While partying and dancing became part of everyone’s routine, the Government wanted people to lead more moral lives and not to waste time in such habits, so the Prohibition began. Alcohol was banned all over the U.S., but this law did not stop people from consuming alcoholic beverages, since they could be easily bought illegally. 

The so called Jazz Age was a unique moment in history and the author who best described these years is definitely F. Scott Fitzgerald. He himself lived a life of luxury and partying with his wife, Zelda.

His masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a newly rich man who does all he can to impress the woman he loves: Daisy. The novel follows his story while also showing the habits of rich Americans, who loved to show off and enjoy life. It was in these years that new music could be heard everywhere: the Charleston and jazz music became quite popular and both men and women had fun dancing to it. 

Unfortunately, these moments did not last long: the Wall Street Crash on Black Friday brought about an economic crisis that made everyone forget about the brief time they had spent partying during the Jazz Age. Fitzgerald’s novels no longer represented the current times and people grew tired of them. Although his writing career did not last long, his books are now considered timeless classics and are read all over the world. 

That is because he did more than just tell the story of two rich and frivolous lovers: he managed to put down in words how many Americans felt, and he did so by using a uniquely cinematographic style. He managed to make the readers feel as if they had been part of the novel, sipping champagne with the protagonists. He wanted to draw a full picture of the surroundings and the atmosphere in which the story took place, making everything feel magical. After all, the few years of peace and prosperity after the War were exactly that: a brief magical moment that gave people hope.

In Italy, some years before, another author tried to do the same. Giovanni D’Annunzio, the author of Il Piacere, wrote about Giovanni Sperelli, a fictional character of noble origins, living in Rome. Together with other Italian aristocrats, he leads a live full of parties and fun, without any worries at all. Every day he surrounds himself with art, poetry and beauty. D’Annunzio fills his novel with descriptions of the beautiful dresses worn by the ladies Sperelli meets, of the pictures, the China and the jewels he buys to collect and especially of the breathtaking city of Rome, the background of the story. 

It doesn’t matter that much that Sperelli and Gatsby lived some time apart and that the first was born rich, while the other had to work hard to gain his position, because their story is very similar: they both lead lives full of beauty and their authors do not forget to highlight it. 

The lives of the rich, who do not have to worry about a thing in the world, have always been fascinating in their own way. Thousands of years ago, in Ancient Rome, the divide between the rich and the poor was definitely bigger than it was at Fitzgerald’s time, but it doesn’t mean that it could not be bypassed. 

In fact, some slaves who worked hard and were lucky enough to belong to decent masters, could be freed. These men, called liberti, had the unique opportunity to build a life for themselves. While many kept working for their masters, others became independent. That is what happened to Trimalcione, one of the characters in Satyricon, a novel probably written by Petronio. He, like Jay Gatsby, had become extremely rich and did not miss any occasion to remind his friends about it. He was probably what we would now call “new money” or “nouveau riche”. Of course, Petronio’s novel is very different from D’Annunzio’s, as it is a satirical novel, that aims at making fun of the strange behaviours Trimalcione shows while trying to fit in with his aristocratic friends. 

While the way the story is told differs in many ways, all three authors write about what it means to be rich and have fun. They take advantage of a fantasy that many people have and give them the gift of letting them know how it feels to be in their character’s shoes. They give their readers the magical feeling of being somebody else, even just for a minute. 

 

 

 

 

THE STORY IS NARRATED IN THIRD PERSON THROUGH THE POINT OF VIEW OF NICK CARRAWAY, A YOUNG WRITER WHO MOVES TO LONG ISLAND TO IMPROVE HIS CAREER. HE SOON BECOMES FRIEND WITH GATSBY, TAKES PART IN HIS CRAZY AND AMAZING PARTIES AND DISCOVERS THAT HE HAS HAD A LOVE AFFAIR   WITH HIS COUSIN DAISY, NOW MARRIED TO THE RICH TOM. THE EXTREME OSTENTATION HAS A SENSE, GATSBY HAS SPENT ALL HIS LIFE AFTER DAISY TO BECOME RICH AND TO SHOW HER THAT HE IS A WORTHY PERSON, WORTHY OF HER LOVE.

THE STYLE OF THE WRITER IS ORIGINAL, HE SHIFTS QUICKLY FROM ONE SCENE TO ANOTHER AND THIS IS THE REASON WHY IT HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS CINEMATOGRAPHIC. THE DIALOGUES ARE AUTHENTIC GIVING THE SENSATION OF REALITY AND A CLEAR PICTURE OF THE CHARACTERS. 

WHAT I LIKED MUCH IN THE TEXT IS THE DESCRIPTION OF THE PARTIES, THE LUXURY AND THE WAY IN WHICH FITZGERALD INTRODUCES GATSBY. EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT HIM, SOMEONE SAYS HE WAS A GERMAN SPY, OTHERS  A MURDERER, OTHERS SAY HE WAS A PRINCE BUT MANY HAVE HARDLY EVER MEET HIM. SURELY ALL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HIS RICHNESS. THROUGH THE TELLING OF NICK WE DISCOVER A MAN WITH A GENEROUS NATURE, WHO TRAGICALLY SACRIFICES HIMSELF FOR HIS LOVER AND DIES ALONE. 

THE PART I LIKED LESS EVEN THOUGH IT IS WELL-DRAWN, IS THE DEATH OF GATSBY AND HIS FUNERAL, NICK’S MEETING WITH GATBY’S FATHER MISTER GATZ, THE WAY HE SPEAKS OF HIS SON, WITH A SORT OF “AWED PRIDE” IS ALL VERY SAD AND MOVING. AND THEN NICK ASKS THE MINISTER TO WAIT FOR HALF AN HOUR BUT USELESSLY, NOBODY COMES TO HIS FUNERAL AND DAISY DOESN’T SEND A MESSAGE OR A FLOWER! 

