THIS PAGE IS STILL VERY INCOMPLETE.
IT WILL BE UPDATED, RE-STRUCTURED AND IMPROVED OVER TIME.

This page contains a database of progressive and revolutionary artists from England, throughout history. This includes communist and socialist artists, but also their predecessors and contemporary allies.

I’ve largely used the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (third edition, 1979) as a source. This source, while usually fine, is not entirely satisfactory as it is from the revisionist period, but unfortunately the earlier editions have not been translated into English. I’ve also used some other sources and will continue to add more better sources.

I am by no means an expert on British art. I’m only a communist who is doing his best. I’ve mostly included artists only from England and have decided to keep Ireland, Scotland and Wales as separate.

See also my database of Soviet art and Hungarian art. I’ve collected a lot of material and hope to eventually create databases like this for many other countries.

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

I’ve discussed the significance of classical realism and socialist realism on my page about Soviet art, so I’m not going to do that here. Every nation has created its own great progressive art, and unlike what capitalists would have us believe, all great art is progressive. The most advanced art is Socialist Realism. The purpose of this database is to make people more familiar with the progressive cultural tradition of various countries. Under capitalist rule, revolutionary art has either been suppressed and ignored, or has been co-opted, misinterpreted in such a way as to cover up its revolutionary and progressive meaning.

Britain is famous for its literature: Shakespeare, Byron, Dickens etc. The task of reactionary capitalist criticism is to fool people into thinking these great authors are reactionaries. Shakespeare was a renaissance writer, fighting for humanism against medievalism, developed a style that was living, close to the people, drew its inspiration from the people (folklore, myths). He also wrote about historical themes, which usually focused on liberty and justice against tyranny. He is one of the most distorted writers in our time.

Reactionary capitalist “scholarship” portrays Shakespeare as some distant, boring and academic writer totally alien to the people. In reality, his works are often extremely funny, realistic and relatable. Capitalist propaganda portrays Shakespeare as non-political, when in reality he was a devoted fighter against tyranny. In his time, tyranny was represented specifically by medieval despotism. Today it is represented by imperialism and capitalism. Shakespeare criticized typical feudal disunity and landlordism, but also was able to see the flaws of absolutism, despite absolutism being relatively progressive compared to feudal disintegration in the context of the period.

“At a later stage of bourgeois development Shakespeare became a threat to that class which had given him birth. The bourgeoisie have never been able to understand or accept the revolutionary elements in Shakespeare’s work, because these immeasurably transcend the narrow confines of bourgeois thought. They have attempted, therefore, to transform his revolutionary humanism into specious philanthropy and to interpret his concepts of mercy and truth as “tenderness” and “righteousness”; his continued appeals for patience–perseverance in the struggle to attain the ideal–as “submissiveness”; his disregard for religion and metaphysics as “philosophical and religious tolerance.”” (Shakespeare: A Marxist Interpretation by Aleksandr A. Smirnov)

Charles Dickens is one of the great critical realists. He was a basically bourgeois writer, though from poor origins, from the period when capitalism was still developing. In those times the rising bourgeoisie still had scientific objectivity, because the truth served their interest against feudalism. Aided by his close ties to the people, Dickens was able to observe many of the negative aspects of the developing capitalist society, the poverty and misery, the terrible conditions in debtors’ prison (e. g. in The Pickwick Papers).

“His heart, even when he was a celebrated dinner guest of Ministers of State and a close friend to all the famous names of England, was with the poor and unfortunate from whose midst he had, by his huge strength of spirit and life, raised himself to brilliant fame… One need only mention in this connection Oliver Twist, in which he describes the poor-relief with such biting humor, or Nicholas Nickleby where he does the same for the school systems, or Bleak House in which he does it for the judiciary.” (Charles Dickens by Franz Mehring).

He portrays the world he sees in a realistic truthful manner, and as a result, in a manner that exposes capitalism. He is still limited by the fact that he is a bourgeois writer. Bourgeois realism can only be Critical Realism, it can only show how the world is. Only Socialist Realism can truthfully portray the world, but also provide a way forward: socialism.

Many other British writers have written works truthfully depicting their own social environment and criticized reactionary aspects of it. Many British writers also wrote Utopian works, which contributed to the rise of utopian socialism, which was the first attempt to develop a socialist worldview. Utopian socialism had to emerge, in order for scientific socialism to emerge and replace it.

Communists have written much valuable scholarship about art and literature. The works of Marx and Engels contain valuable remarks about English literature. Georg Lukács has also written about it in his works.

This page focuses almost exclusively on literature, because I’m less familiar with other artistic forms. However, material from other art forms will also be added.

LITERATURE

THOMAS MORE (1478-1535)

“More Thomas (1478-1535) – one of the founders of utopian socialism and an outstanding humanist scientist. He was born in London to a judge’s family and educated at Oxford University. Under King Henry VIII, he held major government posts. He was executed on charges of “high treason.” More went down in history as the author of a remarkable work, which he published in 1516 under the title “The Golden Book, as Useful as It Is Amusing, About the Best Constitution of the State and About the New Island of Utopia.”

Speaking in the era of initial capitalist accumulation, More criticized the emerging capitalist relations in his book and showed the suffering of the people. He is the author of the famous saying: “The sheep ate the people,” characterizing the barbaric methods of the formation and development of capitalism in England, when landowners drove the peasants from their lands, fenced off the peasants’ fields and arranged pastures for sheep on them. More sees private property as the root cause of all social ills. He contrasts the system based on private property with the ideal social system of the fantastic country of Utopia, which is based on public property, public production and appropriation, i.e. a socialist system. More was the first in history to attempt to depict an ideal socialist society. He gave the happy island the name “Utopia”, which literally means “a place that does not exist” (from which the word “utopian” comes to denote the original, pre-scientific socialism). The state of Utopia is an association of 54 cities.

Each city has fields attached to it, where they are engaged in agriculture. All adults, men and women, are engaged in productive labor, except for persons performing public functions and persons engaged in scientific activities. The main production unit is the family, the number of which varies depending on the nature of its production activity. Each family is engaged in some specific craft. There is no specific rural population, all Utopians must work in turn for two years in agriculture. In this way, More tries to eliminate the opposition between the city and the village. Everything that the Utopians obtain belongs to society. Due to the absence of parasitism, all products are available in abundance and are distributed according to the needs of the citizens. The work of the Utopians is limited to six hours. They devote their free time to science and art. Utopia is governed on the basis of democratic principles.

Although More expressed brilliant guesses in his depiction of the future society, his views are still extremely primitive and untenable. Thus, the economy of Utopia is built on handicraft production. The idea that socialism will be based on highly developed technology and technical progress is alien to More. In Utopia, the satisfaction of all the needs of the inhabitants is associated with a certain limitation of these needs, for example, in housing, in clothing. Since More does not know of machines that could perform hard and unpleasant work for a person, he allows slavery in Utopia. And this violates equality. More dreamed of making the transition to the new system by peaceful means, and not by revolutionary means – this was reflected in the historical and class limitations of his utopianism. More’s book had a great influence on the subsequent development of socialist thought.” (Pavel Yudin and Mark Rosenthal, Short Philosophical Dictionary, 5th ed., 1954)

“More, Thomas. Born Feb. 7, 1478, in London; died there July 6, 1535. English humanist, statesman, and writer; founder of Utopian socialism. Son of a judge.

From 1492 to 1494, More studied at Oxford University; he joined a circle known as the Oxford reformers, whose members included J. Colet, T. Linacre, and W. Grocyn. More studied English common law at Lincoln’s Inn from 1496 to 1501. At the end of the 1490’s he met Erasmus of Rotterdam, who became one of his closest friends. Erasmus’ Praise of Folly was written in More’s home and dedicated to him. In 1504, More became a representative of the London merchant class in Parliament. Because he expressed his opposition to Henry VII’s arbitrary tax policy, he fell into disgrace. With the accession of Henry VIII to the throne in 1509, he resumed his political career, becoming undersheriff of London in 1510 and a member of the king’s council in 1518. He was chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1525 to 1529, and chancellor of England from 1529 to 1532.

More responded negatively to the Lutheran Reformation, which he considered a threat to Christian unity. A Catholic and, consequently, a supporter of the supreme authority of the pope, he refused to swear allegiance to the king as the supreme head of the English church. For this he was charged with treason, imprisoned in the Tower of London (1534), and executed. In 1886 he was beatified by the Catholic Church, and in 1935, canonized.

More’s numerous anti-Protestant polemical treatises and meditations on religious themes (The Four Last Things, Supplication of Souls, Apology, and Dialogue Concerning Heresies, for example) influenced the art of English rhetoric (the sermons of A. Marvell and J. Donne), as well as the development of J. Swift’s style. He translated from Latin into English a biography of G. Pico della Mirandola (1510), whose personality and tragic fate he considered instructive for church reformers. His unfinished History of King Richard III (1531), one of the best works in English Renaissance prose, was a secondary source for Shakespeare’s drama.

More is especially famous for the dialogue Utopia (1516; Russian translation, 1789), which describes the ideal society on the imaginary island of Utopia. (The word “utopia,” from the Greek meaning “nowhere” or “nonexistent place,” was coined by More and subsequently entered English usage.) He was the first to describe a society in which private property (even personal property) has been abolished, equality of consumption has been introduced (as in the early Christian communes), and production and the way of life have been socialized. In Utopia labor is required of all citizens, distribution is based on need, and there is a six-hour workday. Criminals do the heaviest work. The political system of Utopia is based on the principles of election and seniority. The family, a cell for the communist way of life, is organized more as a productive unit than as a kinship unit. An opponent of popular movements, which he associated with anarchy and destruction, More did not believe that the ideal society would be achieved through revolution. Utopia, which was written in Latin for humanist scholars and enlightened monarchs, was translated into other European languages in the mid-16th century. It greatly influenced reformers of subsequent centuries, especially Morelly, G. Babeuf, Saint-Simon, C. Fourier, E. Cabet, and other representatives of Utopian socialism.

WORKS
Complete Works. New Haven-London, 1963—.
The Correspondence. Edited by E. F. Rogers. Princeton, N. J., 1947.
REFERENCES
Tarle, E. V. Obshchestvennye vozzreniia T. Mora v sviazi s ekonomicheskim sostoianiem Anglii ego vremeni. St. Petersburg, 1901.
Kautsky, K. T. Mor i ego utopiia. Moscow, 1924. (Translated from German.)
Alekseev, M. P. Slavianskie istochniki “Utopii” T. Mora. Moscow, 1955.
Bridgett, T. E. Life and Writings of Sir Thomas More. Ann Arbor-London, 1962.
Chambers, R. W. T. More. London, 1963.
Campbell, W. E. More’s Utopia and His Social Teaching. London, 1930.
Donner, H. W. Introduction to Utopia. Uppsala, 1945.
Surtz, E. L. The Praise of Wisdom. Chicago, 1957.
Sullivan, F., and M. P. Sullivan. Moreana, 1478–1945. Kansas City, 1946.
Sullivan, F. Sir T. More: A First Bibliographical Notebook. Los Angeles, 1953.
Johnson, R. S. More’s Utopia: Ideal and Illusion. New Haven-London, 1969.
St. Thomas More, Action and Contemplation: Proceedings of the Symposium. New Haven-London, 1972.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by V. S. MURAV’EV)

FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626)

An important English materialist philosopher. He also wrote a utopian novel New Atlantis.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)

“Shakespeare, William. Born Apr. 23, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon; died there Apr. 23, 1616. English playwright and poet.

Shakespeare’s father was John Shakespeare, an artisan and merchant. As a grammar school student, Shakespeare learned Latin and the fundamentals of ancient Greek. Beginning in the late 1580’s, he worked in London as an actor (until approximately 1603) and as a playwright. In 1594 he became a shareholder in the theatrical troupe called the Lord Chamberlain’s Company, which in 1603 was renamed The King’s Men. In approximately 1612, Shakespeare returned to Stratford.

Because of the scarcity of biographical information, Shakespeare’s works have been attributed to others, including F. Bacon, the earls of Rutland and Oxford, and the playwright C. Marlowe. But careful study of the cultural life of the period and of Shakespeare’s work shows these hypotheses to be scientifically unfounded.

As a poet, Shakespeare gained renown with his narrative poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and Lucrece (1594), which were in the tradition of the philosophical poetry of the Renaissance. Between 1592 and 1600 he wrote 154 sonnets, which were published in 1609. They are apparently autobiographical in content, expressing the poet’s feelings toward a friend (sonnets 1–126) and toward his beloved (sonnets 127–152). The sonnets’ themes and motifs are typical of Renaissance poetry, but their more complex perception of life and man foreshadows Shakespeare’s dramatic work.

The Shakespearean canon includes 37 plays, 18 of which were published in Shakespeare’s lifetime; 36 of the plays were in the first edition of his collected works, published in 1623 (only Pericles being excluded). Attempts to establish the chronology of Shakespeare’s works began in the second half of the 18th century. The following list of his plays indicates the year in which they were written and classifies them by period and genre according to the accepted practice in Shakespearean scholarship.

First period (1590–94). Early chronicle plays: Henry VI, Part 2 (1590), Henry VI, Part 3 (1591), Henry VI, Part 1 (1592), and Richard III (1593). Early comedies: The Comedy of Errors (1592) and The Taming of the Shrew (1593). Early tragedy: Titus Andronicus (1594).

Second period (1595–1600). Chronicle plays in the tragic vein: Richard II (1595) and King John (1596). Romantic comedies: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594), Love’s Labour’s Lost (1594), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1596), and The Merchant of Venice (1596). First mature tragedy: Romeo and Juliet (1595). Chronicle plays in the comic vein: Henry IV, Part 1 (1597), Henry TV, Part 2 (1598), and Henry V (1598). Comedies (representing Shakespeare’s mastery of the comic genre): Much Ado About Nothing (1598). The Merry Wives of Windsor (1598), As You Like It (1599), and Twelfth Night (1600).

Third period (1600–08). Tragedies (representing a turning point in Shakespeare’s work): Julius Caesar (1599) and Hamlet (1601). “Bitter comedies,” or “problem plays”: Troilus and Cressida (1602), All’s Well That Ends Well (1603), and Measure for Measure (1604). Shakespeare’s tragic masterpieces: Othello (1604), King Lear (1605), and Macbeth (1606). Tragedies based on ancient history: Antony and Cleopatra (1607), Coriolanus (1607), and Timon of Athens (1608).

Fourth period (1609–13). Romantic tragicomedies: Pericles (1609), Cymbeline (1610), The Winter’s Tale (1611), and The Tempest (1612). Late chronicle play: Henry VIII (1613), possibly written in collaboration with J. Fletcher.

The following plays are not considered part of the Shakespearean canon: Edward III (1594–95), whose authorship is uncertain; Thomas More (1594–95; one scene); and The Two Noble Kinsmen (1613), written with J. Fletcher. Some Shakespearean scholars, including A. A. Smirnov of the Soviet Union, divide Shakespeare’s work into three periods, combining the first and second periods (1590–1600).

Shakespeare’s work incorporated all the major influences in the age of the Renaissance—both aesthetically, by synthesizing the traditions and motifs of popular romantic genres, Renaissance poetry and prose, folklore, and humanist and popular theater, and ideologically, by reflecting the entire edifice of contemporary thought, including traditional notions about the world order, defense of the patriarchal feudal system and of political centralization, Christian ethics, Renaissance Neoplatonism and Stoicism, sensualism, and Machiavellianism. This eclecticism, ranging over the full spectrum of life and human nature, was responsible for the all-encompassing vitality of Shakespeare’s work. His reality, however, was presented under different facets and in different lights at various stages of his creative development.

