American and English literature in the XX century

Grieving over the death of her mother and staggering under the burden of sorting out the state, the heroine learns from her husband that he is in love with another woman. She drives off one night, her abandoned car is discovered the next morning. Questions multiply. Is he seeking publicity, has she joined her lover, is she embarrassing her husband, or has she been murdered?

When she is discovered at a Yorkshire hotel, registered under the last name of the woman, Archie now wants to marry, Agatha Christie has nothing to say. Her biographer gives all the available details but suspends judgement: " There are moments in people's lives on which it is unwise, as well as impertinent, for an outsider to speculate, since it is impossible to be certain about what actually took place or how the participants felt about it."

Neither Miss Marple nor Hercule Poirot would accept such an alibi, but truth is messier than the fiction. Whatever may have happened to Christie in 1926, she recovered admirably. Two years after the divorce, while visiting friends on expedition in Iraq, she met Max Mallowan, an archaeologist nearly 14 years her junior. Eventually he proposed, fretting at the same time that she might find his line of work boring. She reassured him: "I adore corpses and stiffs." They lived happily ever after.

Morgan is candut about the weakness in her subject's work. Chrisries stories were ingenious but her writing is pedestrian. She intentionally offered stereotypes instead of rounded characters and grew annoyed when Poirot, her Belgian detective, began to assume a life of his own in the popular imagination. She once privately described him as 'an egocentric creep'. She constructed puzzles, not literature; she devoted what energies she could spare from a busy life to craft rather than art. To list real liabilities in this manner is, ultimately, to beg a question: why among so talented competitors in a small field, did Agatha triumph? Responsible biography can suggest but never prave the probable verdict: she was the best at what she chose to do. Agatha Christie is one of the best known and most widely-read writers of all times. Her books have delighted readers over for more than half a century. She is the most widely-translated British author in the world in addition to her great success as a best-selling novelist, Agatha Christie also wrote the longest-running play in the history of modern theatre. The mousetrap and originally written as a radio play, It opened in London in 1952 and is still running today. She is also well-known for a number of other plays and dramatisation of her novels and short stories, and has written two books of poetry, six novels of romance under the pseudonym Marry Westmacott. Agatha Christie's best-known works are: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The ABC Murders, Crooked House, Murder in the Calais Coach, The Seven Dials Mystery and others. Agatha Christie's novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is considered to be one of her best works. This novel brought the author success and fame thanks to its most original concept, non-traditional for detective novels. Roger Ackroyd, a rich and respected man, was going to marry Mrs. Ferrars, a widow. But a short time before their marriage Mrs. Ferrars committed suicide living a letter with Dr. Sheppard, the local doctor, but the conversation did not take place. Soon after coming back home Dr. Sheppard was informed by a telephone call that Roger Ackroyd had been found murdered. The whole story is narrated by Dr. Sheppard.

2.3 The peculiarities of Kyrgyz and American novels

To know peculiarity of American and Kyrgyz novels I would like to compare American novel «An American tragedy» by Theodor Dreiser with Kyrgyz novel «The first teacher» by Chingiz Aitmatov. So,shortly information about these two novels.

«An American Tragedy» is a novel by the American writer Theodore Dreiser. Dreiser based the book on a notorious criminal case. The ambitious but ill-educated and immature Clyde Griffiths is raised by poor and devoutly religious parents who force him to participate in their street missionary work, and on reaching young adulthood takes low-status jobs as a soda jerk and then as a bellhop at a top Kansas City hotel. There, his more sophisticated colleagues introduce him to alcohol and prostitutes. Clyde enjoys his new lifestyle and becomes infatuated with the mercenary Hortense Briggs. But Clyde's life is changed when the driver of a stolen car in which he is traveling runs over and kills a young child. Clyde flees Kansas City, and while working as bellboy at an exclusive club in Chicago, he meets his wealthy uncle Samuel Griffiths, the owner of a shirt-collar factory in the fictional Lycurgus, New York. Samuel, feeling guilt for neglecting his poor relations, offers to help Clyde if he will come to Lycurgus. When Clyde does so he gives him first a menial, then a supervisory job at the collar factory, while not accepting him into the Griffiths' upper-class social circle.

It is made clear to Clyde that as a Griffiths, he should not consort with the working people of Lycurgus, and specifically with the women under his supervision. As he is not taken up socially by the Griffiths' set, he suffers loneliness. In this position, he is attracted to Roberta Alden, a poor and innocent farm girl working in his department, who falls in love with him. Clyde initially enjoys the clandestine relationship ; he ultimately persuades her to have sex with him rather than lose him, and makes her pregnant. Meanwhile the elegant Sondra Finchley, daughter of a Lycurgus factory owner, takes an interest in Clyde primarily to spite his cousin Gilbert, with whom she is on bad terms. Clyde's engaging manner makes him popular among the young smart set and provides him with opportunities to develop a relationship with Sondra. The pregnant Roberta expects him to marry her, but Clyde dreams instead of marrying Sondra.