I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BOOK BECAUSE I WAS REALLY IMPRESSED BY THE WAY FITZGERALD GIVES A REAL PORTRAIT OF THIS AGE THAT WAS HIS AGE, THE LOST GENERATION, THE STRENGTH HE PUTS IN THE CHARACTER OF GATSBY WHO ACTS AS FITZGERALD REALLY ACTED IN HIS LIFE. SO WE HAVE A VERY REALISTIC VISION OF THAT PERIOD THAT WAS A MIXTURE OF CRAZINESS AND IRRESPONSIBILITY, A WORLD WHERE PEOPLE REALLY LIVED AS IF THERE WON’T BE TOMORROW .

TO SUM UP, AS THE MAN WITH OWL-EYED GLASSES SAYS, GATSBY WAS JUST ‘THE POOR SON-OF-A-BITCH’.

Africa:

At the beginning, the English colonizers used the African continent to subdue the local populations. Men from Africa were enslaved and brought to America, where they were forced to work in the cotton and tobacco fields. Subsequently, with the abolition of slavery, the British began to trade with local populations, offering processed products in exchange for gold, ivory, coffee and precious stones. It is in this historical period that the writer Joseph Conrad wrote his most famous novel: Heart of darkness. In the novel, Conrad tells of a man named Marlow who joins a company that deals with the ivory trade, his task is looking for a certain Kurtz in the depths of the African forest. When he arrives in Congo, he is fascinated by the local population: he is mainly struck by the wild territory and the varied customs of the local populations. However, Marlow is very disappointed in how his countrymen relate to these fascinating and unknown populations: they treat the natives of this territory as animals, forcing them to work to exhaustion and making them live in pitiful conditions. Moreover, during the long naval voyages that the British carried out to bring slaves to America, due to the poor hygienic conditions, numerous epidemics of a very violent virus, smallpox (fatal in 30% of cases) broke out. However, when slavery was abolished, the living conditions of the African population improved considerably.

Australia:

Initially, Australia was colonised as a penal settlement of criminals. It is located in Oceania between the Indian and South Pacific Oceans, and It was “discovered” in 1770 by Captain James Cook, who claimed this country for Britain. Before the Victorian Age, 160,000 men and women has been transported to Australia as convicts. Between 1855 and 1890, during a gold rush that it was started at the beginning of 1850, sic colonies aquired responsible government but they remained parte of the British empire. In 1901 was established the Commonwealth of Australia and It became a dominion of the British Empire. Due to infectious disease of European’s illnesses, the indigenous population diminished progressively, and now, aborigines make up about 2,2% of the populations. Today Australia is under Britain’s constitutional monarchy.

Joseph Conrad disagreed with that concept because in his point of view nobody can say who is really primitive and who is civilized. He saw the exploitation and the abuse that Colonialism brought during his sixteen years spent working for the British Merchant Navy and specifically during his journey to the Belgian Congo. This experience made him write a novel: “Heart of Darkness”.

In this novel Marlow starts telling the story of when he went on the river Congo to save Kurtz, an ivory trader who was ill. The story telling takes place when he and other men are on a ship on the Thames, waiting for leaving the port. He remembers when he goes into the heart of the jungle to find Kurtz, but what he sees shocks him because instead of a successful example of western civilization, he finds a man who is considered like a God by the natives and who is completely integrated with them (he also decorates his hut with skulls of dead men). Marlow tries to bring him back to the Central station, but Kurtz dies. After these events he returns to Europe as a changed man. Ended the story, the ship is ready to leave. The novel ends with the description of the Thames that opens up to the sea seeming to lead into the heart of darkness.

The theme of the journey can be found also in philosophy with Kieerkegaard, who explains the three types of lives from the aesthetic one, to the moral one and finally to the religious one. People always start from the first type of life and can continue with the second. Only choosing the second life can lead to third.

The interior journey is also present in Pirandello, with his considerations about the inner self in his work “Uno, nessuno, centomila”. Vitangelo Moscarda, the protagonist, finds out he doesn’t know himself because he is one, but also ten thousands. He wears a different mask for each person he talks with and also a mask for himself. So he is one, many and at the same time nobody.

In Latin there is Petronio with his “Satyricon” where there are the many troubles Encolpio lives. He is an exile with his servant Gitone because a god, Priapo, persecutes him. During their peregrinations they end in Cuma, Taranto and Crotone. It is a satire towards society and the concept of love, loyalty and jealousy. 

Between the Greek authors there is Apollonio Rodio who mentioned this theme in his work “Le Argonautiche”. It talks about a group of men and demigods who sail on a ship called “Argo” to go and find the golden fleece. It is in Colchide where the protagonist Giasone must overcome the difficulties to obtain it. The poem ends with the promise made by Giasone to marry Medea, the one who helped him in Colchide, and the return to Tessaglia.

In Science and Physics we can mean “journey” as “movement”, so in the first subject it could be a link the continental drift, so the fact that the clods of the Earth are moving and they will change their actual position in the future, while in the second one there is the hypothesis of the inversion of the poles of Earth and their consequences.

Most often, darkness symbolizes ideas such as evil, madness, and depravity, while light represents hope and purity. In both novels, darkness overshadows and even perverts light.

In Heart of Darkness, Marlow travels into the darkest,uncharted corner of the world and discovers that the force that was touted to bring enlightenment, namely the Europeans, have instead created a horror that is beyond words. In his pursuit of ivory (something that is physically light), the white man has embraced and encouraged the darkest parts of his nature. Rather than enlightenment, what has been fostered is murder, madness, death, and destruction.

The Great Gatsby’s symbol of light is the physical light that stands on the end of the dock. It represents all that Gatsby has yearned for: his desire to achieve the American dream, and his love for Daisy. However, by the end of the novel, both of these pursuits have become tainted and have crumbled and decayed. In this decay, they resemble the darkness and desolation of the Valley of Ashes, a place of moral and social devastation.

The narrative technique of both novels is similar. In The Great Gatsby, Nick looks back on the events of the summer he spent in the company of Daisy, Tom and Gatsby. His story is therefore informed by distance and the fact that he has had time to reflect on the events that occurred. The story in Heart of Darkness also has this reflective quality as the narrator shares the story Marlowe told about his trip into the deepest Africa. The biggest difference is in the fact that Nick was a participant in the story he is relating, while Conrad’s narrator is simply relying a tale told to him. This puts the reader at a further distance from Conrad’s story than from Fitzgerald’s.