The ideology of humanism, combined with popular ideals and aspirations, always remained the basis of Shakespeare’s plays. It is no coincidence that Shakespeare’s genius found its fullest expression in the theater, which by its very essence can convey life’s drama more successfully than other forms of art. The socioeconomic processes that brought about the cultural upheaval known as the Renaissance began later and developed more rapidly in England than they did on the Continent. The contradictions and contrasts that marked this period were sharper and more pressing in England; the signposts marking the development of humanist thought—the belief, followed by disbelief, in the imminent triumph of humanist ideals; the hope, followed by disillusion—were separated by centuries in Italy, for example, whereas in England they were part of the experience of a single generation. Shakespeare, better than anyone else, was able to grasp and expose the contradictions of his time; hence the dynamic and dramatic character of his works, filled with struggle and conflict. His profound understanding of contemporary trends was also a factor in his dynamic view of reality; this, together with his growing craftsmanship, defines the evolution of his work.

The works of his first period show that even at this early stage Shakespeare was acutely sensitive to the comic and tragic absurdities of life, although he depicted them in a largely traditional manner, presenting the tragic as dreadful and the comic as farcical—the one being isolated from the other. Shakespeare was still learning, attempting to master both the national tradition of Marlowe’s “bloody tragedy” and the European tradition in general; his work was based on ancient models—on Plautus in the case of The Comedy of Errors, on Seneca in Titus Andronicus, and on Italian humanist comedy in The Taming of the Shrew. Shakespeare’s humanist position, too, was still to assume definite form. The positive heroes of the chronicle plays gravitate toward antiquity, and the comedies are clearly influenced by patriarchal morality.

The dramatic nature of life remains the basis of Shakespeare’s work during his second creative period. The general tone and the endings of his plays testify to his faith in the harmonious resolution of life’s contradictions. The ambience of these works is defined by characters who uphold harmony in government and in social and personal relationships, such as Romeo and Juliet, Viola, and Henry V. The bearers of evil, such as Tybalt, Shylock, and Malvolio, are solitary figures. The plays of this period are characterized by the organic merging of comedy and tragedy, the unconditional triumph of the principles of humanism, the ability to present ideas by means of stiuations and complex images, and the effort to create full-fledged characters as embodiments of ideals. All these qualities attest to Shakespeare’s mature and independent mastery of his craft.

Shakespeare’s writings in the 1590’s consisted primarily of the chronicle plays and comedies. Eight of the chronicle plays, forming two cycles, cover the history of England from 1397 to 1485. The earlier cycle (made up of the three parts of Henry VI and Richard III) depicts the Wars of the Roses and the fall of the House of Lancaster and shows the breakup of the state owing to feudal rapaciousness. The second cycle (consisting of Richard II, the two parts of Henry IV, and Henry V) is devoted to the preceding period; it includes the rise of the Lancasters and England’s victories in the Hundred Years’ War, representing the progression from anarchy to the unified state. King John and Henry VIII, which stand apart, portray the country’s internal conflicts engendered by the struggle between the English monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church.

The state, considered from the point of view of its historical destiny, constitutes the main subject of the chronicle plays. The principal conflict is the clash between the interests of the state and of the individual; this theme is developed in the struggle of entire social groups as represented by individual characters—the latter appearing as relatively sketchy figures in the early chronicle plays, while coming to life as individuals (such as Hotspur and Falstaff) in the later ones. Reflecting humanist ideology, the chronicle plays focus on the rightful victory of centralized authority (that is, absolutism) over willful anarchy. In conjunction with popular notions about good and bad rulers, such humanist views are also reflected in the portrayal of the ideal king, Henry V, and of his opposite, Richard III. In fact, the personalities of most of the monarchs in the chronicle plays show that Shakespeare recognized how far actual rulers were from the ideal and how illusory was the ideal of absolute monarchy as a general concept.

If the chronicle plays deal with man and the state, the comedies that Shakespeare wrote in the 1590’s are concerned with man and nature—nature being considered in the universal and optimistic sense ascribed to it by the humanists, who saw it as an all-beneficent and omnipotent force encompassing man and society. In Shakespeare’s comedies the ideal, which is identified with the natural, is dominant; hence the kinship between the comedies and romantic literature. As in the latter, the subjects are steeped in folklore, adventure, and pastoral motifs; the major themes are love and friendship, and the heroes and heroines are basically poetic and romantic figures.

The unique source of the comic in Shakespeare is life in motion, interpreted as the movement of unfettered nature in all its fullness and abundance; this explains why his comedy, in contrast to all subsequent European comedy, is not noticeably satirical in nature. The duels of wits, the jesters’ pranks, the drollness of the simpletons (who make up the comedies’ secondary group of characters), and the elements of festiveness, recalling ancient rites and carnivals—all this freewheeling natural playfulness contributes to the cheerful and optimistic atmosphere of Shakespeare’s comedies. The world appears as a harmonious whole, life is seen as a joyous holiday, and people are represented as essentially noble and good.

Shakespeare’s comedies contain dramatic complications as well—for example, Proteus’ treachery in The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Shylock’s intrigues in The Merchant of Venice—but whatever is inimical to genuine humanity is easily overcome and, as a rule, is not attributed to social factors. In the comedies of the 1590’s, Shakespeare has no interest in actual social relationships; the comedies of the 1600’s, on the other hand, present a different picture. Here Shakespeare raises important social and moral questions, such as the problem of social inequality in All’s Well That Ends Well and questions of law and morality in Measure for Measure. The elements of satire and the grotesque are more noticeable; the action approaches tragedy, the happy endings are purely formal, and the tone no longer expresses the joy of living.

The gloominess of the “problem comedies” reflects Shakespeare’s frame of mind during his third period, when tragedy became his predominant genre. The contradictions of bourgeois progress and of the entire transitional stage of social development between feudalism and capitalism are now interpreted as the tragically unresolvable conflicts of life in general; they are seen to represent the divergence of humanist ideals from mankind’s entire past, present, and immediate future. Shakespeare’s social base is nowhere so evident as it is in Timon of Athens (which deals with the essential nature of money) or in Coriolanus (which shows the people in opposition to the ruling clique). Social conflict is usually presented as moral or family conflict (as in Hamlet and King Lear), as personal conflict (Othello), or as the struggle of conflicting ambitions (Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra).

The basic theme of Shakespeare’s tragedies—man and society—is developed primarily in the clash of individual personalities. Nevertheless, the conflict encompasses the entire chain of being; it assumes a universal or even cosmic character, and at the same time it is projected into the hero’s consciousness. In King Lear, Coriolanus, and Timon of Athens, the emphasis is on the former; in Othello, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra, on the latter; and in Hamlet the two aspects of the conflict are given equal weight.

Independently of the theme of conflict, the essence of Shakespeare’s tragic humanism is revealed most fully in the figure of the main hero. The heroes of the tragedies are titanic heroes, both in strength of character and in the ability to perceive the social and universal aspect of personal misfortune. In giving his heroes the capacity for spiritual growth, Shakespeare was the first in world literature to offer a profoundly perceptive portrayal of character development; such development takes place in the course of the hero’s gradual understanding of the nature of society—and of his own nature. Some heroes (such as Richard III, Romeo, Juliet, and Coriolanus) retain the integrity of their own nature during this process. Others (such as Brutus, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Antony) realize their own duality and the dual nature of man in general. For all of them, however, comprehension of reality and self-knowledge give rise to tragic suffering (often intensified by the realization of their own fateful mistakes, as in the case of Antony, Macbeth, and especially Othello and Lear) and lead to spiritual change, or at times to complete transformation of the personality (as in Lear). The very greatness of their merits—the qualities of mind in Brutus and Hamlet, the intensity of feeling in Romeo and Othello, the strength of character in Macbeth—is what leads the heroes to their downfall.

In spite of the significant role played by chance in leading to a tragic denouement (thus adding a hint of the mysterious to the tragic), the hero’s downfall follows inevitably from the incompatibility of the hero and his world; it confirms—as does the play’s entire action—the greatness of the individual, leaving no aftertaste of hopelessness. The denouement of Shakespeare’s tragedies always entails a return to some sort of originally existing equilibrium. In thus uniquely structuring his tragedies, Shakespeare the humanist reveals his belief in a certain standard without which life would be impossible.

Shakespeare’s fourth period reflects a new and more complex view of the world, associated with the deepening crisis of humanism and expressed in the genre of romantic tragicomedy, which is the characteristic genre of mannerism and of the baroque. The plays’ tragic conflicts and happenings reflect the same clear perception of the tragic aspect of life, while faith in the humanist ideals is now primarily expressed in the happy endings—which, incidentally, are clearly Utopian in character. The abundance of folklore and fantasy, the improbable and intricate plots, the simplification of character, and the markedly conventional mode of representation (especially in the denouements) all contribute to the romantically unreal atmosphere of Shakespeare’s last plays.

Despite the differences between the various periods in Shakespeare’s creative development, one senses the unity of artistic method in all his plays. Goethe noted that “truth and life itself are the great foundation of [Shakespeare’s] works” (Sobr. soch., vol. 10, Moscow, 1937, p. 585). Shakespeare’s fidelity to life, however, differs from that of late realism; it is based on the playwright’s poetic view of the world, which is evident even in his choice of subjects. With the exception of Love’s Labour’s Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Merry Wives of Windsor— the only three plays by Shakespeare whose plots are based on unknown sources—the subjects of all his plays were taken directly from history (for example, from R. Holinshed’s chronicles) or drawn from legends, tales, and narrative poems. Because the subjects are traditional, the plots acquired an epic quality by presenting some important turning points in the development of the state and in the political history of mankind and by capturing the most essential aspects of life. Furthermore, the traditional character of the subjects added authenticity to the fictional situations and made it unnecessary to adhere to verisimilitude of detail or to justify certain events or actions—for example, to explain Lear’s renunciation of power. Finally, Shakespeare’s use of traditional subjects allowed him to introduce fairy-tale motifs, accompanied by the characteristic mode of reasoning of folk poetry.

Shakespeare’s approach to reality, which he represents by means of poetic imagery, is manifested in his abundant use of anachronisms (such as the presence of a duke in ancient Athens or of billiards in ancient Egypt), in the arbitrary location of the action (places being sometimes precisely defined and sometimes not indicated at all), in the arbitrary treatment of time (as exemplified by the use of dramatic characters from different time periods, sometimes called double time), in other “inaccuracies” (which may also be attributed to the demands of the stage, where the primary consideration is the effect produced in performance), in the use of the fantastic and the supernatural, in the blend of dramatic convention and naturalism, and in the general reconciliation of contrasts.

Another indication of Shakespeare’s poetic view of the world is the presence of two or more plot lines in a single play. Parallel stories (such as those of Lear and Gloucester or of Hamlet and Laertes) convey an image of life governed by certain objective laws; in the absence of such parallelism (as in the portrayal of British and Roman relations in Cymbeline), the play as a whole turns into a poetic model of the world.

Shakespeare’s poetic method is also evident in his representation of history in the chronicle plays and in the tragedies. He boldly transforms historical material, making it the foundation of his overall picture of life and blending the distinctive features of the past with contemporary understanding of human relations. Dramatizing history, Shakespeare portrays it through the conflict of individuals. Man is the focus of Shakespeare’s dramatic art; the peak of the playwright’s artistic achievement is the portrayal of the human personality in all its diversity, in its grandeur and significance, and in the complexity and dynamics of its spiritual development.

The changeable and many-faceted nature of the human personality, as presented by Shakespeare, is dramatic in its essence, since personality changes are associated above all with changes in the hero’s actual situation—his role in life, his environment—and take place in spurts. In showing the many-sided nature of man’s character, Shakespeare often sacrifices logic for the sake of dramatic intensity. Furthermore, his heroes’ thoughts and feelings are clothed in poetic metaphors; indeed, many speeches are poems in their own right. Shakespeare makes the fullest use of poetic imagery. His series of images correspond to the evolution of the Shakespearean hero’s character; for example, the images by which Othello expresses lofty ideals at the beginning of the play are later interlaid with meanspirited images that recall Iago’s speech, and Othello’s “purification” is accompanied by a similar purification of his language. Shakespeare’s images serve as leitmotifs that correspond to the overall tone of the plays. The expressiveness and variety of his poetic and dramatic devices have placed his work among the world’s supreme artistic achievements.

Among his contemporaries, too, Shakespeare was held in high esteem (for example, by F. Meres and B. Jonson). In the age of classicism and during the Enlightenment, although credited with the ability to be “true to nature,” Shakespeare was criticized for his ignorance of “the rules.” Voltaire called him a “barbarian of genius.” English Enlightenment critics praised Shakespeare for being true to life. In Germany, J. Herder and Goethe raised him to the loftiest heights (Goethe, Shakespeare und kein Ende, 1813–16). During the romantic period, various writers contributed to a better understanding of Shakespeare’s work—specifically, A. W. von Schlegel, G. Hegel, S. T. Coleridge, Stendhal, and V. Hugo.

The question of Shakespeare’s evolution as an artist was first raised in the mid-19th century by G. Gervinus of Germany. The cultural-history school of Shakespearean studies includes works by H. Taine, E. Dowden, M. Koch, and G. Brandes. G. Riimelin and, to some extent, G. B. Shaw were among the positivist critics who opposed the “canonization” of Shakespeare the artist. In the 20th century, the works of E. K. Chambers represent a very important contribution to factual knowledge of Shakespeare and his work.

In Russia, Shakespeare was first mentioned by A. P. Sumarokov in 1748, but he was still relatively unknown there even in the second half of the 18th century. It was only in the first half of the 19th century that Shakespeare was given a place in Russian culture; references to Shakespeare are found in various writers of that period, including W. K. Küchelbecker, K. F. Ryleev, A. S. Griboedov, and A. A. Bestuzhev, who were all associated with the Decembrist movement, and A. S. Pushkin, for whom Shakespeare’s chief virtues were his objectivity, truthful portrayal of character, and faithful representation of his time. The Shakespearean tradition was developed by Pushkin in his own tragedy Boris Godunov.

Another writer who turned to Shakespeare in the struggle for realism in Russian literature was V. G. Belinskii. Shakespeare became increasingly important in Russia from the 1830’s through the 1850’s. A. I. Herzen and I. A. Goncharov were among those who, projecting Shakespeare’s images onto contemporary events, promoted a more profound understanding of the tragic nature of their age. A notable event was the staging of Hamlet in 1837 in N. A. Polevoi’s translation, with P. S. Mochalov playing the title role in Moscow and V. A. Karatygin in St. Petersburg. V. G. Belinskii and other progressive people of the time saw Hamlet’s tragedy as a reflection of the tragedy of their own generation. Hamlet’s attraction was also felt by I. S. Turgenev and F. M. Dostoevsky. Turgenev drew a parallel between Hamlet’s image and certain distinctive traits of the “superfluous people” (see Turgenev’s article “Hamlet and Don Quixote,” I860). In the acute social struggle of the 1860’s, attitudes toward Shakespeare became, on the one hand, more academic (as in the works of N. I. Storozhenko, founder of the Russian school of Shakespearean scholarship) and, on the other, more critical (for example, in L. N. Tolstoy’s Shakespeare and the Drama, 1903–04, published 1906).

The growing body of interpretation of Shakespeare’s work in Russia was paralleled by increasing knowledge of and familiarity with the works themselves. In the 18th and early 19th centuries translators of Shakespeare into Russian worked primarily from French adaptations of his works. In the first half of the 19th century, translations of Shakespeare were either too literal (for example, M. Vronchenko’s translation of Hamlet, 1828) or too free (Polevoi’s translation of Hamlet). Various translations published between 1840 and 1860, including those of A. V. Druzhinin, A. A. Grigor’ev, and P. I. Veinberg, reveal a scientifically oriented approach to the problem of literary translation—for example, by applying the principle of linguistic adequacy. The first Complete Collection of Shakespeare’s Dramatic Works Translated by Russian Writers, edited by N. V. Gerbel’, was published in 1865–68. The second complete collection to be published in pre-revolutionary Russia, edited by S. A. Vengerov, appeared in 1902–04.