Dust jacket of early edition of An American Tragedy, published by Boni & Liveright, 1926.Having unsuccessfully attempted to procure an abortion for Roberta, Clyde procrastinates while his relationship with Sondra matures. When he realizes that he has a genuine chance to marry Sondra, and after Roberta threatens to reveal their relationship unless he marries her, Clyde devises a plan to murder Roberta in an ostensible boating accident, having seen a news report of such a case.Clyde takes Roberta on a row boat on Big Bittern Lake in upstate New York and rows to a remote area. As he speaks to her regarding the end of their relationship, Roberta moves towards him, and he strikes her in the face with his camera, stunning her and capsizing the boat. Roberta, unable to swim, drowns while Clyde, unwilling to save her, swims to shore. The narrative implies that the blow was accidental, but the trail of circumstantial evidence left by the panicky and guilt-ridden Clyde points to murder. The local authorities are eager to convict Clyde, to the point of manufacturing additional evidence against him, although he repeatedly incriminates himself with his confused and contradictory testimony. A sensational trial before an unsympathetic audience ensues; despite a vigorous and untruthful defense mounted by two lawyers hired by his uncle, Clyde is convicted, sentenced to death, and is executed by electric chair. The jailhouse scenes and the correspondence between Clyde and his mother stand out as exemplars of pathos in modern literature.

The main characters in this novel are: Roberta Alden,Clyde Griffiths, Sondra Finchley,Alvin Belknap,Samuel Griffiths,Orville W.Mason and others. With this characters author tries to explain all events widely. Reading this novel we know American people's standart live in that century.People who live in America in that century were educated and intelligent relatively Kyrgyz people.

Aitmatov's «The first teacher» is basically a soviet propaganda novel but it allures any reader irrespective of race or creed as its theme, the emotional bond of a hardworking teacher and a talented student is universal.

Duishen, an ex-revolutionary, comes to his village after the revolution and the revolutionary Soviet government has entrusted him with the task of starting a new school without providing any facility except a meager salary for him. He explains the importance of educating the children in the village to their parents but fails to convince them. They are ignorant busy farmers and don't understand the value of education as the only option they see to succeed in life is farming. Having been snubbed by the villagers for his request to help him build a school, he embarks on a solitary task of converting an abandoned stable into a school. His only admirer is a teenage girl called Altynai who helps him dropping cow dung as fuel in his stable in secret one day. It is from this girl's perspective that the book has been written. She becomes an immediate beneficiary of the school as she is very smart in learning. But her guardian aunt and uncle (Altynai is an orphan) loath the school and only let her go to school after Duishen uses force with the revolutionary government's documents. After becoming a great admirer of young teacher Duishen, Altynai almost falls in love with him but he treats her only as a loyal student. His only dream is to see Altynai succeed in education and become a big academic one day. In the meantime Altynai's guardians sell her to a middle-aged rascal of a man who has daughters older than Altynai. He already has a wife and Altynai is raped by him in his hut while she was only 15. She becomes a concubine of this cad. Before being raped, Duishen fights this man and his helpers to save Altynai but he fails as he is overpowered by the group.

Duishen becomes a peculiar bridge on which people pass of the gloomy barbarous past into the bright, free future where independence of the human person the highest value.

Aitamtov managed to create an image of the true communist which safely realizes ideas of a socialist system as an integral part of cultural transformation.

The main character the bright representative of new generation, progressive, having a broad outlook and ready to offer much for the sake of justice formation.

Conclusion

American literature is the written or literature produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. During its early history, America was a series of British colonies on the eastern coast of the present-day United States. Therefore, its literary tradition begins as linked to the broader tradition of English literature. However, unique American characteristics and the breadth of its production usually now cause it to be considered a separate path and tradition.

British literature refers to literature associated with the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. This includes literatures from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. By far the largest part of British literature has been written in the English language, with English literature developing into a global phenomenon, because of its use in the former colonies of Britain. In addition the story of British literature involves writings in Anglo-Norman, Anglo-Saxon, Cornish, Guernйsiais, Jиrriais, Latin, Manx, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and other languages. Literature in Northern Ireland includes writings in English, Irish and Ulster Scots. Irish writers have played an important part in the development of literature in England and Scotland, but though the whole of Ireland was politically part of the United Kingdom between January 1801 and December 1922, it is controversial to describe Irish literature as British. For some this includes works by authors from Northern Ireland. Also, because of the creation of the Republic of Ireland, the term the Isles is used instead of the British Isles.

The main reason to choose this course paper is I am very interested in American and English literature as well as Kyrgyz literature. The most important aim of my course paper was to compare American and Kyrgyz novels. So I compare the American novel «An American tragedy» by Theodor Dreiser with Kyrgyz novel «The first teacher» by Chyngyz Aitmatov. Both of this books were written in 20th century and give us important informations about people's life in that time.

Learning peculiarity of these novels I realized that in 20th century America was more developed country than Kyrgyzstan. More people were educated there and lived in a good lifestyle.With Alvin Belknap's character author shows how American people were educated and worked under the law.In contrast more Kyrgyz people were not educated. In Chyngyz Aitmatov's novel there explained their attitude to education. With Duishen's character the author shows how education is important for mankind.

While writing this course paper I get many useful informations for me. It helps me to learn English language widely. After know these informations I started to read foreign literary books more. Because it helps me to know more information about another peoples life, culture and traditions. In the end I would like to advise all students who are learning English language to read more literary books.

Bibliography

1.Brooks Van Vick. Writer and American life. M., 1967-1971.

2. Compton's Encyclopedia (Volume 7) Edition Compton's Encyclopedia 1991

3. Finkelstein I.L. «Hemingway romantic» 1974

4.Gilenson B.A. American Literature in 30years of 20th century M.,1974

5. G. Kirvatis, A. Surnaite “English Literature Siesa publishing house “Kaunas” 1971

6. Literature of the USA of the XX century. Experience of typological research. M, 1978.

7. M. Hecker, T. Volosova, A. Doroshevich “English Literature" Moscow “Prosveshchenye” 1975

8. The World Book Encyclopaedia (Volume 6) World Book Inc. 1994

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