Other points of comparison between the two works include the characters of Kurtz and Gatsby and the other comparable duo composed of Nick and Marlow, (the) both main characters were good people and were badly influenced by the first two men at whom they looked with admiration and respect. There are also similarities in the settings of the Valley of Ashes and Africa, and the themes of the pursuit of wealth by the Europeans and by Gatsby. 

We can see the themes of the darkness of society and how that consumes the soul of a man also in the paintings of Francisco Goya and the rappresentation of the wealth of the rich people and the party atmosphere that we found in The Great Gatsby also in the works of Otto Dix, that in paintings like Metropolis represented the roaring twenties.

Somehow similar to what the French painter Seurat, forerunner of Puntinism, represented in the picture Bagnanti ad Asnieres, in which some men take a rest near the river Senna. Although that kind of scene would usually suggest some feelings of joy, union with other humans and fusion with nature, their impassive faces and isolated evanescent presences show the symptoms of the modern alienation, reflected in the industries of Clichy, that are visible in the distance with the smoking and grey towers.

With the beginning of the industrialization, people were about to losing their humanity, because they exchanged genuine relationships for money, private properties and compulsive industrial production; the importance of possession isolated one person from the other, because each individual was seen as a possible enemy of their own freedom: that was Karl Marx’s thought about capitalism and Liberal society, that were born and were progressively growing after the French Revolution. Humans had to emancipate themselves from modern alienation and individualism, regaining the ancient union with their fellows and with nature, because only in those conditions they would be realized as human beings, like also the philosopher Rousseau had written before Marx: a human being  is considered a real human in his state of nature.      

Focusing one last time on painting, it deserves a brief mention also the Die Brucke, the German Expressionists, that found in the rural life a “key” to escape from the chaotic world of the city. The painter Kirchner depicted it in one of his pictures: a distorted and ambiguous representation of four streets, coloured with acid yellow and black broken lines, in the background there are high and suffocating skyscrapers and along the streets many people are portraited as anonymous dark shapes. The general perception is confusion, as a consequence of the urban faster rhythms that the Die Brucke considered unbearable and from which they tried to run away, therefore they decided to live in total fusion with nature, spending all the time painting, without refusing drugs, alcohol and sexual intercourses.  

In poetry, the celebration of Nature had already started from the ancient Rome, in the 1st century A.C., during which Virgilio, the author of Eneide, preferred the rural life to the vitality of the capital and exalted it with the poem Bucoliche, then it remained an important theme also in the 19th century with the instance of Carducci’s poem that starts with the lines oh cipressetti miei: the bard is leaving the motherland Tuscany and the village where he was born, where there isn’t any industrial contamination yet, but inhabitants spend their quiet and peaceful lives, because the products of the nature are sufficient to satisfy their needs. However, Carducci, who is already a famous writer, has to return to Bologna, the centre of chaotic vitality, and he travels on a train, the main symbol - in Carducci’s opinion - of (the) progress - not necessarily a positive point of view [...]. To sum up, in that poem there is the conflict between two realities and two human sides that can’t coexist, but by which the individuals are alternately dominated and fascinated: nature and industrialization, instinct and rationality.       

The technological innovation discovered starting from the first part of XIX brought to a general improvement: philosophy, politics, economics, literature, and entertainment brushed up. 
In an era where men had discovered the whole world, they had to interface with new parts of their inner self too. The world's infinite possibilities made man wonder again what was truly right and what was wrong about society. 

One of the first intellectuals who aimed to discuss this topic was Joseph Conrad in his main work: "Heart of Darkness". In parallel to colonialism, an age when the world powers fought for goods and lands of poor regions, especially in Africa and in South America, Conrad decided to put in crisis the stability of European thinking. 
How can someone be considered a man when his freedom has been trodden by other men? 
How can someone be a good person when the entire world is full of masks? When our final destination is just Darkness?
Conrad himself found in colonialism the source of evil and exploitation, the foundation of the great question of the century: "Who is truly civilized?". 

Darkness is everywhere, but in some places, hope is much more bright and helps everyone to go on, despite the cruelty of life and society. The contrast between white and black is a constant in the XX century, it's the western society against the entire world. 

Men thought to have arrived at a point where they were invincible, but it wasn't true. Greed for power and wealth had corrupted them, at a point that they couldn't stand progress in an era of progress. Conrad succeeded perfectly in his intent creating a detailed frame of the time, his cultural and individual contrasts. 

For Conrad, darkness was an inevitable destination.
For other intellectuals, as for Stevenson, darkness was an integral part of men. It wasn't a goal, a destiny, or a consequence, it was just the hidden part of every man. Under every facade, used in society to avoid judgment, a man hides all of his desires and instincts. 

That darkness, the one that everyone tries to hide from the others, is the one that truly characterizes the individual. It's not theater, it's not an opera or a comedy, it's the reality in all of his bestiality. 

Darkness is also treated by Dante in his "Divina Commedia": light becomes much more intense the closer you get to Paradise. For Dante too, darkness is situated in the depths of the Earth together with men's sins and imperfections, the ones that couldn't stop their instinct and desire, the damned. 

Also in psychology, Sigmund Freud succeeded in the analysis of the inner self of each individual, naming it the "unconscious". The dark void that governs us without letting us know it, the pure and unseen instinct. 

Listening to the screams of nature that seemed to be sucked in a black vortex, even Edward Munch represented his craziness and his sorrows in all of his paintings. At the end of the 19th century, Munch already knew how progress and richness would have caused the deterioration of the entire society. His fear, expressed by distressing illustrations, would make sense the following century with the outbreak of the wars which have stained the whole of humanity with grief and darkness.

After every day we must wait for the night, and the periods of the first and the second World Wars are the emblem of a night without stars or moon, as Ungaretti said. 

War, violence, fear, and grief of power and victory cause the darkness in every man to come out, to escape. 

Lastly around the middle of the 20th century, westerns were afraid and exploited people with darker skin. Even today it is hardly comprehended that it's not the color of the skin that matters, but the color of our soul. 

Is our intrinsic darkness too powerful to suppress every sprinkle of light and justice? 