Based on the profound generalizations of K. Marx and F. Engels, the Soviet school of Shakespearean scholarship carried on and developed the traditions of progressive Russian thought. A. V. Lunacharskii lectured on Shakespeare in the early 1920’s. The primary focus of Shakespearean studies (for example, by V. K. Miuller and I. A. Aksenov) is on the artistic aspects of his work. Published works include historicoliterary monographs (such as A. A. Smirnov’s) and studies dealing with specific problems (such as M. M. Morozov’s). The works of A. A. Anikst and N. Ia. Berkovskii, as well as a monograph by L. E. Pinskii, represent major contributions to modern Shakespearean scholarship. The motion-picture directors G. M. Kozintsev and S. I. Iut-kevich have presented their own original interpretations of works by Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s work has been translated into 28 of the languages of the USSR. In addition to separate editions of the plays and selected works, complete collections of Shakespeare’s works were published in Russian in 1936–50 and 1957–60. A particular school of Soviet translators, including M. L. Lozinskii, B. L. Pasternak, V. V. Levik, T. G. Gnedich, and S. Ia. Marshak, has specialized in the close reading and interpretation of works by Shakespeare.

Shakespeare has occupied an important place in the Russian theater repertoire since the mid-1830’s. Two Russian actors who gained renown for their Shakespearean roles were P. S. Mochalov (for his Richard III, Othello, Lear, and Hamlet) and V. A. Karatygin (for his Hamlet and Lear). In the second half of the 19th and in the early 20th century, the Malyi Theater of Moscow created its own school of Shakespearean interpretation, combining stage realism with elements of romanticism; among its outstanding Shakespearean interpreters were G. Fedotova, A. Lenskii, A. Iuzhin, and M. Ermolova. Beginning in the early 20th century, Shakespeare was included in the repertoire of the Moscow Art Academic Theater, or MKhAT (which presented Julius Caesar in 1903, directed by V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko in collaboration with K. S. Stanislavsky, and Hamlet in 1911, directed by H. Craig, with V. I. Kachalov in the respective title roles).

Early Soviet productions of Shakespeare’s plays were experimental and sometimes formalist in nature, as in the case of A. Tairov’s production of Romeo and Juliet at the Kamernyi Teatr in 1921; they also included, however, such important productions as the second MKhAT’s Hamlet (1924), with M. Chekhov in the title role.

The year 1935 was marked by three memorable productions that sought to convey the wide-ranging sociohistorical and philosophical significance of Shakespeare’s tragedies by means of heroic images—namely, Othello (directed by S. Radlov at Moscow’s Malyi Theater, with A. Ostuzhev in the title role), King Lear (directed by Radlov at the Moscow Jewish Theater, with S. Mikhoels playing Lear), and Romeo and Juliet (directed by A. D. Popov at the Theater of the Revolution, with M. Astangov playing Romeo and M. Babanova in the part of Juliet). These were followed by a series of successful Shakespearean interpretations, presented throughout the country in the various national languages (for example, by A. Khorava, A. Vasadze, V. Vagar-shian, and V. Tkhapsaev). Productions that were particularly successful were those in which colorful staging and a festive spirit were combined with lofty humanism and psychological subtlety; such were the productions of Twelfth Night (directed by S. Giatsintova at the second MKhAT, 1933), Much Ado About Nothing (by S. Rapoport, Vakhtangov Theater, 1936), and The Taming of the Shrew (by A. D. Popov, Central Theater of the Red Army, 1937).

A new era in Soviet Shakespearean theater was opened in 1954 with two productions of Hamlet—by the Leningrad Academic Drama Theater (directed by G. Kozintsev) and by the Moscow Mayakovsky Theater (directed by N. Okhlopkov)—which had broad public reverberations. The new era was marked by productions that plumbed the depths of Shakespeare’s tragic motifs, by rejection of the romanticized approach to Shakespeare (particularly in the productions of the 1960’s and 1970’s), by the primary role often assumed by the director in shaping the stage action, and by the increasing number of Shakespearean plays actually performed. Every Shakespearean play staged in the USSR is an outstanding event in the theatrical life of the country.

Film versions of Shakespeare’s plays (including Soviet ones) have been produced in a steady flow that began with The Taming of the Shrew, filmed in 1929 and starring M. Pickford and D. Fairbanks.

WORKS
The Works. Edited by A. Quiller-Couch and J. Dover Wilson. Cambridge, 1921–66 (The New Shakespeare).
In Russian translation:
Poln. sobr. soch., vols. 1–8. Edited by A. A. Smirnov and A. A. Anikst. Moscow, 1957–60.
REFERENCES
Marx, K., and F. Engels. Ob iskusstve, vols. 1–2. Moscow, 1976.
Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 1, fasc. 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1945.
Storozhenko, N. I. Opyty izucheniia Shekspira. Moscow, 1902.
Morozov, M. M. Izbr. stal’i i perevody. Moscow, 1954.
Morozov, M. M. Shekspir, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1956.
Smirnov, A. A. Shekspir. Leningrad-Moscow, 1963.
Anikst, A. A. Shekspir. Moscow, 1964.
Anikst, A. A. Remeslo dramaturga. Moscow, 1974.
Shvedov, Iu. Evoliutsiia shekspirovskoi tragedii. Moscow, 1975.
Urnov, M. V., and D. M. Urnov. Shekspir: Dvizhenie vo vremeni. Moscow, 1968.
Pinskii, L. Shekspir. Moscow, 1971.
Shekspirovskii sbornik VTO, vols, 1–4, 1948–68.
Chambers, E. K. W. Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems, vols. 1–2. Oxford, 1930.
Knight, G. W. The Wheel of Fire, 4th ed. London, 1949.
Bullough, G. Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare, vols. 1–7. London-New York, 1957–73.
Spurgeon, C. Shakespeare’s Imagery and What It Tells Us. Boston, 1958.
Barber, C. L. Shakespeare’s Festive Comedy. Princeton, 1959.
Muir, K. W. Shakespeare: The Great Tragedies. London, 1961.
Wilson, J. D. The Essential Shakespeare. Cambridge, 1964.
Richmond, H. M. Shakespeare’s Political Plays. London-New York [1967].
Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. New York [1967].
Hartwig, J. Shakespeare’s Tragicomic Vision. Baton Rouge, 1972.
Shakespeare: The Critical Heritage, vols. 1–4. London-Boston, 1974–76.
Farnham, W. Shakespeare’s Tragic Frontier. London, 1973.
Shakespeare Survey, vols. 1–28—. Cambridge, 1948–75—.
Shakespeare Quarterly. New York, vols. 1–26—, 1950–75—.
Levidova, I. M., comp. Shekspir: Bibliografiia russkikh perevodov i kriticheskoi literatury na russkom iazyke, 1748–1962. Moscow, 1964.
Howard-Hill, T. H. Shakespearean Bibliography and Textual Criticism: A Bibliography. Oxford, 1971.
A Shakespeare Bibliography, vols. 1–7. London, 1971.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by I. A. RATSKII)

Julius Caesar (Audiobook)
The Merchant of Venice (Audiobook)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Audiobook)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Audiobook)
Romeo and Juliet (Audiobook)
Hamlet (Audiobook)

“Shakespeare: A Marxist Interpretation” by Aleksandr A. Smirnov

The Myth that Stalin banned Hamlet

JOHN MILTON (1608-1674)

“Milton, John. Born Dec. 9, 1608, in London; died there Nov. 8, 1674. English poet; political figure; thinker.

Milton was the son of a scrivener who was close to Puritan circles. In 1632 he graduated from Cambridge University with a master of arts degree. Even his early works, including philosophical writings and English and Latin poetry, reflected his acquaintance with the thought of philosophers such as F. Bacon and revealed his familiarity with Puritan poetry (for example, “L’Allegro” and “II Penseroso,” a lyric diptych; and the dramatic poem Comus, an allegory of the struggle between chastity and vice). In 1638 he published the elegy “Lycidas,” which contained many allusions to the religious and political struggle in England. From 1638 to 1639 he lived in Italy, but in 1639 he returned to England to express his opposition to the Anglican Church. The fight against the church was the prelude to the struggle against the monarchy.

During the English Bourgeois Revolution of the 17th century Milton was an outstanding publicist and a supporter of the Independents. In defense of the freedom of the press against the censorship law passed by the Long Parliament he wrote the pamphlet Areopagitica (1644; Russian translation, 1907). The book Eikonoklastes (1649), a justification of the conviction and execution of King Charles I as a tyrant, a murderer, and an unmitigated enemy of the English state, opened a debate with the royalist pamphleteers of England and Europe. In the two pamphlets entitled Defense of the People of England (1650 and 1654), Milton emerged as an adherent of 16th-century antityranny theories and a champion of the sovereignty of the English republic. From 1649 to 1652 he held the post of Latin secretary, conducting international state correspondence and working on the semiofficial journal Mercurius Politicus. Repeatedly, he voiced concern about the state of affairs in England, condemning the violation of parliamentary prerogatives, the absence of religious freedom, and the persecution of the democratic movement. In pamphlets written in 1659–60, Milton warned that the triumph of the Restoration would lead to a revival of tyranny. During this period he also translated the psalms and wrote sonnets.

After the restoration of the Stuarts (1660), Eikonoklastes and the pamphlets entitled Defense of the People of England were publicly burned. Avoiding prison and death, Milton led a reclusive life. Although he suffered from blindness, during this period of intense creativity he wrote Paradise Lost (1667) and Paradise Regained (1671), poems inspired by the Bible, and completed The History of Britain (1670). Paradise Lost discusses the lawfulness of rebelling against god. Despite Milton’s contradictory evaluations of his actions, the rebellious Satan is a titanic, profoundly attractive character, as are the people who violated god’s commandment. The poem’s complex, contradictory ideological and artistic variety stem from the struggle within the poet between the humanist and the god-fearing Puritan. Paradise Regained is a weaker poem, even though it contains the idea of struggle.

Milton’s creative work culminated in the brilliant tragedy Samson Agonistes (1671; Russian translation, 1911), which glorified the inexhaustible forces of popular resistance to tyranny. His creative powers evolved from a reliance on Late Renaissance traditions into an independent style that revealed a proclivity for classicism.

Milton’s influence on the development of European poetry can be traced from his own time to the 1830’s. The English poet and thinker was known and highly esteemed in Russia during the 18th and 19th centuries. Milton himself had shown an interest in Russia in the work A Brief History of Moscovia (1682; Russian translation under the title John Milton’s Muscovy, 1875).

WORKS
The Works, vols. 1–8. New York, 1931–38.
In Russian translation:
Poteriannyi i vozvrashchennyi rai. St. Petersburg, 1899.
REFERENCES
Lunacharskii, A. V. Sobr. soch., vol. 4. Moscow, 1964. Page 164.
Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 1, fasc. 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1945.
Kon, I. S. “Dzh. Mil’ton kak sotsial’no-politicheskii myslitel’.” Voprosy filosofii, 1959, no. 1.
Samarin, R. M. Tvorchestvo Dzhona Mil’tona. Moscow, 1964.
Hanford, J. Milton Handbook, New York, 1926.
Tillyard, E. M. Milton. London, 1959.
Muir, K. John Milton. London, 1961.
Parker, W. R. Milton: A Biography, vols. 1–2. Oxford, 1968.
Milton Studies …. [Pittsburgh, 1969.] (A continuing publication.)” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by R. M. SAMARIN)

JAMES HARRINGTON (1611-1677)

A bourgeois-democratic philosopher. His work “The Republic of Oceana” is practically a political treatise, but it is also a novel in the utopian genre.

“Harrington, James. Born Jan. 7, 1611, in Upton; died Sept. 11, 1677, in London. English publicist and ideologist of the new nobility and the bourgeoisie.

In his works (for example, The Republic of Oceana, 1656, Advantages of Popular Government, 1657, and The Art of Legislation, 1659), Harrington spoke out against the threat of restoration of the feudal monarchy in England. He devised a constitution for a republic of the bourgeoisie and nobility, which he considered the best form of state for protecting the achievements of the mid-17th century English Bourgeois Revolution from encoachments of the feudal aristocracy, the Stuarts, and the broad popular masses. During 1658-60, Harrington headed a republican group that tried to implement his constitution. Applying Bacon’s inductive method, he proved that the forms of the state and its institutions were dependent on the distribution of property in society.

WORKS
The Oceana and Other Works …. London, 1737.
REFERENCES
Saprykin, Iu. M. O klassovoi sushchnosti politicheskikh vzgliadov Garringtona. In the collection Srednie veka, fascs. 4-5. Moscow, 1953-54.
Saprykin, Iu. M. Bor’ba Garringtona i ego gruppy za respubliku. Ibid., fasc. 9. Moscow, 1957.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by IU. M. SAPRYKIN)

DANIEL DEFOE (1660-1731)

“Defoe, Daniel. Born c. 1660 in Cripplegate; died Apr. 26, 1731, in Moorfields. English writer and publicist.

Defoe graduated from a Dissenters’ Academy. He took part in the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion against James II and supported the coup d’etat of 1688-89 (the so-called Glorious Revolution). He began his literary work with An Essay Upon Projects (1697), which proposed certain economic and social reforms. He was the author of pamphlets in defense of civil rights and freedom of the press and of religion; he wrote the satire in verse The True-Born Englishman (1701), which was directed against the aristocrats who discredited William III of Orange for “not being English.” For his pamphlet in defense of religious tolerance, The Shortest Way With Dissenters (1702), he was sentenced to stand in the pillory and was sent to prison. A child of his age, Defoe was not averse to entrepreneurial activity and in the last years of his life was forced to hide from his creditors.

Defoe’s story “Jonathan Wild” (1725) was one of the sources for one of H. Fielding’s satirical novels. Many of Defoe’s novels belong to the adventure genre, such as Memoirs of a Cavalier (1720), Captain Singleton (1720), and The History of Colonel Jack (1722). Outstanding among these is Moll Flanders (1722; Russian translation, 1896), about a poor young woman driven by social conditions down the road of prostitution and thievery. An especially outstanding work in this genre is Robinson Crusoe (1719; Russian translation, 1762-64), about an English merchant shipwrecked upon an uninhabited island and how he produces everything necessary to sustain life by his own labor. Some bourgeois economists of the 18th and 19th centuries tried to use the example of Robinson to show that material production originally had an individual character. In criticizing the idea of the “robinsonade,” Marx showed that production has a social character at all stages of development (see K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 12, p. 709). Imbued with enthusiastic industriousness and optimism, Defoe’s novel was highly regarded by J.-J. Rousseau and L. N. Tolstoy and retains its educational value to this day.

WORKS
Novels and Selected Writings, vols. 1-14. Oxford [1927-28].
In Russian translation:
Moll’ Flenders. Moscow, 1965.
Robinzon Kruzo. Moscow-Leningrad, 1959.
REFERENCES
Anikst, A. D. Defo. Moscow, 1957.
Nersesova, M. D. Defo. Moscow, 1960.
Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 1, issue 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1945.
Mirimskii, I. “Realizm Defo.” In Realizm XVIII v. na Zapade. Moscow, 1936.
Novak, M. E. Defoe and the Nature of Man. London, 1963.
Starr, G. A. Defoe: Spiritual Autobiography. Princeton, N. J., 1965.
Shinagel, M. Daniel Defoe and Middle-class Gentility. Cambridge, Mass., 1968.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by IU. I. KAGARLITSKII)

JONATHAN SWIFT (1667-1745)

“Swift, Jonathan. Born Nov. 30, 1667, in Dublin; died there Oct. 19, 1745. English writer.

The son of a steward, Swift studied at Trinity College of the University of Dublin from 1682 to 1688. From 1689 to 1699 he was secretary and librarian to W. Temple, a retired diplomat and prominent essayist. In 1695, Swift became a clergyman, and in 1701, a doctor of theology.

In the early 1680’s, Swift tested his gift for the poetic genres and developed a compressed, parodic prose style. His first work, the pamphlet The Battle of the Books (1697), was a savage mockery of the defenders of the intellectual and cultural innovations of the new bourgeois civilization. Swift’s search for a literary form began with The Battle of the Books and was successfully resolved in A Tale of a Tub (1704), in which the first-person narrator is a hack writer compiling an encyclopedia of future insanity. Through his “author,” Swift expressed the religious, humanistic, and Utopian pretensions of bourgeois progress and exposed their intrinsic hypocrisy. This tale about three brothers, each of whom represents a branch of Christianity (Catholic, Anglican, and Calvinist), was a pretext for endless parodic digressions that used the resources of language to expose the latest intellectual distortions.

