Burns revived interest in Scots literature, and the Weaver Poets of Ulster were influenced by literature from Scotland. In Wales the late 18th century saw the revival of the eisteddfod tradition, inspired by Iolo Morganwg. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. In the 19th century, major poets in English literature included William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Alfred Lord Tennyson, John Keats, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. The Victorian period was the golden age of the realistic English novel, represented by Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne), Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, George Eliot and Thomas Hardy. World War I gave rise to British war poets and writers such as Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves and Rupert Brooke who wrote (often paradoxically), of their expectations of war, and/or their experiences in the 6 trench. The most widely popular writer of the early years of the 20th century was arguably Rudyard Kipling. To date the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Kipling's novels include The Jungle Book, The Man Who Would Be King and Kim, while his inspirational poem If— is a national favourite. Like William Ernest Henley's poem Invictus, it is a memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism, a traditional British virtue. Notable Irish writers include Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Bram Stoker, Jonathan Swift, George Bernard Shaw and W. B. Yeats. The Celtic Revival stimulated a new appreciation of traditional Irish literature. The Scottish Renaissance of the early 20th century brought modernism to Scottish literature as well as an interest in new forms in the literatures of Scottish Gaelic and Scots. The English novel developed in the 20th century into much greater variety and it remains today the dominant English literary form. Other globally well-known British novelists include George Orwell, C. S. Lewis, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, D. H. Lawrence, Mary Shelley, Lewis Carroll, J. R. R. Tolkien, Virginia Woolf, Ian Fleming, Walter Scott, Agatha Christie, J. M. Barrie, Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene, E. M. Forster, Aldous Huxley, Roald Dahl, Helen Fielding, Arthur C. Clarke, Alan Moore, Ian McEwan, Anthony Burgess, Evelyn Waugh, William Golding, Salman Rushdie, Douglas Adams, P. G. Wodehouse, Martin Amis, Anthony Trollope, Beatrix Potter, A. A. Milne, Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, H. Rider Haggard, Neil Gaiman and J. K. Rowling. Important British poets of the 20th century include Rudyard Kipling, W. H. Auden, Ted Hughes, Philip Larkin, John Betjeman and Dylan Thomas. In 2003 the BBC carried out a UK survey entitled The Big Read in order to find the "nation's best-loved novel" of all time, with works by English novelists Tolkien, Austen, Pullman, Adams and Rowling making up the top five on the list. 7 2.2. Theatre From its formation in 1707, the United Kingdom has had a vibrant tradition of theatre, much of it inherited from England and Scotland. The West End is the main theatre district in the UK, which is located in the West End of London. The West End's Theatre Royal in Covent