The stories which constitute the collection are, in the following order:

1.      The Sisters: a story about the reaction of a young boy and his family after the local Priest’s death;

2.      An Encounter: the encounter between two schoolboys who are playing around the city streets and a man;

3.      Araby: a boy wants to buy a gift from the bazaar for a girl who fell in love with;

4.      Eveline: a young woman is about to leave Ireland with a sailor;

5.      After the Race: a student tries to get included by his rich friends;

6.      Two Gallants: a story dealing with two Irish workers frustrated of their life;

7.      The Boarding House: the wedding between a young lady and mer mother’s lodger;

8.      A little cloud: two friends have dinner together and discuss about the past;

9.      Counterparts: a story about the rage and the frustration of a man who gets drunk;

10.  Clay: an old woman celebrates Halloween with her foster child and his family;

11.  A Painful Case: Mr Duffy realises he has condanned to death Mrs Sinico, after having had a relationship with her;

12.  Ivy Day in the Committee Room: the discussion of a political party, which ends up with an apology of Charles Stewart Parnell;

13.  A Mother: Mrs Kearney tries to improve her social condition doing her best to win a place of pride for her daughter;

14.  Grace: a man get injured by falling down the stairs, and his friends try to make him rediscover the Catholic faith;

15.  The Dead: Joyce’s novella, it is about a man, Gabriel Conroy, who goes to a party and, as he speaks with his wife, has an epiphany and discovers the essence of life, then dies.

 

The flagship of Joyce’s work is without doubt the variety: fifteen short stories make the reading interesting and not monothematic; besides, almost all the characters are not shown with a detailed description, and this helps the writer to give them an aura of mystery. As far as the style is concerned, Joyce uses a simple, but powerful prose, which fits perfectly with the atmosphere of unease and degradation that pervades the whole book.

A little defect of Joyce’s collection is the difficulty to find the bond between all the stories, which can confuse the reader. In a nutshell, we can say it may be a hard  but fulfilling nonetheless- reading.

In conclusion, I’d recommend this book to all those who are fond of English and Irish literatures and want to have an all-round vision of the Dublin of then.

The title of the book is Animal Farm and it’s an allegorical novella by George Orwell. 

It tells the story about a group of animals that start a revolution against their farmer, with the aim of creating a society where all the animals are equal, have rights and live their lives happily. This book is, in reality, a criticism of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and of Communism. 

 

The whole story is set in the “Manor Farm” near Willingdon in England. The owner of the farm is Mr Jones who is usually drunk and mistreats his animals. One night the oldest pig called Old Major calls a meeting. During that meeting he tells the other animals about a dream that he had the night before where they were all freed from the slavery of  man. After telling them his dream, the Old Major starts a passionate speech where he exhorts all the animals to rebel against Mr Jones to be free and have rights. After several days, when Mr Jones forgets to feed the animals, the revolution starts and the animals kick out the farmer. The same day the animals establish the Seven Commandments that they all have to respect. At first the animals live the lives that they always dreamed about, there’s equality, rights, the farm produces more while the animals work less. But after a while the situation is getting worse: the power is centered in the hands of the pigs in particular the pig Napoleon that starts to look more and more like a tyrant, while the other animals become subjects of him, furthermore violence begins to be used. At the end of the book the pigs behave as the man, also the Seven Commandments are changed, particularly the last one, that now states: “All animals are equals, but some are more equal than others”, referring to the pigs, so the situation goes back to when the farm was managed by Mr Jones.

 

I really like this book, the story is gripping and it is really well-drawn. I find very interesting  all the references to Communism and the Russian Revolution, like Napoleone which is associated with Stalin or Mr Jones that represents the Zar Nicola II. I also enjoyed the fact that the book is really clear and easy to read but in reality it talks about very important themes like totalitarianism or the contradictions that communism met once applied.

 

What I didn’t like was the character of Napoleon. I know that he has to represent Stalin so I can understand the reason why he acts like that, but I found him very mean with all the animals, especially with Snowball, a pig that is initially in power with him, but that later is kicked out  by Napoleon to centralize the power in his hands.

 

I really enjoyed this book because I think that through the allegory of the animals, the author makes perfectly clear how a society can become with an authoritarian regime and and the effect that power can have on men. I would recommend it to everyone because it’s written like a tale but it gives lot of historical information, so I think that reading this book could be very important to better understand Communism and what happened in Russia during that period. 

 

 

Written by Philip Roth in 1997, American Pastoral is one of his most relevant books. The author decided to use a first person narrator (in the first chapter) and a third one (in the second and third chapters), who is clearly omniscient and guides the reader along the entire narration. The book is a historical novel, set in America between 1950 and 1995, or generally in the second half of the twentieth century, during which the USA was the protagonist of the Vietnam War and the main place of consequent terrorist attacks. 

 

PLOT

The first part of the story, called “Paradise Remembered”, is a flash forward where the narrator and protagonist Nathan Zuckermann, Roth’s alter ego, introduces the character Seymour Levov, named “the Swedish”, as an idealization of perfect, quiet, rich and idyllic lifestyle, who always excelled in sports and studies during high school and in career, when he became the entrepreneur of Levovs’ tannery, known as Newark Maid. From Nathan’s eyes the Swedish has always been a perfect man with a perfect life. 

In 1995, many years after the age during which Seymour Levov rose as a real emblem of the American history, Nathan Zuckermann understands that the man he has always known as Swedish doesn’t exist anymore. 

 

Written with a third person narrator, the second part, made up by two chapters “The Fall” and “Paradise Lost”, deals with Seymour’s perfect life - his “American Pastoral” - that is completely destroyed by a terrible event: at the age of seventeen, her daughter Merry places a bomb into Hamlin’s shop to protest against America, causing the death of dottor Conlon: in only one day her loving and innocent daughter becomes a murder and a fugitive. The perfect, utopist and precarious balance that the Swedish built up and that tried to maintain solid, that involved his wife Dawn, his parents and Seymour himself, is broken by a terrible and cruel reality. 