From 1701, when he obtained a position as a vicar in Laracor (Ireland), Swift came to London only for brief visits. He had already won fame as a political pamphleteer, and the Whigs considered him their supporter, but he emphasized his ideological and political independence with the pamphlets The Sentiments of a Church-of England Man (1708) and An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1709). During these years Swift created a stir with pamphlets in which, under the guise of Isaac Bicker-staff, a sage prophet and patriot, he used real-life examples to demonstrate the power of printed propaganda, which can arbitrarily invent and excise facts.

From 1710 to 1714, Swift formed close ties with the leaders of the Tory government, which was trying to extricate Great Britain from the War of the Spanish Succession and stabilize the domestic situation. He actively supported and guided government policies with his articles in the Examiner (1710–11), a journai, and with pamphlets, including The Conduct of the Allies (1711) and The Publick Spirit of the Whigs (1714).

The Journal to Stella, which was published posthumously, contains the daily letters and accounts sent by Swift from Laracor to Esther Johnson, his former ward and pupil, between 1710 and 1713.

In 1713, Swift was made dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. Residing in Ireland almost uninterruptedly as a political exile, Swift joined the struggle for the violated rights of the Irish people, turning out pamphlets such as A Proposal for the Universal Use of Irish Manufacture (1720) and A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People From Being a Burthen to Their Parents (1729). In the series A Drapier’s Letters (1723–24), Swift, reproducing the logic and language of the common man, so skillfully linked broad political agitation with concrete events that the British government barely prevented a national uprising in Ireland.

Swift’s work reached its peak with Gulliver’s Travels (1726). Simultaneously parodying and epitomizing travel literature, Swift discovers fantastical countries and comments satirically on the prospects and ideals of the European social structure, the comical, parodie reflection of which is the world of the Lilliputians. Free, sound common sense condemns man’s latest achievements in “The Voyage to Brobdingnag.” The “Voyage to Laputa” mocks the insanity of “pure” scientific progress, and the bankruptcy of bourgeois Enlightenment humanism is demonstrated in the “Voyage to the Land of the Houyhnhnms,” which offers an ironic choice between a utopia based on “horse sense” and an ape society similar to socially perverted human existence. Swift’s book was not a sermon of hopeless pessimism but a farsighted overview of the social and ideological tenets of bourgeois progress. It prompted the prominent artistic and literary theoretician A. V. Lunacharskii to call Swift the “lookout.” The most outstanding of Swift’s last works, which essentially repeat earlier themes and motifs, are the pamphlets Directions to Servants and A Serious and Useful Scheme to Make a Hospital for Incurables.

The chief technique in Swift’s satire was realistic parody. He presented absurdity and monstrosity as social norms, as actual and potential characterizations of the phenomena he described. His dramatic satire records the intellectual panorama of the early British Enlightenment.

WORKS
The Prose Works, vols. 1–14. Oxford, 1939–68.
The Poems, vols. 1–3. Oxford, 1958.
In Russian translation:
Pamflety. Moscow, 1955.
Skazka o bochke. Moscow, 1930.
Puteshestvie v nekotorye otdalennye strany Lemiuelia Gullivera. Moscow, 1967.
REFERENCES
Zabludovskii, M. D. “Satira i realizm Svifta.’ In the collection Realizm XVIII v. na Zapade. Moscow, 1956.
Levidov, N. Iu. Putesheslvie v nekolorye otdalennye strany: Mysli i chuvstva Dzhonatana Svifta. Moscow, 1964.
Murav’ev, V. Dzhonatan Svift. Moscow, 1968.
Craik, H. The Life of Jonathan Swift, vols. 1–2. London, 1894.
Quintana, R. The Mind and Art of Jonathan Swift. London-New York, 1936.
Williams, K. Jonathan Swift and the Age of Compromise. Lawrence, Kan., 1958.
Ehrenpreis, I. Swift…. vols. 1–2. London, 1964–67.
Swift. Edited by C. J. Rawson. London (1971).” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by V. S. MURAV’EV)

HENRY FIELDING (1707-1754)

“Fielding, Henry. Born Apr. 22, 1707, in Sharpham Park, near Glastonbury, Somersetshire; died Oct. 8, 1754, in Lisbon. English writer. The leading representative of English literature during the Enlightenment.

A member of an old aristocratic family, Fielding attended Eton College from 1719 to 1727 and then went to Holland to study at the University of Leiden, in the faculty of languages and literature. From 1737 to 1740 he studied law at the Middle Temple in London; in 1748 he became justice of the peace of Westminster.

Fielding began his literary career as a poet and playwright. In 1728 he published a satirical poem, The Masquerade, under the pseudonym Gulliver. His theatrical works, which include farces, comedies of morals and manners, ballad operas in the style of J. Gay, and political comedies, are marked by a singularly satirical tone. They were always highly topical. Examples are The Temple Beau (1730; Russian translation, 1954), The Coffee-House Politician, or The Judge Caught in His Own Trap (1730; Russian translation, 1954), and The Tragedy of Tragedies, or The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great (1731). The targets of his satire were venality and the decline of morals in society and private life, which he exposed almost as zealously as J. Swift. Less severe, however, in his conclusions, Fielding often preferred conventional, happy endings. In his choice of dramatic technique, he owed much to classicism and to Molière, for he was, to a large extent, a rationalist; he gave his characters names that appeared to suit them, and invariably contrasted his heroes with their opposites in traits and behavior. In some of his political comedies—namely Don Quixote in England (1734; Russian translation, 1954), Pasquin, a Dramatick Satire on the Times (1736; Russian translation, 1954), and The Historical Register for 1736 (1737; Russian translation, 1954)—Fielding openly criticized the government of R. Walpole. As a result, a law was passed in 1737 that provided for the censorship of plays. Its immediate effect was to end Fielding’s career as a playwright.

Fielding thereupon turned to novels. His first novel, The History of the Life of the Late Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great (1743; Russian translation from German, 1772–73), shows the influence of the playwright in its abundance of dialogue and stage situations. Like his plays, it is a realistic representation of the grotesque, didactic in tone, and filled with current political allusions. In his epic novels, which he defined as “comic epic literature in prose,” Fielding introduced significant innovations in the art of prose writing. Two such novels are The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams (1742; Russian translation from German, 1772–73) and The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749; Russian translation from French, 1770–71).

In the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, conceived as a parody on the smug and narrow puritanical morality of S. Richardson’s Pamela (Fielding allegedly wrote another parody of that work, Shamela Andrews), Fielding departed from his original plan, producing instead a panorama of English provincial life during the 18th century in the form of a picaresque novel. The main character is essentially a subordinate figure. In his characterization of Abraham Adams, a masterful portrait of an impractical, eccentric, though thoroughly earthly parson, Fielding shows himself to be a realist in the tradition of Cervantes. In Tom Jones he examines closely the idea of the positive hero. While allowing Tom Jones ample opportunity to err and even to commit outrageously improper acts, Fielding sets the stage for the ultimate victory of the good side of his hero’s character.

Fielding, who possessed a profound knowledge of the English way of life and remarkable wit (as noted by M. Gorky in Istoriia russkoi literatury, 1939, p. 38), filled his treasury of satirical creations with petty, tyrannical landowners, sanctimonious parsons, and amoral aristocrats, all colorfully portrayed. In his novels he gave prominence to his prolix judgments on realistic art, presenting them in the form of disquisitions addressed to the reader.

By the time he wrote his last novel, Amelia (1752; Russian translation from French, parts 1–3, 1772–85), Fielding had grown increasingly pessimistic regarding society and its ills. Some of his works contain motifs that prefigure sentimentalism. Included in his literary legacy are articles that appeared in the several journals Fielding edited periodically.

Fielding, who made a tremendous contribution to the development of European realistic art, may in many respects be regarded as a precursor of G. G. Byron, W. M. Thackeray, C. Dickens, and G. B. Shaw. Well known since the 18th century in Russia—where even some of the writings of his sister, Sarah Fielding, and of T. G. Smollett were at one time ascribed to him—he exercised considerable influence on N. V. Gogol.

WORKS
The Works, vols. 1–12. Edited by G. Saintsbury. London, 1928.
Novels, vols. 1–10. Oxford, 1926.
In Russian translation:
Izbr. proizv., vols. 1–2. Moscow, 1954. [Introductory article by S. S. Mokul’skii.]
REFERENCES
Alekseev, M. P. “Satiricheskii teatr Fil’dinga.” In Iz istorii angliiskoi literatury. Moscow-Leningrad, 1960.
Elistratova, A. A. Angliiskii roman epokhi Prosveshcheniia. Moscow, 1966.
Levidova, I. M. Genri Fil’ding: Biobibliograficheskii ukazatel’. Moscow, 1957.
Cross, W. L. The History of Henry Fielding, vols. 1–3. New Haven, Conn., 1918.
Dudden, F. H. Henry Fielding: His Life, Works, and Times, vols. 1–2. Oxford, 1952.
Watt, I. The Rise of the Novel. London–Berkeley–Los Angeles, 1962.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by V. A. KHARITONOV)

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)

“Blake, William. Born Nov. 28, 1757, in London; died there Aug. 12, 1827. English poet and artist. Son of a merchant.

Blake’s first verse collection, Poetical Sketches (1783), was optimistic in spirit. He welcomed the Great French Revolution (in the unfinished narrative poem The French Revolution, 1791), and sided with the democratic London Corresponding Society. His poetry collection Songs of Innocence (published in 1789) glorifies the joy of life, but Songs of Experience (1794) is permeated with dark moods. The satirical collection Proverbs of Hell (1793) frequently has anti-church overtones. In the Illuminated Books (1789–1820), Blake used mythological and biblical images to reflect the events of the French Revolution and the American War for Independence. As an artist, he illustrated his own poems with watercolors and engravings (Songs of Innocence, 1789; The Book of Job, 1818–25, published in 1826; and Dante’s Divine Comedy, 1825–27). His art tends toward romantic fantasy and symbolism and toward philosophical allegories; it is audacious in its arbitrary play of lines. Blake’s poetry is a transition from enlightenment to the romanticism of J. Keats and P. B. Shelley. The 200th anniversary of Blake’s birth was marked in 1957 following a decision of the World Peace Council.

WORKS
The Complete Writings. London-New York, 1957.
In Russian translation:
Izbrannoe. Translated by S. Marshak. Moscow, 1965.
REFERENCES
Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 1, issue 2. Moscow, 1945.
Elistratova, A. A. Nasledie angliiskogo romantizma i sovremennost’. Moscow, 1960.
Blunt, A. The Art of W. Blake. New York, 1959.
Blake: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1966.
Plowman, M. An Introduction to the Study of Blake, 2nd ed. London, 1967.
Holloway, J. Blake: The Lyric Poetry. London, [1968].” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by B. A. ALEKSANDROV)

WALTER SCOTT (1771-1832)

“Scott, Walter. Born Aug. 15, 1771, in Edinburgh; died Sept. 21, 1832, at Abbotsford. British writer.

The son of a well-to-do Scottish lawyer, Scott passed his bar examinations in 1792 at the University of Edinburgh. In 1799 he became the sheriff of Selkirkshire, and from 1806 he served as secretary of the county court His first original work was the romantic ballad “The Eve of St, John” (1800; Russian translation by V, A. Zhukovskii, under the title “Smailholm Castle”). In 1800 he began collecting Scottish folk ballads, which he later published as Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (vols. 1–3, 1802–3). He contributed to the Edinburgh Review and the Quarterly Review. Scott won acclaim for his romantic narrative poems (1805–17), which popularized the lyrical epic genre, combining a dramatic story line with beautiful descriptions of nature and lyric songs in the style of the ballad, for example. The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805; Russian translation, 1822), Marmion (1808; Russian translation, 1828), The Lady of the Lake (1810; Russian translation, 1828), and Rokeby (1813; Russian translation, 1823).

Scott created the genre of the historical novel. Waverley, the first such novel (1814; Russian translation, 1827), was published anonymously. Until 1827, subsequent novels were published as works by the “author of Waverley.” Events associated with important sociohistorical conflicts form the core of Scott’s novels. His Scottish novels The Old Mortality (1816; Russian translation, 1824) and Rub Roy (1818; Russian translation, 1829) are outstanding works based on Scottish historical sources. In The Old Mortality Scott depicted the uprising of 1679 against the Stuart dynasty, which had been restored in 1660. The hero of Rob Roy is an avenger of the people, a Scottish Robin Hood. Scott also wrote some nonhistorical novels, among them, Guy Mannering (vols. 1–3, 1815; Russian translation, 1824), The Antiquary (vols. 1–3, 1816; Russian translation, 1825–26), and The Bride of Lammermoor (1819; Russian translation, 1827). Although the action of these novels is set in the past, the works lack the grand scale of historical conflict. Their plots center on court cases associated with the distribution of landholdings.

A realistic approach prevails in novels written by Scott between 1810 and 1820. For example, it is possible to speak of the emergence of critical realism in The Old Mortality and The Bride of Lammermoor, novels in which the conflicts have a clear social basis and the characters’ fates are determined by property relations. The plot of The Heart of Mid-Lothian (1818; Russian translation, 1825) is based on a conflict between the individual and the law.

After 1819 the contradictions in Scott’s world view grew more intense, and Scott posed the problems of the class struggle less sharply. Nevertheless, the subject matter of his historical novels expanded considerably as Scott became interested in periods remote from his own. He wrote the novels Ivanhoe (vols. 1–3, 1820; Russian translation, 1826), Kenilworth (vols. 1–4, 1821; Russian translation, 1823), Quentin Durward (vols. 1–3, 1823; Russian translation, 1827), Woodstock (vols. 1–3, 1826; Russian translation, 1829), and Chronicles of the Canongate, Second Series (The Fair Maid of Perth, 1828; Russian translation, 1829). Although his work of the 1820’s continued to have a realistic foundation, it was sometimes marked by greater romanticism. This is especially true of Ivanhoe, a novel set in the late Middle Ages. St. Ronan’s Well (vols. 1–3, 1824; Russian translation, 1828), a novel about his own times, occupies a special place among Scott’s works. The bourgeoisification of the gentry is described in critical tones, and the titled aristocracy is satirized in numerous sketches. The principles of the novel of mores and manners are manifested in The Pirate (vols. 1–3, 1822; Russian translation, 1829) and The Fortunes of Nigel (vols. 1–3, 1822; Russian translation, 1929).

Scott treated the theme of the lack of rights of the Scottish common people in short stories and novellas written during the 1820’s. During this period he also published a number of works on historical and literary themes: The Life of Napoleon (vols. 1–9, 1827; Russian translation, parts 1–14, 1831–33), The History of Scotland (vols. 1–3, 1829–30; Russian translation, 1831), and The Death of Lord Byron (1824; Russian translation, 1825). Scott’s Lives of the Novelists (vols. 1–4, 1821–24) clarifies his creative ties with 18th-century writers, especially Fielding, whom he called the “father of the English novel.”

Scott’s brilliant historical novels established the principles for the new genre. Scott linked everyday family conflicts with the destinies of nations and states and the development of society. His work had an enormous influence on European and American literature. The historical novel became one of the most popular genres during the romantic period, when it was adopted by V. Hugo, A. Dumas père, A. de Vigny, and J. F. Cooper. Balzac, Mérimée, Dickens, and Thackeray gave a realistic orientation to the historical novel. However, it was Scott who enriched the 19th-century social novel with the principle of the historical approach to events and characters.

Scott was well known in Russia as early as the 1820’s. A. S. Pushkin and V. G. Belinskii wrote about him. His work as a novelist influenced the historical prose of Russian writers, including Pushkin and Gogol. Soviet literary scholarship has carefully studied the relationship of realism and romanticism in Scott’s legacy, taking as a point of departure the profoundly contemporary feel of his works.

WORKS
Works, vols. 1–50. Boston, 1912–13.
Poetical Works. Oxford, 1940.
In Russian translation:
Sobr. soch., vols. 1–20. [Introduction by B. G. Reizov.) Moscow-Leningrad, 1960–65
REFERENCES
Marx, K., and F. Engels. Ob iskusstve, vol. 1. Moscow, 1967. page 482. Vol. 2: Moscow, 1967, pages 556,564.
Reizov, B. G. Tvorchestvo Val’tera Skotta. Moscow-Leningrad, 1965.
Bel’skii, A. A. Angliiskii roman 1800-1810 gg. Perm’. 1968.
Bel’skii, A. A. Angliiskii roman 1820-kh gg. Perm’, 1975.
Val’ter Skott: Biobibliograficheskii ukazatel’. Moscow, 1958.
Hillhouse, J. The Waverley Novels and Their Critics. London, 1936.
Johnson, E. Sir Walter Scott…. [London, 1970.]
Scott Bicentenary Essays… Edinburgh-London, 1973.
Corson, I. C. A Bibliography of Sir Walter Scott. London-Edinburgh, 1943.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by A. A. BEL’SKII)

JANE AUSTEN (1775-1817)

“Austen, Jane. Born Dec. 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire; died July 18, 1817, in Winchester. English writer. Daughter of a country pastor.

Austen’s novel Northanger Abbey (1797–98; published 1818) is a parody of the Gothic novel. In the novels Sense and Sensibility (vols. 1–3, 1811) and Pride and Prejudice (vols. 1–3, 1813; Russian translation, 1967) the way of life and manners of the provincial gentry and clergy are depicted realistically, without any moralizing. The broad range of humor and profound psychologism in her novels, including the later works Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (vols. 1–3, 1816), and Persuasion (published 1818), make her a forerunner of critical realism in English literature.

WORKS
The Works. [Bristol, 1968.]
Letters. London-New York, 1955.
REFERENCE
Kettl, A. Vvedenie v istoriiu angliiskogo romana. Moscow, 1966.
Bel’skii, A. A. Angliiskii roman 1800–1810-kh godov. Perm’, 1968. Pages 47–107.
Jane Austen: The Critical Heritage. Edited by B. C. Southam. London-New York, 1969.
Mansell, D. The Novels of Jane Austen. London, 1973.
Chapman, R. W. Jane Austen: A Critical Bibliography, 2nd ed. London, 1969.
Hardwick, M. The Osprey Guide to Jane Austen. [Reading] 1973.
A. A. BEL’SKII” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979)

THOMAS MOORE (1779-1852)

“Moore, Thomas. Born May 28, 1779, in Dublin; died Feb. 25, 1852, in London. English poet of Irish extraction.

The son of a grocer, Moore studied at the University of Dublin. His romantic “oriental” poem Lalla Rookh (1817) and his Irish Melodies (1807–34), which glorify the struggle and sufferings of the Irish people, were highly popular in Russia. The well-known song “Those Evening Bells” (translated by I. Kozlov) is part of the Russian section of Moore’s cycle of verses National Airs (1818–27).

Moore’s satires, particularly his Fables for the Holy Alliance (1823), are directed against the reactionary policy of the English and other European rulers of his time. He also published The Letters and Journals of Lord Byron (1830), The History of Ireland (1835–46), and a biography of R. B. Sheridan (1825).

WORKS
The Poetical Works. London-New York, 1910.
The Letters, vols. 1–2. Oxford, 1964.
In Russian translation:
[Verse.] In Angliiskie poety v biografiiakh i obraztsakh. Compiled by N.
Gerbel’. St. Petersburg, 1875.
REFERENCES
Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 2, fasc. 1. Moscow, 1953.
Jones, H. M. The Harp That Once—: A Chronicle of the Life of Thomas Moore. New York, 1937.
De Ford, M. A. Thomas Moore. New York [1967]. (Bibliography, pp. 119–23.)” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979)

LORD BYRON (1788-1824)

“Byron, George Noel Gordon. Born Jan. 22, 1788, in London; died Apr. 19,1824, in Missolonghi, Greece. English romantic poet who played a prominent role in the social life of Europe as a bold fighter against political and ideological reaction under the Holy Alliance.

Byron was a member of an aristocratic family. He studied at Cambridge University. In 1807 he published the collection Hours of Idleness. His satirical poem English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (published in 1809) was directed against reactionary romantics. Beginning in March 1809, Byron was a member of the House of Lords. In 1812 he published the first two cantos of his narrative poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, in which he re-created the stages of his travels through the Near East and southern Europe. The hero of the poem is a brilliant characterization of a young man disillusioned with life and lamenting the collapse of ideals and the absence of freedom. Byron’s speech in the House of Lords on Feb. 27, 1812, was devoted to the Luddite workers. The speech resounded as a menacing indictment of the British ruling classes. In “An Ode to the Framers of the Frame Bill” (1812), Byron spoke out against the law demanding capital punishment for the destruction of machinery.

During the political reaction of 1813–16, Byron’s tragic world view became more profound. This was reflected in his lyric poetry and in the narrative poems of the so-called Oriental cycle: The Giaour (1813), The Bride of Abydos (1813), The Corsair (1814), Lara (1814), The Siege of Corinth (1816), and Parisina (1816). The heroes of these poems are people who have broken with their environment and chosen the path of irreconcilable struggle, revenge, and even crime.

After leaving England in 1816, Byron settled in Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Geneva, where he met P. B. Shelley and became his friend. Byron’s mood during this period found expression in the narrative poem “The Prisoner of Chillon” (1816). The character of Prometheus (in the poem “Prometheus”) personifies fearlessness and love of freedom. The hero of the philosophical, symbolic narrative poem Manfred (1817) scorns authority and success and abandons religion; individualism is expressed even more strongly in his character than in the heroes of the Oriental narrative poems.

Between 1817 and 1820, Byron lived in Venice. He felt deep sympathy for the fate of the Italian people, who were then suffering under the yoke of Austria. During these years Byron wrote the narrative poems The Lament of Tasso (1817), Mazeppa (1818), and the third and fourth cantos of Childe Harold (1816–17), in which Byron’s faith in the power of the people is expressed. Song for the Luddites (published in 1830) was a response to a new wave in the workers’ movement. In 1818 Byron wrote the narrative poem Beppo, which marked the emergence of a new type of satire in his work. In the poem “Ode on Venice” (1818) and the political narrative poem The Prophecy of Dante (1819), Byron urged the Italians to fight for the unification of Italy, national independence, and liberty.

Between 1820 and 1821, Byron lived in Ravenna, where he became an active member of the Carbonari organization. In the tragedies Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice (published in 1821), Sardanapalus (1821), and The Two Foscari (1821), one of the reasons for the death of the heroes is their alienation from the people. In the philosophical, symbolic drama Cain (1821) the rebellious hero, doubting the benevolence of god, is enraged by the oppression and sufferings of humanity.

In Pisa, Byron created a dramatic trilogy based on a biblical theme—heaven and Earth (only the first part was completed)—the family psychological play Werner (1822), and the narrative poem The Island (1823). The narrative poem The Vision of Judgment (1822) is a parody on R. Southey’s poem of the same name, which had praised the late King George III. In the satire The Irish Avatar (1821; complete edition, 1831), Byron described the triumphant reception arranged for George IV in Dublin and upbraided the Irish for their servility and forgetfulness of their national honor. The political satire The Age of Bronze (1823) was occasioned by the Congress of the Holy Alliance in Verona (1822), which decided to suppress revolutionary movements in Europe.

In Pisa and Genoa, Byron continued to work on his novel in verse, begun in 1818— Don Juan (16 chapters or cantos; the 17th is incomplete). Byron describes exotic scenes and the romantic adventures of his hero and speaks out as a critic of modern society. In Don Juan the problem of man and his environment arises, instead of the problem of man and the universe, which was characteristic of Byron’s earlier work. This brought Byron closer to realism.

In July 1823, Byron left for Greece to participate in the liberation struggle of the Greek patriots against the Turkish yoke. In December 1823 he reached the town of Missolonghi, where he fell ill with a fever and died. Byron devoted several narrative poems to the heroic struggle of the Greeks, including “Song to the Suliotes,” “Journal in Cephalonia,” and “Last Words on Greece.” Byron’s memory was honored in Greece by national mourning.

Byron’s poetic passion, profound lyricism, ideological daring, and expressive images made him one of the favorite poets of 19th-century Europe. He had a very great influence on all world literature, including Russian.

The social and intellectual mood of early nineteenth-century European literature is associated with Byron’s name; it is called Byronism. The contradictory nature of Byron’s world view resulted in the association of this intellectual mood with an individualism accentuated by disillusionment with society and with a particular interest in savage, exotic countries, as well as with a rebellious spirit, love of liberty, and willingness to struggle on the side of oppressed peoples.

Byron’s work has been highly praised by Russian writers and critics.

WORKS
The Works. A New Revised and Enlarged Edition, vols. 1–13. London, 1898–1904.
Byron’s Letters and Diaries. Edited by P. Quennell. Vols. 1–2. [London], 1950.
Selected Verse and Prose Works, Including Letters and Extracts From Lord Byron’s Journals and Diaries. London-Glasgow, 1965.
In Russian translation:
Sochineniia, vols. 1–3. St. Petersburg, 1904–05.
Dramy. Petrograd-Moscow, 1922.
Lirika i satira. Moscow, 1935.
Izbr. proizv. v odnom tome. [Introductory article by A. V. Lunacharskii.] Minsk, 1939.
Poemy, vols. 1–2. [Introductory article by M. Zabludovskii.] Moscow, 1940.
Izbr. proizv.[Introductory article by A. A. Elistratova.] Moscow, 1953.
Don Juan. Translated by T. Gnedich. [Introductory article by N. D’iakonova.] Moscow-Leningrad, 1959.
P’esy. [Introductory article by A. A. Anikst.] Moscow, 1959.
Dnevniki—Pis’ma. Moscow, 1963.
REFERENCES
Marx, K., and F. Engels. Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 2, pp. 462–63.
Belinskii, V. G. Poln. sobr. soch., vols. 1–13. Moscow, 1953–59. (See Index.)
Rozanov, M. N. Ocherk istorii angliiskoi literatury XIX v. Part 1: “Epokha Bairona.” Moscow [1922].
Zhirmunskii, V. M. Bairon i Pushkin. Leningrad, 1924.
Elistratova, A. A. Bairon. Moscow, 1956.
Elistratova, A. A. Nasledie angliiskogo romantizma i sovremennost’. Moscow, 1960.
Kurginian, M. Dzhorgzh Bairon. Moscow, 1958.
Alekseev, M. P. Iz istorii angliiskoi literatury. Moscow-Leningrad, 1960.
Klimenko, E. I. Bairon: lazyk i stil’. Moscow, 1960.
Gray, D. The Life and Work of Lord Byron. Nottingham, 1964.
Joseph, M. K.Byron the Poet. London, 1964.
Marchand, L. A. Byron’s Poetry…. Boston, 1965.
Marchand, L. A. Byron: A Biography, vols. 1–3. New York, 1957.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by M. S. KURGINIAN)

P. B. SHELLEY (1792-1822)

“Shelley, Percy Bysshe. Born Aug. 4, 1792, at Field Place, Sussex; died July 8, 1822, in the Gulf of Spezia; buried in Rome. English poet. Son of a baronet.

Shelley studied at the aristocratic school of Eton from 1804 to 1810 and later at Oxford University, from which he was expelled for publishing the treatise The Necessity of Atheism (1811, with T. J. Hogg). His marriage to the daughter of an innkeeper in 1811 caused a break with his father. Shelley’s sociopolitical views developed under the influence of the ideas of the French Revolution and the works of 18th-century French Enlightenment writers, T. Paine, and especially W. Godwin, with whom Shelley became acquainted in 1813. In 1812 in Ireland, Shelley contributed to the propaganda for the political emancipation of the country from Great Britain (An Address to the Irish People, Declaration of Rights). A rebellious mood also characterized Shelley’s first works of literature—the anonymously published Gothic novels Zastrozzi (1810) and St. Irvyne (1811), the collection of poems Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire (1810, with his sister Elizabeth), and his early political poems. In 1814, Shelley met Godwin’s daughter, Mary, with whom he shared his subsequent destiny. Fleeing from persecution and slander, he lived permanently in Italy after 1818. He was drowned in a storm at sea.

In his first significant poetic work, the philosophical narrative poem Queen Mab (1813), Shelley’s revolutionary-democratic credo, borrowed largely from Godwin’s An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, was set forth in the form of medieval visions. From 1818 to 1822 the poet wrote most of his longer works, including the novella in verse Rosalind and Helen (1818, published 1819), with its destructive criticism of the idyllic patriarchal family; the narrative poem Julian and Maddalo (1818, published 1824), born out of debates with Lord Byron about the power of the human spirit; the romantic tragedy The Cenci (1819), which is set in the Italian Middle Ages and which vindicates violence in the struggle with tyranny; the narrative poem The Masque of Anarchy (1819), a reaction to the police’s firing on workers at a meeting in Manchester; the dramatic satire Oedipus Tyrannus, or Swellfoot the Tyrant (1820); the lyric drama Hellas (1821), devoted to a national liberation uprising in Greece; the narrative poem in honor of Keats, Adonais (1821); and the narrative poem The Triumph of Life (1822).

The main theme of Shelley’s philosophical-allegorical narrative poem The Revolt of Islam (1818; originally published as Laon and Cythna, 1817) and the revolutionary lyric drama Prometheus Unbound (1820) is the conflict between despotism and freedom. In these works, as in Queen Mab, Shelley declares the inevitability of the victory of good and justice, when the flourishing of the creative forces of nature and of liberated man will reveal to the world a realm of eternal beauty and harmony. A spirit of mythological antiquity runs through such philosophical poems of Shelley’s as “Hymn of Apollo,” “Hymn of Pan,” and “Song of Proserpine.”

Scenes of nature in Shelley are combined with a subtlety of observation and a sense of pantheism. Shelley the atheist believed in a spirit of nature; everything that was real for him was living (“Arethusa,” 1820, and “Love’s Philosophy,” 1819). Shelley perceived the political emancipation of mankind as consisting in the overcoming of evil in nature, as in “Ode to the West Wind.” The soul of the poet is seen as fused with ever-renewing nature, and it romantically transforms existence (“The Cloud” and “Lines Written Among the Euganean Hills”). Shelley’s lyric love poetry, including “A Bridal Song” and “To Jane,” is humane and joyous, although it frequently contains a sorrowful, tragic note, as in “A Lament,” “To Night,” and “The Sensitive Plant.”

Essentially close to the ideas of socialism, Shelley, a “great prophet” in the words of F. Engels, left many war and agitation poems, for example “To the People of England” (1819). The social purpose of literature and the mission of the revolutionary poet are the central problem of the aesthetic treatise “A Defence of Poetry” (1822, published 1840).

Vivid imagination, melodiousness of verse, and richness of rhythm impart originality to Shelley’s poetry. It has had a vast influence on the poetry of the English-speaking countries and the world. Shelley’s works have been translated into many languages, including Russian.