 

 

POSITIVE OPINIONS

I appreciate the fact that Philip Roth brings his characters to life, they’re perfectly described in their imperfections and human dark side, their weakness and squalor. They often mistake and, as Roth writes, humans live, mistaking and mistaking again; their complex personalities control and submit the entire narration: for instance, the main protagonist, Seymour Levov, who fights between the fatherlike affection for Merry and the slow consciousness that she hates the America he loves so much, because there he built his “American Pastoral”. 

Seymour tries to find a logical answer to his questions “Why me? Why her? Why us?”: firstly he justifies Merry, because he can’t give up loving her, but he slowly understands that there isn’t any logical motif to Merry’s actions that saves his family from a sudden destruction. Page after page, Seymour’s mental monologues become bitterer and bitterer, because the anti-pastoral reality is devouring him and he can’t do anything; his dream is inevitably over. 

 

In my opinion, another character who deserves a mention and who Seymour presents with a gripping mixture of admiration and melancholy is Dawn Dwyer, Seymour’s wife. I was really impressed by her ravishing characterization: she’s an ex Miss New Jersey and, after she lost Miss America Contest, she becomes a farmer, because she wants to be normal, in fact she hates being branded and treated as Miss New Jersey; her “American Pastoral”  is a simple life where she has never been a participant of a beauty contest. However, after the terrorist attack, Dawn seems to refuse also the normal life she strongly desired and obtained, she tries to forget everything about her daughter Merry, selling the farm and the house where they lived, making a medical appointment for a face lifting, and, at the end, cheating her husband with the neighbour, Mr Orcutt. She changes completely. 

On the whole, she isn’t the usual character who the reader can sympathize with, she is stubborn and egoistic, but also independent and self-made: Philip Roth describes her as a real, active and human character and, personally speaking, I really appreciate that. 

 

In addition, the writer shows the readers a cruel reality about his own America, choosing the wealthy and pacific Levov family as the unlucky protagonist of the story. Roth introduces some interesting themes.  

Firstly the feelings of disappointment, fear and anger during the Vietnam War and the violence as the only way to complain against American government, as Merry Levov demonstrates with the unexpected terrorist attack. 

Secondly the constant division between white and rich people and poor one, capitalism and the exploited people’s desire of rebellion, as Seymour says, thinking about many factories which failed, because workers went on strike and manifested against their entrepreneurs. 

Thirdly the role of religion that separates Catholics, Protestants and Jewish with diffidence and stereotypes, in particular Jewish weren’t completely accepted by Americans and that caused many episodes of antisemitism and violence, in fact Dawn and Seymour’s marriage isn’t well seen by their families, the one Jewish and the other Irish Catholic; Seymour remembers the day when Dawn and his father Lou met for the first time and their tragicomic dialogue about Dawn and Seymour’s future child and which religion he’s going to profess. 

 

In conclusion, another element that, personally speaking, deserves a brief mention is Philip Roth’s style: there are few dialogues which are impressive for the bitter and cruel tones, but mostly the entire narration is built up on Seymour’s monologue. He thinks, nostalgically remembers, reflects with a fluent prose and, page after page, he starts comprehending the truth. The American Pastoral in which he lives so comfortably, because he always behaves as he should have to, is an ephemeral dream; the unknown and cruel reality destroys his family. Despite the initial difficulty in reading the long and complex periods, after getting used to his style, the book is gripping and unputdownable. 

 

CONCLUSION

To sum up, I obviously recommend American Pastoral to readers who want to know more about American society of the past, but also of the contemporary age. I believe it’s the perfect book to appreciate the incisive and surprising prose and the modern themes of the American literature.  

 

 

 

The awareness about the inability to respect heroic expectations, as are depicted in the novels and the poems, contributes to the fall of some stereotypes - how the ideal man/woman should be, act and even die - and the discovery of a various and complex human interiority. On the contrary, it increases the skepticism and the devaluation of human opportunities in the real world, where the heroes are mostly unemployed or their efforts aren’t accepted anymore: it’s useless to fulfill anything in your life, because, differently to the heroes, you, as human, would fail. 

 Therefore, as the readers changed and tended to look at Homer’s poems - just to make an example - with both admiration and aloofness towards a reality they feel furthest from themselves, literature should adapt to it: new values (or disvalues) enriched the personalities of the characters. Strength was substituted by weakness, pride by shame, perseverance by lack of confidence, ambition by failure: the modern hero learns the meaning of defeat, fear and dark feelings. 

With these features James Joyce represented the protagonist of Ulysses, Leopold Bloom, who shares only the name with the epic traveller of Homer’s Odyssey. Ulysses begins a long journey over the sea to return to his motherland: even after many years, he never stops thinking about Itaca with hope, whereas Leopold represents the traveller who is ever used to sailing around the same sea in the repetitive and paralysed reality of Dublin, where the citizens are trapped in and they aren’t able to realize themselves. 

Joyce didn’t exalt his bravery or his pure soul, but anonymous humanity, indeed there isn’t any dragon to fight against or any reign to protect, because most of the plot concerns his unconsciousness, his memories, feelings and thoughts.

Focusing on the 19th century, with the discovery of the unconsciousness by Freud’s psychoanalysis, consequently  Henri Bergson’s theory about the chronological time and the time of consciousness (two different perceptions of time) and  James’ one about stream of consciousness (free associations of thoughts as they come to our mind), a new and unknown world opened the door not outside, but inside the humans and inspired many modern authors, for instance Fedor Doestevskij, one of the emblems of the Russian literature, whose characters symbolize the irrationality, the dark passions, the burden of the fault and the decadence of society. 
The reality became the new source of inspiration and the humans were the main models of the novels. 

However, since the ancient literature, the antiheroes - the humans actually - were already discovered by the Greek poet Apollonio Rodio, during the 3rd century b.C, with his main work “Le Argonautiche”. Jason, the protagonist, doesn’t represent the traditional character: he is the humanized hero who starts a journey to fulfill a mission, but he always needs to be helped by gods or by his companions, he is easily about to give up and feels the fear of death, he is sly and he uses that cleverness to save himself, not to sacrifice his life, as the traditional hero would do.

On the whole, the heroes are not sufficient anymore, in fact the humans need both the idealisation and the reality to not lie and accept themselves as they are and, at the same time, keep living with ambition and self-confidence.  

  

 

IN THIS LANDSCAPE, WHERE ALL THE REFERENCE POINTS WERE SMASHED, A NEW CULTURAL MOVEMENT TOOK PLACE CALLED MODERNISM. IN ART WE HAVE THE EXAMPLE OF CUBISM WHERE THE TRADITIONAL STYLE HAD BEEN REPLACED BY A NEW IDEA OF ART THAT MIXED DIFFERENT MEANS AND DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES, LET’S THINK TO PICASSO’S GUERNICA WHICH DEPICTS THE LIFE DEFORMED BY THE WAR. 

IN LITERATURE A NEW EMERGING GENERATION OF WRITERS ‘THE MODERNISTS’, MOVED AWAY FROM THE CONVENTIONAL LITERARY FORM AND INFLUENCED BY THE DIFFUSION OF FREUD’S IDEAS ON PSYCHOANALYSIS, CONSIDERED THE HUMAN MIND AND THE INNER SELF THE CENTRE OF THEIR INTEREST. 

REALITY AND LIFE AS WELL AS THE CHRONOLOGICAL TIME WERE NO LONGER PERCEIVED AS SOMETHING EXTERNAL AND OBJECTIVE BUT AS THE PROJECTION OF INNER THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS. THEY CONCENTRATED ON THE INNER SIDE OF MAN, ON HIS CONSCIENCE, THAT BECAME THE REAL PROTAGONIST OF THE NOVEL. THE EMPHASIS NOW IS ON THE THOUGHTS OF THE CHARACTERS NOT ON THEIR ACTIONS AS BEFORE. TO DO THIS THE WRITERS USED INTERIOR MONOLOGUE AS A FORM OF EXPRESSION, RESULTING IN A COMPLEX LANGUAGE THAT FOLLOWS THE FLOW OF THE PSYCHIC LIFE OF THEIR CHARACTERS. SO THE PLOT TRADITIONALLY MEANING A SERIES OF FACTS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER WAS REPLACED BY A SUCCESSION OF THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS OF THE CHARACTERS. THAT IS TO SAY LIFE WAS DEPICTED AS FELT BY THE PROTAGONIST NOT HAS IT WAS IN REALITY.

THIS TECNIQUE WAS CALLED ‘STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS’ AND IT CONSISTS IN DESCRIBING THE CONTINUOUS FLOW OF THOUGHTS, FEELINGS AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE CHARACTER, INCLUDING FREE-ASSOCIATION, FROM THE PAST TO THE PRESENT, WITHOUT RESPECTING CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER AND TIME. 

THE WRITER WHO MOST EXPERIMENTED THIS TECHNIQUE WAS JAMES JOYCE WITH HIS MASTERPIECE ‘ULYSSES’ PUBLISHED IN 1922. HE WAS FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER IMPORTANT ENGLISH WRITER VIRGINIA WOOLF WITH HER NOVELS ‘MRS DALLOWAY’ AND ‘TO THE LIGHTHOUSE’. MRS DALLOWAY HAS A VERY SIMPLE PLOT, ALL EVENTS TAKE PLACE IN ONE SINGLE DAY, FROM THE MORNING WHEN CLARISSA DALLOWAY GOES OUT TO BUY FLOWERS FOR A DINNER PARTY TO MIDNIGHT WHEN THE PARTY FINISHES. THERE IS NO ACTION BUT ONLY THE THOUGHTS OF THE CHARACTERS EXPRESS THROUGH THE TECNIQUE OF THE STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS.

THIS NEW IDEA OF TIME HAS ITS ROOTS IN THE CLASSICS, WE CAN MENTION SENECA AND HIS DIALOGUE ‘DE BREVITATE VITAE’ (49 D.C.), WHERE THE LATIN WRITER OPPOSES THE ‘TEMPUS’ THAT IS TO SAY THE CHRONOLOGICAL TIME TO THAT OF ONE’S OWN LIFE LIVED IN ONE’S INTERIORITY OR CONSCIOUSNESS. 

VIRGINIA WOOLF (1882-1941)

Virginia Woolf was the first woman writer who created a literature for women in the feminist sense. Her brilliant mind went far beyond the conventions and the distinctions between the sexes. In her writings there are the psychological aspects of human weakness that Virginia loved to explore, helped by the story of her life in particular by describing the nature of woman. She was the pioneer of the early twentieth century feminism and with her job as a journalist and writer she increased the self-confidence of many women during the Nineteenth century. The vision of Virginia Woolf was strongly based on the emancipation and independence of women as men. She was convinced that women had to be emancipated and they had to fight for their rights. If until the Nineteenth century women had to be without expressions, opinions and education, Virginia Woolf wanted to push every woman to react. In her writings she described how men allowed to annihilate women who were constantly in the insignificant corner of the family and of (the) society and so she condemned their anonymity. Virginia Woolf shown the essential quality of female experience and where it differs from men.

The novel is a celebration of a woman’s life. On the surface Mrs Clarissa Dalloway, the protagonist of the story is represented as the perfect hostess, in fact Woolf captures Mrs Dalloway at the beginning of the novel making last minute preparations for her party. Mrs Dalloway seems like a typical upper class woman concerned with the social aspects of life arranging parties which keep her connected to the old way of living before the War. But through Woolf’s use of stream of consciousness it is revealed that there is so much more to Mrs Dalloway than that. Her desire to do her life all over again, reveals a sort of feminist thinking in the way that she would have liked to have been one of those people who did things for themselves and would have been interested in politics like a man. She is aware of a changing world. Clarissa desires to be different and to be a modern woman. Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway is revolutionary in its portrayal of a woman. By setting the plot in one day, readers are introduced into the daily lives of women and from their relationships they can recognize women as deep, original, complex beings different from men. Women see the world in a different way but their outlook is equally important and considerable as that of men. Clarissa is sociable, intelligent, she loves life and she is constantly aware of death. Mrs Dalloway represents the repressed social and economic position of women in society. The heroine of the novel struggles constantly to balance her internal life with the external world. Her world consists of fashion parties but as she moves in this planet she probes beneath those surfaces in search of deeper meaning.