WORKS
The Complete Works, vols. 1–10. New York, 1965.
The Letters, vols. 1–2. Oxford, 1964.
Notebooks, vols. 1–3. New York, 1968.
In Russian translation:
Polnoe sobr. soch., vols. 1–3. Translated by K. D. Bal’mont. St. Petersburg, 1903–07.
Izbr. stikhotvoreniia. Moscow, 1937.
Lirika. Moscow, 1957.
Izbrannoe. Moscow, 1962.
Pis’ma, stat’i, fragmenty. Moscow, 1972.
REFERENCES
Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 2, fasc. 1. Moscow, 1953.
Neupokoeva, I. Revoliutsionnyi romantizm Shelli. Moscow, 1959.
Morua, A. Ariel’: Roman iz zhizni Shelli i Bairona. Leningrad-Moscow, 1925.
Nikol’skaia, L. I. Shelli v Rossi. Smolensk, 1972.
Trelawny, E. J. Recollection of the Last Days of Shelley and Byron. London, 1931.
Peck, W. E. Shelley, vols. 1–2. Boston-New York, 1927.
Spender, S. Shelley. London, 1952.
King-Hele, D. G. Shelley: His Thought and Work. London-New York, 1962.
McNiece, G. Shelley and the Revolutionary Idea. Cambridge, Mass., 1969.
Chernaik, J. The Lyrics of Shelley. Cleveland-London, 1972.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by A. B. GORIANIN)

JOHN KEATS (1795-1821)

“Keats, John. Born Oct. 31, 1795, in London; died Feb. 23, 1821, in Rome. English romantic poet.

After the publication of his first collections (in 1817 and later), Keats became the object of savage attacks by conservative critics: his life-affirming poetry sounded a challenge to the bigotry and hypocrisy of bourgeois society. Keats expressed his rejection of the triviality of the bourgeois world by turning to antiquity with its ideal of beauty and harmony (the narrative poem Endymion, 1818). He was caught up in the social enthusiasm of 1818–19; he became a close friend of P. B. Shelley and developed an interest in folklore (he wrote the poem “Robin Hood” in the tradition of R. Burns). In the narrative poem Hyperion (1819, published in 1820) Keats depicted the struggle of the Titans with the Olympian gods in the spirit of J. Milton, alluding allegorically to the revolutionary movement in Europe. The clash of pure feeling with falsehood and egoism is the subject of the short narrative poems “Lamia,” “Isabella,” and “The Eve of St. Agnes.” An outstanding romantic, Keats enriched poetic diction with expressiveness and revived the sonnet form in English literature. The bourgeois critics distort the meaning of Keats’ art by trying to represent him as an extoller of “pure” beauty and a precursor of decadence and a estheticism.

WORKS
The Poetical Works, 2nd ed. Oxford, 1958.
The Letters of John Keats, 1814–1821, vols. 1–2. Cambridge, 1958.
In Russian translation:
In Khrestomatiia po zarubezhnoi literature XIX v., part 1. Moscow, 1955.
In Marshak, S. Werks, vol. 3. Moscow, 1959.
REFERENCES
Elistratova, A. Nasledie angliiskogo romantizma i sovremennost’, Moscow, 1960. Pages 431–93.
D’iakonova, N. “Esteticheskie vzgliady Kitsa.” Voprosy literatury, 1963, no. 8.
Critics on Keats. Edited by J. O’Neill. London [1967].
Twentieth Century Interpretations of Keats’s Odes: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. [1968].
Jones, J. John Keats’s Dream of Truth. London, 1969.
Keats: The Critical Heritage. Edited by G. M. Matthews. London [1971].
MacGillivray, J. R. Keats: A Bibliography. Toronto, 1949.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by B. A. GII.ENSON)

MARY SHELLEY (1797-1851)

“Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Born Aug. 30, 1797, in London; died there Feb. 1, 1851. English writer. Daughter of W. Godwin; wife of P. B. Shelley.

The hero of Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (1818; Russian translation, 1965) creates a monster that tries to do good, but, embittered by loneliness, kills its creator. A gloomy picture of the coming downfall of mankind through epidemics and starvation is at the center of her novel The Last Man (1826). Shelley also wrote the autobiographical novel Lodore (1835) and commentaries to a posthumous edition of works by P. B. Shelley (1839).

WORKS
The Letters of Mary Shelley, vols. 1–2. Norman, Okla., 1944–46.
Mary Shelley’s Journal. Norman, Okla., 1947.
REFERENCES
Bel’skii, A. A. Angliiskii roman 1800–1810-x gg. Perm’, 1968.
Spark, M. Child of Light. Hadleigh, Essex, 1951.
Small, C. Ariel Like a Harpy. London, 1972.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979)

THOMAS HOOD (1799-1845)

“Hood, Thomas. Born May 23, 1799, in London; died there May 3, 1845. English poet. Son of a bookseller.

Hood illustrated his humorous poems with his own caricatures (Whims and Oddities, vols. 1–2, 1826–27). He achieved success, particularly among the Chartists, with the poem “The Song of the Shirt” (1843; Russian translation, 1860). Between 1844 and 1845 he edited Hood’s Magazine, in which he published the poems “The Bridge of Sighs,” “The Lady’s Dream,” and “The Lay of the Laborer” (1844; Russian translation, 1864). Engels wrote that Hood was “the most gifted of all contemporary British humorists” (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 2, p. 435, note). In the novel What Is to Be Done? Chernyshevskii cited Hood’s “Stanzas.” “The Song of the Shirt” was translated by M. L. Mikhailov and D. D. Minaev and in the 20th century by E. G. Bagritskii.

WORKS
Complete Poetical Works. London, 1935.
REFERENCES
Mikhailov, M. “Iumor i poeziia v Anglii: Tomas Gud.” Sovremennik. 1861, nos. 1, 8.
Storozhenko, N. Iz oblasti literatury: Stat’i, lektsii, rechi, retsenzii. Moscow, 1902.
Reid, J. C. Thomas Hood. London, 1963.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by A. N. NIKOLIUKIN)

MARGARET HARKNESS (1800s, exact years unknown)

“Harkness, Margaret. (pseudonym, John Law). Dates of birth and death unknown. English 19th-century writer.

Harkness was the daughter of a pastor. In the 1880’s she joined the socialist movement for a short time. She was the author of the novella A City Girl (1887; Russian translation, 1888), which was about a seamstress who was seduced by a false friend of the workers. In a letter to Harkness written in early April 1888, Engels highly praised the veracity of the story but criticized Harkness’ inability to see “the rebellious resistance of the working class to its oppressive environment.”

WORKS
Gorodskaia devushka. Moscow, 1960.
Kapitan Armii spaseniia. St. Petersburg, 1891. (Under the pseudonym John Law.)
REFERENCES
Marx, K., and F. Engels. Ob iskusstve, vol. 1. Moscow, 1967. Pages 6-8.
Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 3. Moscow, 1958.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by I. M. KATARSKII)

E. G. BULWER-LYTTON (1803-1873)

“Bulwer-Lytton, Edward George. Born May 25, 1803, in London; died Jan. 18, 1873, in Torquay. English writer. Born to an aristocratic family. Prominent member of the Liberal Party and later of the Conservative Party.

In Bulwer-Lytton’s early novels there is a noticeable influence not only of romanticism but also of the enlightenment prose of the 18th century—for example, Pelham (1828; Russian translation, 1859), Paul Clifford (1830), and Eugene Aram (1832; Russian translation, 1860). Romantic tendencies were strong in his cycle of historical novels, which includes The Last Days of Pompeii (1834; Russian translation, 1842), Rienzi, the Last of the Roman Tribunes (1835; Russian translation, 1860), The Last of the Barons (1843; Russian translation, 1861), and Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings (1848; Russian translation, 1899). In the novels The Caxtons (1849; Russian translation, 1850) and My Novel (1851-52; Russian translation, 1853) Bulwer-Lytton follows the realistic manner of C. Dickens and W. Thackeray. Romantic and realistic characteristics are intermingled in Bulwer-Lytton’s best novel, Kenelm Chillingly (1873; Russian translation, 1873), the hero of which is in sharp conflict with the bourgeois world. Bulwer-Lytton is the author of the novel The Parisians (1873; Russian translation, 1874) and the science-fiction novel The Coming Race (1871; Russian translation, 1873). Among his plays the best known are the historical dramas The Duchess de la V allié re (1836) and Richelieu (1839), as well as the melodramas The Lady of Lyons (1838; Russian translation, 1888) and Money (1840).

WORKS
The Novels and Romances, vols. 1-40. [Boston] 1896-98.
The Poetical and Dramatic Works, vols. 1-5. London, 1852-54.
In Russian translation:
Kenel’m Chillingli. Moscow, 1932.
Pelem, ili Prikliucheniia dzhentl’mena. Moscow, 1958.
P’esy. Moscow, 1960.
REFERENCES
Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 2, part 2. Moscow, 1955. Page 38.
Lytton, V. A. G. R. Bulwer-Lytton. London, 1948.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979)

W. M. THACKERAY (1811-1863)

“Thackeray, William Makepeace. Born July 18, 1811, in Calcutta; died Dec. 24, 1863, in London. English author.

Thackeray is the major representative of what K. Marx called the “brilliant pleiad” of 19th-century English novelists (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 10, p. 648). The son of a wealthy colonial official, Thackeray studied at Cambridge University from 1829 to 1830. He traveled extensively and worked as a journalist for Punch and other publications. He was also a talented cartoonist.

Thackeray’s work, while varied in genre (including novels, comic novellas, humoresques, fairy tales, parodies, sketches, and ballads), has a consistent ideology and artistic method. His best works include The Yellowplush Correspondence (1837), the novella Catherine (1840), the cycle of parodies The Snobs of England (1846-47; republished in 1848 as The Book of Snobs; Russian title, Novels of Celebrities), and the novels Vanity Fair (1848), Pendennis (1850), The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. (1852), The Newcomes (1855), and The Virginians (1857). Thackeray’s essays in literary criticism (The English Humorists of the 18th Century, 1853) and his letters are remarkable examples of English prose.

Thackeray’s work is critical of the Victorian bourgeois era, combining an understanding of sociohistorical patterns with a vision of life as an unending masquerade. He saw history as a cycle, full of the tragicomic and grotesque (see the letter to his mother of Mar. 10, 1848). His philosophical views were close to those of Montaigne and Hume.

Thackeray created a new type of satirical novel. While drawing on European literary traditions (as represented by Aristophanes, Petronius, Rabelais, Cervantes, Swift, Fielding, Sterne, and W. Scott), he used special techniques that played with literary conventions yet established a realistic framework. He also used the entire range of devices from folk literature, including motifs from mythology, fairy tales, fables, and the English Christmas pantomimes. In this way, he expanded the possibilities of social satire and deepened the realism of representation. Thackeray’s broadly satirized characters (Yellowplush, Barry Lyndon, Becky Sharp, Lord Steyne, and Barnes Newcome) reveal the depth of man’s alienation in a class-structured society. They are at once socially conditioned and eternal types. In depicting his characters, Thackeray used symbolism, ironic implication, alogism, and parodie stylization, among other devices. He devoted particular attention to developing the semblance of a first-person author, using various pseudonyms (Ike Solomons, Michael Angelo Tit-marsh, and Pendennis). Thackeray’s work enjoyed wide popularity in Russia in the early 1850’s and was supported by the revolutionary-democratic school of criticism.

WORKS
The Works, vols. 1–26. New York-London, 1910–11.
The Letters and Private Papers, vols. 1–4. Collected and edited by G. N. Ray. Cambridge, Mass., 1946.
In Russian translation:
Sobr. soch., vols. 1–12. St. Petersburg, 1894-95.
Sobr. soch. v 12 tt., vols. 1–3. Moscow, 1974–75—.
REFERENCES
lstoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 2, issue 2. Moscow, 1955.
Alekseev, M. P. Iz istorii angliiskoi literatury. Moscow, 1960.
Ivasheva, V. V. Tekerei-satirik. Moscow, 1958.
Ray, G. N. Thackeray, vols. 1–2. London, 1955–58.
Loofbourow, J. Thackeray and the Form of Fiction. Princeton, N. J., 1964.
Flamm, D. Thackeray’s Critics. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1967.
McMaster, J. Thackeray: The Major Novels. Toronto, 1971.
Pantůčková, L. W. M. Thackeray as a Critic of Literature. Brno, 1972.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by V. S. VAKHRUSHEV)

CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870)

“Dickens, Charles. Born Feb. 7, 1812, in Landport, near Portsmouth; died June 9, 1870, in Gad’s Hill. English writer.

Charles Dickens was the son of a port official. As a boy, Dickens worked to support his family, because his father was financially ruined and confined to debtors’ prison. Later he became a parliamentary stenographer and newspaper reporter. Dickens’ first work, Sketches by Boz (1836), revealed his penchant for realistic satire and his life-loving humor and sentimental ardor, which stemmed from social compassion. The novel The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837) is a comic epic whose central figure is the magnanimous eccentric Mr. Pickwick, a naïve, touching benefactor of mankind.

Subsequently, Dickens began to write works in the style of critical realism. The novel The Adventures of Oliver Twist (1938) was written in response to the Poor Laws, which condemned unemployed and poor people to death by starvation in the workhouses. Dickens embodied his indignation at the intolerable conditions of existence of the masses in this story of a boy born in an almshouse and condemned to scrabble about the gloomy slums of London. At the end of the novel, however, the traditional moral scheme prevails, and a benefactor, a personification of the “good” capitalist, triumphs. The novel The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1839) emphasized descriptions of the terrifying methods of school upbringing for children and exposéd the power of “evil money.” However, at the end of the novel the fictitious, compromising social force of “good money” triumphs again. In Martin Chuzzlewit (1844), which was written after Dickens’ first visit to America, the basis of the plot is a critical description of not only American reality but also English bourgeois society, as personified by Pecksniff and the Chuzzlewits. Dickens was especially indignant over Negro slavery in the southern states.

With the passing years Dickens became convinced that the positive tendencies in contemporary society, which were manifested in the moral superiority of the poor over the rich, were concentrated only among the oppressed masses. A sentimental mood was expressed particularly in The Old Curiosity Shop (1841) and the Christmas books (1843-46), in which the author used the fairy tale as a foundation.

Two of Dickens’ novels that are popular with young readers mark the transition from his early works to a mature, realistic creative art. The central figure in Dombey and Son (1848) is a cruel property owner. David Copperfield (1850)—a Bildungsroman —traces the life of its hero, which is reminiscent of Dickens’ own.

The failures of the Chartist movement in Great Britain and the halfway results of the revolutions of 1848 on the Continent facilitated the revelation of the exploitative essence of the capitalist system. By this time Dickens had penetrated more deeply into bourgeois society and had perceived it as a uniform system of evil. He turned away from the novel of adventure that he had previously favored and made the transition to the novel of social problems. The action was no longer modeled on the biographical novel but consisted of a complex interweaving of several plot lines. An example of this structure is the novel Bleak House (1853), in which the action revolves around a court case that lasts for several years. Conceived as a satire on bourgeois legal procedures, Bleak House grew into a symbol of the senselessness of human existence when confronted with soulless paper laws that destroy normal human relations, as embodied in such characters as Jarndyce, Esther, and Ada.

In the novel Hard Times (1854) the place of action is the monstrous fictitious city of Coketown. Dickens created unsurpassed satirically grotesque figures of bourgeois businessmen, for whom “facts and figures” are the only realities. Although he did not show an understanding of the necessity for a revolutionary struggle by the workers, the author’s sympathies are consistently on the side of the oppressed. Little Dorrit (1857) depicts the gloomy debtors’ prison of Marshalsea, where Dickens’ father had been confined at one time. Another sphere of action in the novel centers on government institutions in bourgeois Britain, which Dickens satirically immortalized in the Circumlocution Office. Dickens gave a symbolically generalized description of the sinister legalities of the capitalist system, which transform the individual human being into a toy of hostile forces unknown to him.

Somewhat unique among Dickens’ mature works is the historical novel about the Great French Revolution A Tale of Two Cities (1859). Depicting the poverty and lack of rights of the masses, Dickens expressed great indignation at their oppressors and voiced the opinion that the revolution had been inevitable. Nevertheless, he condemned the harsh actions of the people from the viewpoint of the Christian ideal. Dickens’ last novels, Great Expectations (1861), Our Mutual Friend (1865), and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished, 1870), combine elements of the detective and criminal genres with profound treatment of social problems.