REFERENCES

Frida Kahlo(1907-1954) is a surrealist painter who revealed the complexity of female experience. Her works are vibrant and characterized by a bold unflinching exploration of her own personal experience .She outlines with her painting the complexity of women identity and sexuality.

Pablo Picasso(1881-1973)created the Cubism movement revolutionizing the concept of art. His painting titled “Les Demoiselles D’Avignon” is a work which rejects traditional ideas of proportion and perspective in favor of geometrical lines and forms which seek to represent emotion and impression of women rather than reality. Picasso with his works explored motherhood, domesticity, femininity and his art was regularly influenced by women’s planet.

 Music: Women wanted to be seen as individuals outside of their familial roles and Jazz, provided an outlet for rebellion and emancipation in several ways. The dance halls, jazz clubs and speakeasies were places where women could escape from the traditional roles that were demanded of them by a rigid society. Here women were allowed greater freedom in their language, clothing and behavior. Jazz music and jazz dancing were ideal ways for young women to rebel against the society of their parents and grandparents.

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was an extremely influential Norwegian playwright who create a masterpiece in three-acts titled “A Doll’s House”. This play focuses on the suppression of women and how women struggle to overcome the confines of traditional roles. The author describes a male society with laws made by men and where women were judged by a masculine point of view. A Doll’s House manifests Ibsen’s concern for women’s rights and for human rights in general. Ibsen makes numerous hints about the roles of women and how the female gender was treated at the time. A Doll’s House is considered to be the first feminist play challenging the Victorian ideal of a woman’s role in marriage. Ibsen for his play was inspired by the belief that a woman cannot be herself in modern society. Nora the female protagonist of the Doll’s House acts as Ibsen’s mouthpiece of the woman emancipation. Ibsen himself said that the intention of the play was to show an individual’s liberation from the shackles and restraints of society.

different dictatorships: Nazism in Germany, Stalinism in Russia and Fascism in Italy.

The outbreak of the First World War had an indelible effects on humanity for the growth of

totalitarianism. In fact, during the Great War man, losing his certainties, was forced to rely

on a single person who was able to stand out from the crowd for his charisma, becoming

the inspiring leader and interpreter of the soul of the people. Even the economic reasons

were very important, the crisis of '29 in fact brought the American population and

consequently the European one to a situation of considerable poverty and misery. In

particular in Germany there was an economic collapse that led to an increase of

unemployment. It was in this context that Hitler was considered a real savior by the

German people, having provided them with a scapegoat of that crisis, identified with the Jews

and having also totally reabsorbed unemployment thanks to the rearmament implemented

in view of the war.

In this period, also the invention of the radio and mass media played a key role in totalitarian

systems, it is thanks to them that the masses were manipulated.

The fundamental aspect that characterizes the different forms of totalitarianism is the

concentration of power in the hands of an individual, who will see the complete realization

of his authority in the cult of personality, with which he will be seen as a true deity.

Moreover, in a totalitarian regime the state controls not only the political and economic

aspect but almost every aspect of the individual's life; the existence of institutions and

associations (churches, parties) that could in some way limit the state ability to control is

not tolerated, competing social and political groups are eliminated, everything in fact

belongs to a single party. The totalitarian regimes make use of the politics of terror to

ensure a total adherence to their ideals. In fact, they establish the secret police: in Italy the

OVRA, in Germany the GESTAPO and in the Soviet Union the NKVD, to control and

eliminate any form of opposition to the regime, in this context no one can feel safe from

persecution. Anyone who does not manifest hostile attitudes to the regime, but only

because he belongs to a certain group, ethnicity or has a certain political orientation, can

be arrested or even physically eliminated. In this way, terror not only threatens opponents,

but also affects innocent citizens.

The theme of totalitarianism has been strongly analyzed by George Orwell, initially with

Animal Farm and then with 1984.

Orwell in Animal Farm, telling the story of a revolution that takes place on a farm and is led

by animals, with the aim of kicking out the old farmer to obtain more rights and the

formation of a democracy, openly criticizes the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the

subsequent advent of Stalinism. The book in fact criticizes how the Russian revolution,

which initially had as its objective the end of Tsarism and therefore more rights and more

freedom for all citizens, had as a consequence, exactly as the book, the formation of a

totalitarian regime in which citizens were perhaps even more oppressed.

In 1984 instead he analyzes more the characteristics of these regimes. In fact, the power

is all concentrated in the hands of Big Brother who manipulates the masses with various

means. For example, the main character, Winston Smith, works in the Ministry of Truth and

his job is to edit newspaper, articles or books to make sure that everything that could put in

a bad light the Party is eliminated. In addition, all citizens are monitored by microphones,

cameras and spies always ready to notice an expression or attitude that could cause suspicion.

Propaganda is present in every moment and under every form in the lives of

people. All these factors are easily found in the great totalitarian regimes of history.

INTERDISCIPLINARY LINKS:

Latin: Tacitus with the negative side of imperialism and the analysis of Principality

History: Fascism, Nazism, Russian Revolution, Stalinism

Italian: Montale with “La Bufera e altro".

Philosophy: Nietzsche with the idea of the superman and how his thought has been

misinterpreted. Marx with the communist revolution

What probably strikes me the most, though, is that the closer we get to recent history, the more writers focus on the importance of thought over action. It is only in the Twentieth century that authors like James Joyce decided to use the mind as the protagonist. A book doesn’t need to be full of events, twists and turns, to be worth reading: in fact, by reading Ulysses, we get the unique opportunity to have a look into a man’s mind. No thought is useless or not worth writing down. 

What also becomes common in the Twentieth century is the rise of totalitarian regimes. The Communist dictatorship in USSR, Nazism in Germany and Fascism in Italy (link with History) are only the most relevant examples of a phenomenon that seems in contrast with the growing desire for freedom (not only physical, but also complete freedom from old literary techniques, that limit the author’s fantasy) writers show from their most recent books. 

George Orwell, who dedicated his life to Marxist ideals, understood what was fundamentally wrong in totalitarianism, no matter its political side: the elimination of individuality. In a country where all kinds of dissent are violently censored, originality is not an ideal easy to pursue, and convincing people that things will never change is a great way to rule without any opposition. As we know, humans are resilient: they fight for their ideals and go as far as putting their lives at risk, when it is needed. That is why the regimes Orwell criticized do not exist today. But what if one day things changed, and we lost our strength to fight back? 

In 1984, George Orwell’s most famous novel, people have not yet stopped fighting. What makes their fight more difficult, though, are the strategies put into action by the government. The Big Brother knows that freedom of thought is an enemy of dictatorship, because it is the best tool people have to defend themselves from false, dangerous ideals. That is why critical thinking is such a crucial element of the novel: it is the key to freedom. When the government uses Doublethink to make people unlearn logical thought, they aim at making everybody numb to contradiction and therefore unable to see when they are being manipulated. Organisations like the Thought Police work to do exactly the same, and Winston Smith, the main character, is one of their victims. But what crimes was he guilty of? He dared to love a women and to write his thoughts. What is most striking is that these two “sins” are actually at the basis of our humanity. Love and thought are what makes us human, by making us feel connected and close with one another. These two actions are at the basis of our identity, and by cancelling them, the big Brother manages to create people who have no will to fight back. Without the push of affection between people (which is a core element of Schopenhauer’s philosophy) and without any belief in values and ideals, people are ripped off of their humanity, and are left like empty shells: easy to manipulate. 

In this tragic view of this dystopian novel , Orwell wants to highlight what was happening in many countries at the time, while also reminding his public of the importance of individuality: freedom should always be protected, as it is as necessary as it is fragile. Orwell’s novels are a manifesto of his ideas and love for freedom, which is a value shared by many authors throughout the years. Lucano, two thousand years ago, used his tragedy, Pharsalia, to address the problem of Nero’s oppressing regime. The new Princes in Rome had taken away all core values the Romans shared and they ruled by keeping everyone in fear, unable to talk about their dissent. Lucano, who based his life on the idea of freedom, cannot live in such an environment. His book is a cry for help: he knows the Evil will always win over the Good (as Orwell did), but he just cannot stop fighting

All the limits that were imposed on art and on the freedom to express yourself were finally questioned. 

The Avant-guards in art, philosophy, and politics captained an essential change in everyone's perspectives. 
Especially in literature, this new panorama of human beings and life turned into the anti-hero. There is no more heroism, there is no more courage, there is no more faith, there are no more masks and pretenses. The truth now is that everyone knows there are no heroes, we are just anti-heroes who try to be courageous and idealist in a world that want to oppress every meaning. 

The disillusionment stemmed from the awareness that progress hadn't led to any improvement in social and economic inequalities brought to the eagerness to rebel against these limits, against a power that doesn't want you to think and behave. 

In this atmosphere of struggle and tension, we witnessed the rise of the ones who wrote history going against its traditions: Picasso and Braque detached from the classical beauty, Sigmund Freud determined against all the critics to pursue his studies, George Orwell who criticized the war and looked for revolution notwithstanding the fragile circumstances, Nietzsche who wanted to achieve a condition that went over the human form, Giuseppe Ungaretti who described all the flaws of the "perfect" man, and many many others. 

Every type of art started to describe the authentic form of men and women. Everybody's "Mr. Hyde" was shown off after centuries of obscurity. Ungaretti described life as a long journey at sea, risking your breath every day in the persistent bad weather. Humans are no more than a castaway who will never stop hoping to arrive home, we are all as Ulysses headed to our Ithaca, or as waiting for our Godot. 
Are We ever going to arrive at our destination, or will we continue to struggle without a happy ending? 
Will Godot ever arrive, or will we continue to wait for someone who's not going to come? 

The acknowledgment of our irrationality and imperfection brought men to question whether society was an ally or  it was just an obstacle to equality. These new ideas started to be a reality with Marx, who was one of the first who practically thought about a revolution that would enable men to achieve balance in a society without differences and favoritism. 

But is revolution the right answer to all of our problems? Is society going to change for the better after a war? 

 Revolution and totalitarianism are recurrent topics in the XX literature, and one of the most famous examples is "Animal Farm" written by George Orwell. The animals rebel against the power of the drunkard farmer, but the so-called democracy turns into another tyranny. Rules have been set aside in favor of inequality, imprisonment, and oppression. This is the destiny of our world and all of us, the anti-heroes who can't save anything. 

With the advent of Positivism and Futurism, the classical view of beauty and perfection became obsolete. Pragmatism of science and technology was opposed to the hope of religion and traditions. Was it worthy enough fighting for a freedom that wouldn't  last long? Or was Nietzsche's pure nihilism better?
In just one feature science and religion fit mutually, the one related to the human limits. Men are mortal and powerless, and they are not able to change fate. We hope to improve ourselves becoming the super-man described by Nietzsche, but we are too attached to material goods, and we are can't see what there is beyond these illusions. 

We are a perfect combination of good and evil, one can't be without the other and vice-versa. 

Our life is just a journey in ourselves, discovering what hides in our darker parts. Moving away from classic we could start to appreciate the daily life and the common. There are no more Achilles, brave and valiant heroes , but it's plenty of Jasons, anti-heroes limited and scared. Apollonio Rodio told us the story of this man, son of a god, who undertakes a journey that couldn't have finished alone. In this adventure dishonor and losses play an important part, together with love and promises. Medea, a merciless and cruel witch, falls in love with our hero and it's just for her that they could conclude the mission. Love has been portrayed as the key to our problems and our main problem. Our salvation and condemnation. 
So Jason, the man who thought to have won, eventually discovers that he could never have won. The inevitable defeat is a recurrent thought in humanity during the last century, during the world wars and the revolutions, during the crisis and the disasters. 
Men can't be happy without being sad, can't be free without being slaves, and can't be heroes without being anti-heroes.
This duality within men allows us to consider ourselves as such. In our everyday life, we can be heroes being nobody, as it was Leopold Bloom in "Ulysses", as it was Winston Smith in "1984", as it was Vladimir while he was waiting for Godot. Even buying flowers can be considered heroic in a world that keeps you chained to this imperfect view of reality.

Our reality, our world, and ourselves are flawed and we just need to understand and appreciate this irrational part of us that makes us human. 

"In the impossibility of being able to see clearly, at least we see the darkness." Sigmund Freud.