Dickens’ achieved worldwide fame immediately after the publication of his first few books. In Russia his works were very influential beginning in the 1840’s. The opinions of V. G. Belinskii, N. G. Chernyshevskii, A. N. Ostrovskii, I. A. Goncharov, V. G. Korolenko, L. N. Tolstoy, F. M. Dostoevsky, and M. Gorky concerning Dickens’ novels emphasized above all their remarkable humor, democratic sentiments, and humanism. Continuing these 19th-century tendencies, Soviet literary criticism has analyzed Dickens’ realistic manner, his satirical exposé of social conditions, and his sympathy for the common people.

WORKS
The Complete Works, vols. 1–30. London [1900].
Works, vols. 1–23. Bloomsbury, 1937–38.
The Letters, vols. 1–3. Bloomsbury, 1938.
In Russian translation:
Poln. sobr. soch., vols. 1–10. St. Petersburg, 1892–97.
Sobr. soch., vols. 1–35. St. Petersburg, 1896–99.
Sobr. soch., vols. 1–33. St. Petersburg [1905-09]
Poln. sobr. soch., books 1–49. St. Petersburg, 1909–10.
Sobr. soch., vols. 1–30. Moscow, 1957–63.
REFERENCES
Marx, K., and F. Engels. Ob iskusstve, vol. 1. Moscow, 1967. Pages 447, 487.
Alekseev, M. P. “Belinskii i Dikkens.” In the collection Venok Belinskomu. [Moscow] 1924.
Lunacharskii, A., and R. Shor. Dikkens. Moscow-Leningrad, 1931.
Ivasheva, V. V. Tvorchestvo Dikkensa. Moscow, 1954.
Nersesova, M. A. Tvorchestvo Ch. Dikkensa. Moscow, 1957.
Katarskii, I. M. Dikkens v Rossii. Moscow, 1966.
Sil’man T. Dikkens: Ocherki tvorchestva. Leningrad, 1970.
Charl’z Dikkens: Ukazatel’ vazhneishei literatury na russkom iazyke (1838-1945). Introduction by M. P. Alekseev. Leningrad, 1946.
Charl’z Dikkens: Bibliografiia russkikh perevodov i kriticheskoi literatury na russkom iazyke, 1838–1960. Compiled by Iu. V. Fridlender and I. M. Katarskii. Moscow, 1962.
Chesterton, G. K. Dikkens. Leningrad, 1929.
Forster, J. The Life of Charles Dickens, vols. 1–3. London, 1872–74.
Hay ward, A. L. The Dickens Encyclopaedia. London-New York, 1924.
Jackson, T. A. Charles Dickens: The Progress of a Radical. London, 1937.
Johnson, E. Charles Dickens: His Tragedy and Triumph, vols. 1–2. New York, 1952.
Engel, M. The Maturity of Dickens. Cambridge, Mass., 1959.
Dickens: Modern Judgments. Edited by A. E. Dyson. [London, 1968.]
Manning, S. B. Dickens as Satirist. New Haven-London, 1971.
Wilson, A. The World of Charles Dickens. London [1970].” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by T. I. SIL’MAN)

Charles Dickens by Franz Mehring

WILKIE COLLINS (1824-1889)

“Collins, William Wilkie. Born Jan. 8, 1824, in London; died there Sept. 23, 1889. English writer. Lawyer by education.

Collins was one of the first writers of detective fiction. His novels are characterized by complex plots, with the story presented through eyewitness accounts by the participants in the action (The Woman in White, 1860; Russian translation, 1957), exoticism and psychological anomalies (The Moonstone, 1868; Russian translation, 1947), and colorful figures (an incisive amateur sleuth, an eccentric professional detective).

Dickens appreciated Collins’ mastery of plot construction and collaborated with him on such works as “The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices” (1857) and “No Thoroughfare” (1867; Russian translation, 1868). Normally indifferent to social themes, Collins was influenced by Dickens to include in his work some criticism of the red tape of the British courts, bourgeois hypocrisy, and money grubbing.

WORKS
The Works, vols. 1–30. New York [18—].
In Russian translation:
Bednaia miss Finch. Moscow, 1871.
Zakon i zhenshchina. Moscow, 1875.
REFERENCES
Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 2, fase. 2. Moscow, 1955.
Pirson, Kh. Dikkens. Moscow, 1963. Pages 292–317.
Ellis, S. M. Wilkie Collins, Le Fanu and Others. Freeport, N. Y., 1968.
Marshall, W. H. Wilkie Collins. New York [1970].” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by B. A. GILENSON)

WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896)

“Morris, William. Born Mar. 24, 1834, in Walthamstow, Essex; died Oct. 3, 1896, in London. English artist, writer, art theoretician, and public leader.

Morris studied at Oxford University from 1853 to 1856, when he went to work for the architectural firm of G. E. Street in London. From 1857 to 1862 he concentrated on painting. In 1861–62, Morris, P. Marshall, and C. Faulkner organized an artistic and industrial company of workshops producing decorative painting, furniture, fabrics, wallpaper, metal objects, and embroidered items.

Morris’ views on aesthetics were influenced by T. Carlyle’s teachings and J. Ruskin’s lectures, as well as by the ideas of the Pre-Raphaelites. From the 1860’s he offered a romantic critique of bourgeois reality. Regarding art as the chief means of transforming that reality, he made the aesthetic education of the masses his goal. In his effort to demonstrate the value of individual creativity as opposed to depersonalized capitalist production by machines he was joined by F. M. Brown, D. G. Rossetti, E. Burne-Jones, W. Crane, and the architect P. Webb. Nonetheless, he was convinced that under socialism, machine-produced goods would have infinite aesthetic possibilities.

Hoping to solve the problems facing the modern decorative and applied arts, he tried to revive the folk crafts that had been pushed aside by capitalist industry. In a sense, he laid the foundation for artistic design. He attributed the greatest significance to the role of the master creator. The items produced in his workshops and the interiors designed by him are outstanding for their functionalism, for the tectonic balance of their composition, for spare ornamentation featuring stylized plant motifs, and for a restrained combination of colors. In a number of ways they anticipated the art nouveau style. Although his workshops contributed greatly to the rebirth of the British decorative and applied arts, in practice the objects produced merely reflected a reinterpretation of bourgeois life, and inevitably they fell short of Morris’ aesthetic beliefs.

In 1877, Morris founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and in 1890–91, the Kelmscott Press, which published books modeled after incunabula. He and W. Crane illustrated The Story of the Glittering Plain with miniatures in the English Gothic style. With Burne-Jones, he illustrated the Kelmscott edition of Chaucer’s works (1896). Morris’ predilection for medieval motifs and romantic stylization of forms was also reflected in his literary creations, including the collection of poems The Defence of Guenevere (1858) and the series of narrative poems The Earthly Paradise (1868–70).

From the 1880’s, Morris played a major role in the British working-class movement. In January 1883 he became a member of the Democratic Federation (renamed the Social Democratic Federation in early 1884). After the split in the federation he helped found the Socialist League (1884), and from 1884 to 1890 he was the publisher and editor of its press organ, The Commonweal, He left the league when the anarchists came to power in the organization. Although he studied the works of K. Marx, he did not understand the essence of Marx’ teaching, and he remained, in the words of F. Engels, “a socialist of the emotional type” (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 36, p. 409). Morris set forth his socialist views in many articles, in revolutionary verses, in the historical novella A Dream of John Ball (1888; Russian translation, 1911), and in the Utopian novel News From Nowhere (1891; Russian translation, Moscow, 1906).

WORKS
Iskusstvo i zhizn’ [Translated from English with a foreword by A. A. Anikst.] Moscow, 1973.
Collected Works, vols. 1–24. London-New York, 1910–15.
Selections. Moscow, 1959.
REFERENCES
Morton, A. L. Angliiskaia utopiia. Moscow, 1956. Pages 191–212. (Translated from English.)
Goldzamt, E. Uil’iam Morris i sotsial’nye istoki sovremennoi arkhitektury. Moscow, 1973. (Translated from Polish.)
Arnot, R. P. W. Morris. London, 1964.
Henderson, P. William Morris: His Life, Work and Friends. London, 1967.
Meier, P. La Pensée utopique de William Morris. Paris, 1972.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by T. I. VOLODINA)

A. C. SWINBURNE (1837-1909)

“Swinburne, Algernon Charles. Born Apr. 5, 1837, in London; died Apr. 10, 1909, in Putney (London). English poet, playwright, and critic.

Swinburne studied at Eton and at Oxford University, where he became closely associated with D. G. Rossetti and other Pre-Raphaelites. His first series of verse collections, Poems and Ballads (1866), was fiercely attacked by bourgeois conservative critics for its daring treatment of “forbidden” (erotic) themes and for its pagan hedonism. In his later works—which included tragedies, novels, and literary monographs, as well as poems— Swinburne coupled his call for moral freedom with an appeal for political freedom. In A Song of Italy (1867) and Songs Before Sunrise (1871), for example, the poet reveals himself to be a confirmed republican and enemy of the church. The theme of man’s struggle against the supreme divine will runs through his verse drama Atalanta in Calydon (1865). Swinburne’s collections of the 1870’s are marked by their romantic, pastoral, and philosophical lyrics; fatalism and the impossibility of happiness occur there, too, as themes. Swinburne reformed English prosody and imparted a special beauty of sound to his poetry. He was also the author of tragedies, dramas in verse, novels, and literary criticism.

WORKS
Complete Works, vols. 1–20. London, 1925–27.
Letters, vols. 1–6. New Haven, Conn., 1959–62.
New Writings. Syracuse, N.Y., 1964.
In Russian translation:
Antología novoi angliiskoi poezii. Leningrad, 1937.
REFERENCES
Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 3. Moscow, 1958.
Fuller, J. O. Swinburne: A Critical Biography. London, 1968.
Swinburne: The Critical Heritage. London, 1970.
Raymond, M. R. Swinburne’s Poetics. The Hague-Paris, 1971.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979)

THOMAS HARDY (1840-1928)

“Hardy, Thomas. Born June 2, 1840, in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset; died Jan. 11, 1928, at Max Gate, near Dorchester. English novelist and poet.

Hardy was the son of a provincial contractor and builder, a descendant of the impoverished knightly family of Le Hardy. He studied architecture and worked in architectural studios. His first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady (1868), was rejected by publishers for its destructive intentions. On the advice of G. Meredith, Hardy wrote a novel with an intricate, polished plot—Desperate Remedies (published anonymously, 1871). From 1871 to 1897, Hardy published 14 novels. The best of them made up the cycle of novels of character and milieu: Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), Far From the Madding Crowd (1874), The Return of the Native (1878), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), The Woodlanders (1887), Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1896). Seven other novels formed two more cycles, the inventive and experimental novels—Desperate Remedies, The Hand of Ethelberta (1876), and The Laodicean (1881)—and the historical romances and fantasies—A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873), The Trumpet-Major (1880), Two on a Tower (1882), and The Well-Beloved (1892).

The novels of character and milieu are an original expression of the democratization of English literature. Hardy’s heroes and heroines come from the people and have a moral certainty and a natural feeling for beauty and harmony. The village woman Tess is created with rare charm, and her characterization is one of the most poetic in English literature. Hardy’s strength and innovation are revealed in his ability to demonstrate the detailed connection between character and environment.

Hardy published four collections of short stories, including Wessex Tales (1888), and eight collections of poetry, including Wessex Poems (1898). He is one of the greatest lyric poets of the modern age. Hardy expressed his philosophy of history in the epic drama The Dynasts (parts 1–3, 1903–08), which depicts Europe during the Napoleonic Wars; the drama includes 12 scenes devoted to Russia. In many ways Hardy seems to echo L. N. Tolstoy (for example, in his characterization of Kutuzov); he highly valued the patriotism of the Russian people. Attempting to explain the intertwining of chance and the natural order of things, Hardy, influenced by A. Schopenhauer, proposed that a fateful and cruel necessity rules over humanity.

Hardy’s literary manner looks old-fashioned in comparison with that of his contemporaries; his style was practically untouched by the new devices of psychological analysis.

As the initiator of a new period of literary development in England, Hardy shared with his contemporary writers a passion for strong social convictions and a firm democratism. In 1920 he signed the Clarté manifesto and was part of the organization’s international leadership committee. Hardy’s work was highly regarded by M. Gorky and by British Marxist literary critics.

WORKS
Works, vols. 1–24. London, 1912–31.
Thomas Hardy’s Personal Writings. Lawrence, 1966.
In Russian translation:
[Soch., vols. 1–8.] Moscow, 1969–73.
REFERENCES
Lunacharskii, A. V. “Tomas Gardi.” In T. Gardi, Tess iz roda d’Erbervill’. Moscow, 1937.
Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 3. Moscow, 1958.
Urnov, M. Tomas Gardi: Ocherk tvorchestva. Moscow, 1969.
Hardy, F. E. The Life of Thomas Hardy. New York-London, 1962.
Purdy, R. L. Thomas Hardy: A Bibliographical Study. London, 1954.
Thomas Hardy: The Critical Heritage. London-New York [1970].” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by M. V. URNOV)

OSCAR WILDE (1854-1900)

“Wilde, Oscar Fingal O’flahertie Wills. Born Oct. 16, 1854, in Dublin; died Nov. 30, 1900, in Paris. British writer and critic; Irish by nationality.

Wilde graduated from Oxford University in 1879. He achieved his first literary success with the publication of the collection Poems in 1881. Influenced by J. Ruskin’s teachings on art, Wilde became an adherent of the aesthetic movement and in his writings proclaimed the cult of beauty as an antidote to the practicality of everyday life in bourgeois society. In 1882 he undertook an extended tour of the United States, where he lectured on aesthetics. While in that country, he published Vera, or The Nihilists (Russian translation, Berlin, 1925), a revolutionary melodrama in which the young author gave vent to his rebellious spirit. The Duchess of Padua, a tragedy in verse, followed in 1883 (Russian translation by V. Briusov, 1911). After completing his travels, Wilde returned to London, where he contributed to various newspapers and journals.

In 1895, Wilde was brought to trial on a morals charge, convicted, and sentenced to two years in prison. After his release in 1897, he settled in Paris. His experience, however, left a permanent mark on him. He gave testimony to his deep sufferings in the poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1898; Russian translation by V. Briusov, 1915) and his prose apologia, De Profundis (published posthumously in 1905).

As an artist, Wilde identified himself with the antibourgeois current in literature and the theater. When he wrote, at the end of the 19th century, British bourgeois society was suffering from a general malaise brought on in part by ideological and social conflicts. Although Wilde was influenced to a degree by socialism, as evidenced by his essay “The Soul of Man Under Socialism” (1891), he remained essentially the aesthete who lived primarily for art. Art, he held, is not only valuable in and of itself, it is a fundamental part of life. His espousal of “art for art’s sake, ” however, brought him close to decadent aestheticism. Yet Wilde’s work, on the whole, is not without social significance. His early poetry, strongly influenced by French symbolism, is largely recherché, full of literary allusions; but his later works are concerned with social themes. In The Ballad of Reading Gaol, for example, the decadent theme of love in the face of death is modulated by the poet’s compassion.

Wilde wrote fairy tales, such as “The Happy Prince” and “The Star-Child, ” and prose poems, which are distinguished for their lyricism and elevated style and content. In two short stories, “The Canterville Ghost” and “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, ” he gave free rein to the wit and irony for which he was famous. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), an example of the intellectual novel of the late 19th century, shows the brilliant stylist at his best, especially in the homily on amorality that Lord Henry Wotton, a principal character in the novel, is made to deliver. The author himself, however, observes that the cult of beauty and the pursuit of pleasure do not necessarily lead to a rejection of true morality—an observation ignored by the novel’s first readers, who regarded the work as a defense of aesthetic amorality.

Wilde’s tragedies The Duchess of Padua, Salome (1893; published originally in French), and A Florentine Tragedy (1895; published in 1908, unfinished) constitute attempts by the poet to revive the drama of grand passions. Wilde’s comedies of manners, on the other hand, have an entirely different character, being full of witty paradoxes and epigrams on the mores of the ruling classes. Among them are Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1892), and The Importance of Being Earnest (produced in 1895; published in 1899). Social criticism animates An Ideal Husband (1895), a comedy intended to expose the nefarious methods employed by bourgeois careerists.

During the 1880’s, Wilde wrote several critical essays, later collected and published under the title Intentions (1891), that dealt with the works of contemporary British writers who were close to him, among them W. Morris, W. Pater, and C. A. Swinburne. He held a high opinion of folk songs and admired the poetry of P. J. de Béranger. As a critic, Wilde expressed profound respect for the artistic mastery of H. de Balzac, L. N. Tolstoy, I. S. Turgenev, and F. M. Dostoevsky.

WORKS
Complete Works. London-Glasgow, 1966.
Critical Writings. London, 1970.
The Letters. Edited by R. Hart-Davis. London, 1962.
The Critical Heritage. Edited by K. Beckson. London [1970].
In Russian translation:
Poln. sobr. soch., vols. 1–4. Edited by K. I. Chukovskii. St. Petersburg, 1912.
Izbr. proizv., vols. 1–2. Moscow, 1960.
P’esy. Moscow, 1960.
REFERENCES
Istoriia angliiskoi literatury, vol. 3. Moscow, 1958.
Chukovskii, K. “Oskar Uail’d.” In his book Liudi i knigi. Moscow, 1960. Pages 625–70.
Harris, F. Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions, vols. 1–2. New York, 1918.
Pearson, H. Oscar Wilde: His Life and Wit. London-New York, 1946.
San Juan, E. The Art of Oscar Wilde. Princeton, N.J., 1967.
Mason, S. Bibliography of Oscar Wilde [2nd ed.]. London [1967].” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by A. A. ANIKST)

G. B. SHAW (1856-1950)

“Shaw, George Bernard. Born July 26, 1856, in Dublin; died Nov. 2, 1950, in Ayot St. Lawrence. English playwright. Irish by birth.

Shaw spent his early years in Dublin and worked as a clerk after he graduated from school in 1871. In 1876 he moved to London and devoted himself to journalism, including work as a music reviewer, and literature. His novels The Irrational Knot (1880), Love Among the Artists (1881), and Cashel Byron’s Profession (1882) and the novel of sharp social content An Unsocial Socialist (1883, separate edition 1887; Russian translation The Amateur Socialist, 1910) were rejected by bourgeois publishers and were printed in socialist periodicals. As one of the leaders of the Fabian Society, Shaw worked for a number of years to propagate the ideas of socialism, publishing tracts, pamphlets, and books.

Even in Shaw’s first literary work, his novels, the heart of his creative method was determined—the use of paradox as a means of overcoming prevailing ideologies. His first play, Widowers’ Houses (1892), caused a scandal and was unsuccessful, as was the play that followed, The Philanderer (1893). Mrs. Warren’s Profession (1894), which dealt with the theme of prostitution, was first staged in England in 1907. The difficulties with production forced Shaw to publish his plays (the press was not subjected to prior censorship). Widowers’ Houses, The Philanderer, and Mrs. Warren’s Profession were published in a collection entitled Plays Unpleasant (1898); a second cycle, Plays Pleasant, was then published, including Arms and the Man (1894), Candida (1894), The Man of Destiny (1895), and You Never Can Tell (1895). These were followed by a third cycle, Three Plays for Puritans (1901), which included The Devil’s Disciple (1896–97), Caesar and Cleopatra (1898), and Captain Brassbound’s Conversion (1899).

One of the founders of the modern “drama of ideas,” Shaw created a type of discussion play, in which the clash of ideas and hostile ideologies posed the most acute problems of social and personal morality. Man and Superman (1901–03), a “comedy and philosophy” by Shaw’s definition, transforms the traditional theme of Don Juan: the hero is pursued by a woman. In the interlude of this play, “Don Juan in Hell,” a strikingly forceful criticism of the vices of capitalist civilization is expressed through the mouth of the Devil. In John Bull’s Other Island (1904), Shaw used his two main characters to contrast not only national types—the Irishman and the Englishman—but correspondingly the “romantic” and the “realist,” as Shaw interpreted them. Major Barbara (1905) contains a criticism of bourgeois philanthropy; in the play Shaw first expressed the idea that bourgeois violence must be opposed by a force that serves social progress and justice. Even in the solution of personal problems, Shaw remained a distinctly social dramatist. The Doctor’s Dilemma (1906) shows how medicine loses its humane character under bourgeois conditions; Androcles and the Lion (1913) criticizes dogmatic Christianity. Getting Married (1908), Misalliance (1910), and Fanny’s First Play (1911) are devoted to questions of family, marriage, and education. The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet (1909) depicts the exposure of the religious sanctimoniousness of the petite bourgeoisie. Pygmalion (1913), which deals with problems of culture based on differing speech patterns and with general spiritual development, shows the moral superiority of a girl from the lower classes over an outwardly intelligent, aristocratic professor of phonetics.

Shaw responded to the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia with the grotesque farce Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress (1918), in which he spoke out very determinedly for the use of violent methods to transform society. In the play Heartbreak House (1913–19), written under the obvious influence of A. P. Chekhov, he denounces the parasitism of the ruling class, their loss of spiritual values, and the erosion of individuality of character. On the other hand, old Captain Shotover in the play sees salvation in work and in the decisive reform of the entire structure of life. Back to Methuselah (1918–20), a “metabiological” drama consisting of five parts not connected by a common plot, depicts a whimsical utopia inhabited by a race of long-livers. Saint Joan (1923) is a tragedy, the only one written by Shaw. In his treatment of the story of Joan of Arc, Shaw introduced a new theme: the Maid’s power comes not from a psychological obsession, but from reason, which is feared equally by the French and the English. When the “danger” represented by Joan has disappeared after her execution, she is exonerated; however, no one desires that she should come back to life.

After an interval of several years, Shaw returned to writing plays, startling the world with the freshness and wit of his “political extravaganzas” (so-called eccentric comedies): The Apple Cart (1929), Too True to Be Good (1931), On the Rocks (1933), The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles (1934), and Geneva (1938), as well as with the historical play Good King Charles’s Golden Days (1939) and the comedy The Millionairess (1936). The idea that capitalist society has reached an impasse and bourgeois democracy is experiencing an acute crisis runs through all of the plays; fascism is condemned in Geneva.

In 1931, Shaw visited the USSR, of which he had been a friend from the first years of the Great October Socialist Revolution. The fighting spirit of the publicist was evident in his public appearances until Shaw’s last years. His last plays were Buoyant Billions (1948) and Farfetched Fables (1950).

Although their staging was delayed, Shaw’s plays gradually gained widespread recognition and became a major force in the literature of the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century. His work bore the clear stamp of the publicist and was inspired by deep philosophical meditation on the social, cultural, and biological future of mankind. His remarkable skill turned his plays into a forum for social and philosophical discussion. Shaw’s best plays have become part of the standard repertoire of many theaters in the Soviet Union. Shaw was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1925.

WORKS
The Standard Edition of the Works of Bernard Shaw, vols. 1–36. London, 1931–50.
In Russian translation:
Poln. sobr. soch., vols. 1–10. Moscow, 1910–11.
Izbr. proizv., vols. 1–2. Moscow, 1956.
O drame i teatre. Moscow, 1963.
O muzyke i muzykantakh. Moscow, 1965.
Pis’ma. Moscow, 1971.
Novelly. Moscow, 1971.
REFERENCES
Lunacharskii, A. V. “B. Shou.” In his O teatre i dramaturgii: Izbr. stat’i, vol. 2. Moscow, 1958.
Romm, A. Dzh. B. Shou. Leningrad-Moscow, 1965.
Obraztsova, A. B. Shou i evropeiskaia teatral’naia kul’tura na rubezhe XIX–XX vekov. Moscow, 1974.
Pirson, Kh. B. Shou. Moscow, 1972.
Bernard Shou: Biobibliografich ukazatel’k 100-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia. Moscow, 1956.
Henderson, A. George Bernard Shaw: Man of the Century. New York [1956].
Chesterton, G. K. George Bernard Shaw. London, 1909.
Bentley, E. Bernard Shaw: A Reconsideration. Norfolk, Conn. [1947].
Woodbridge, H. E. G. B. Shaw: Creative Artist. Carbondale, III., 1963.
Kaufmann, R. J., ed. G. B. Shaw: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1965.
Crompton, L. Shaw the Dramatist. London, 1971.
Berst, C. A. Bernard Shaw and the Art of Drama. Urbana, Ind., 1973.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by A. A. ANIKST)

E. L. VOYNICH (1864-1960)

“Voynich, Ethel Lilian. Born May 11, 1864, in Cork, Ireland; died July 28, 1960, in New York. British writer. Daughter of the British mathematician G. Boole and wife of the Polish revolutionary M. Voynich.

Ethel Voynich was a friend of S. M. Stepniak-Kravchinskii, and during the years 1887-89 she lived in Russia. She was acquainted with F. Engels and G. V. Plekhanov. Beginning in 1920, Voynich lived in New York, working as a translator of Russian literature and translating several poems of T. G. Shevchenko into English. Voynich’s best work— the revolutionary novel The Gadfly (1897; Russian translation, 1898)—is devoted to the liberation struggle of the Italian people during the 1830’s and 1840’s. In Russia this novel became one of the favorite books of young people; it was used several times as the literary basis for stage productions, films, and an opera. Voynich’s other novels—Jack Raymond (1901; Russian translation, 1902), Olive Latham (1904; Russian translation, 1906). Interrupted Friendship (1910; Russian translation, entitled Ovod v izgnanii [The Gadfly in Exile}, 1926), and Put Off Thy Shoes (1945, Russian translation, 1958)—maintain this same rebellious spirit. Voynich also wrote several musical works: her oratorio Babylon (1948) is devoted to the overthrow of the autocracy in Russia.

WORKS
Sochineniia, vols. 1-2. Moscow, 1963.
REFERENCES
Katarskii, I. Etel’ Lilian Voinich. Moscow, 1957.
Taratuta, E. Etel’ Lilian Voinich, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1964.
Etel’ Lilian Voinich: Biobibliograficheskii ukazatel’. Compiled by T. Shumakova. Moscow, 1958.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by E. A. TARATUTA)

WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM (1874-1965)

“Maugham, William Somerset. Born Jan. 25, 1874, in Paris; died Dec. 16, 1965, in St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France. British writer.

The son of a lawyer for the British Embassy in France, Maugham received a medical education. His practice in a poor district in London provided the material for his first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897). Maugham served in World War I (1914–18) as an agent for the British intelligence service, spending part of the war in Russia. In the collection of short stories Ashenden, or the British Agent (1928) he described these experiences.

Maugham’s first literary successes were the plays Lady Frederick (staged 1907), The Circle (1921), and Sheppey (1933). In the novels The Moon and Sixpence (1919; Russian translations, 1927, 1960) and Cakes and Ale (1930) he condemned religious hypocrisy and ugly philistine mores. The novel The Razor’s Edge (1944) reveals the protagonist’s attempts to free himself from the baseness of bourgeois norms. Maugham’s most famous work, Of Human Bondage (1915; Russian translation, 1959), is a largely autobiographical Bildungsroman that combines subtle psychological insight in the portrayal of the hero’s moral quests with a broad depiction of the world.

Maugham’s work was in the tradition of critical realism. At times it contained elements of naturalism. His works are always distinguished by a concern for the pressing problems of the day. The notebooks and introductions to his own and other writers’ books, especially The Summing Up (1938; Russian translation, 1957), have many interesting observations about the creative process, as well as many penetrating appraisals and self-appraisals.

WORKS
The Collected Edition of the Works, 21 vols. London, 1934–59.
A Writer’s Notebook. London, 1949.
Points of View. Garden City, N. Y., 1959.
In Russian translation:
Dozhd’. Moscow, 1961.
“Zametki o tvorchestve.” Voprosy literatury, 1966, no. 4.
“Teatr.” In the collection Sovremennaia angliiskaia novella. Moscow, 1969.
REFERENCES
Kanin, G. Remembering Mr. Maugham. New York, 1966.
Brown, I. W. S. Maugham. London, 1970.
Calder, R. L. W. S. Maugham and the Quest for Freedom. London, 1972.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979, article by E. A. GUSEVA)

HAROLD HESLOP (1898-1983)

British left-wing writer, ILP active.

JOHN LINDSAY (1900-1990)

An Australian-born British writer. Joined the CPGB in the 30s. He started writing novels while living in Cornwall. Lindsay’s earliest novels were set in Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire; they included Cressida’s First Lover (1931), Rome For Sale and Caesar Is Dead (both 1934). Lindsay’s historical fiction also includes 1649: A Novel of a Year (1938), a social realist novel that begins with the execution of Charles I of England and explores the first year of the Republic through the eyes of ordinary citizens. He wrote 1649 as an anti-fascist novel. During World War II, Lindsay served in the British Army initially in the Royal Signal Corps. From 1943, he worked for the War Office on theatrical scripts.

Lindsay was awarded the Soviet Order of the Badge of Honour in 1967, an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Queensland in 1973. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (1946), the Australian Academy of the Humanities (1982), and appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (1981).

E. F. UPWARD (1903-2009)

Edward Falaise Upward, a British novelist and short story writer. Joined the CPGB in the 30s.

SIMON BLUMENFELD (1907-2005)

A British columnist, author, playwright, theatre critic, editor and communist.

JOHN SOMMERFIELD (1908-1991)

A British writer and left-wing activist known for his influential novel May Day, which fictionalised a Communist upheaval in 1930s London. Sommerfield volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War and wrote one of the first combatant accounts of that conflict. He later served in the Royal Air Force in World War II.

ARTHUR CALDER-MARSHALL (1908-1992)

English novelist, essayist, critic, memoirist, and biographer. Joined the CPGB in the 30s.

M. C. HEINEMANN (1913-1992)

Margot Claire Heinemann, a British Marxist writer, drama scholar. Joined the CPGB in 1934.

A. C. KETTLE (1916-1986)

Arnold Charles Kettle, a British Marxist literary critic, most noted for his authorship of the two-volume work An Introduction to the English Novel (1951). Joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1936.

J. P. BERGER (1926-2017)

John Peter Berger, British writer. Never a CPGB member, rather he was a close associate of it and its front, the Artists’ International Association (AIA).

PAINTING

WILLIAM HOGARTH (1697-1764)

“Hogarth, William. Born Nov. 10, 1697, in London; died there Oct. 25, 1764. British painter, graphic artist, and art theorist.

Hogarth studied with the silversmith E. Gamble and at J. Thornhill’s academy (from 1720) in London. He worked in London and visited France in 1743 and 1748. Hogarth first gained fame from his satirical paintings and copper engravings, in which, in the spirit of the European Enlightenment, he ruthlessly exposed the evils of British life. Examples of such works are the six pictures of A Harlot’s Progress (1730–31, not preserved; engraved in 1732), the eight pictures of A Rake’s Progress (1732–35, Sir John Soane’s museum, London; engraved 1735), the six pictures of Marriage à la Mode (1743–45, National Gallery, London; engraved 1745), and the engravings Gin Lane (1751) and Beer Street (1751).

Hogarth’s portraits are marked by a democratic quality, sharp lifelike characterizations, and a full-blooded realistic technique. Examples are Captain Thomas Coram (1740, Foundling Hospital, London), Self-portrait (1745, Tate Gallery, London), and The Shrimp Girl (c. 1760, National Gallery, London).

In the theoretical treatise Analysis of Beauty (1753), Hogarth called for the use of asymmetric forms (for example, serpentine lines) that would allow life to be reproduced in the diversity of its manifestations. Hogarth’s theories and art greatly influenced 18th-century European culture. The artist’s influence is reflected in the work of L. Sterne in Great Britain and G. E. Lessing and G. C. Lichtenberg in Germany.

WORKS
In Russian translation:
Analiz krasoty. Leningrad-Moscow, 1958.
REFERENCES
Krol’, A. E. U. Khogart. [Moscow-Leningrad, 1965.]
German, M. Iu. Khogart. Moscow, 1971.
Paulson, R. Hogarth: His Life, Art, and Times, vols. 1–2. New Haven-London, 1971.” (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979)

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