LECTURE THREE

INFLUENCES FROM THE PAST

In the previous lecture, we identified the countries that make up the continent of
Europe, the main languages of European literature, and some of the key European
literary figures, finally narrowing down to writers of the twentieth century. In this
lecture we shall discuss some of the events and trends from earlier centuries which
have had an impact on creative writing in the twentieth century, or to which modern
writers continue to make reference.

LECTURE OBJECTIVES

By the end of this lecture, you should be able to:

• Outline some of the events and trends of earlier centuries which have
influenced European lifestyles and literary production in the twentieth century.
• Explain the terminology which is used in relation to those events and trends.
• Explain the influence of these events on European literature in the twentieth
century, even when they are not referred to directly.
• Discuss those themes common in European literature in the twentieth century
which can be related to these events and trends.
 INTELLECTUAL AND LITERARY MOVEMENTS

Much of what we call modern philosophy has its roots in Europe.

Thinkers such as Nietzsche, Marx, Arnold, Tolstoy and Freud have
all had, and continue to have, major influences on modern thought.

• Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) was a French poet, essayist,

art critic and leading translator of Edgar Allan Poe. One of
the major innovators in French literature, Baudelaire was
later acknowledged as a pioneer symbolist.
• To Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) we owe the infamous
statement “God is dead.” His influence in existentialism,
nihilism and postmodernism was substantial. Furthermore,
his concept of “Überman,” translated as “overman” at the
time, has an uncanny similarity with the contemporary
screen character(s) of “superman.”
• To Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) goes credit for the
definition of culture as a process of attaining perfection, the
key words being “Sweetness and Light.” A delightful poet
but a merciless social critic, Arnold referred to the middle
class of the Victorian era (his age) as “philistines.”
• To the revolutionary socialist Karl Marx (1818-1894) goes
tribute for Marxism and in particular Marxist literary
criticism. Marx’s Das Kapital is listed as one of the top
twenty most influential books of the twentieth century.
Indeed, it formed the basis of the socialist political
movement of the century.
• Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was the Russian aristocrat whose
search for truth led him down the “Road Not Taken” of
freeing his serfs and sharing his property with them long
before the Bolshevik revolution. His War and Peace and
Anna Karenina are considered classics. Without realising it,
he belonged squarely in the humanist tradition, and had a
major influence on Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther
King Jr., among others.
 • Then there is Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the Austrian
neurologist without whose madness we would not have
Psychoanalytic criticism.

Because they are the bases of later movements and we continually

make reference to them, three literary movements are worth
mentioning here: romanticism, naturalism and realism.

The Romantic Movement in Literature

Romanticism was a reaction to neo-classicism. At the beginning of

the nineteenth century, Europe was going through a great
upheaval. At first literature reflected the political turmoil of the age.
When the turmoil subsided, literature acquired a new creative spirit
and writers were filled with patriotism. The main names associated
with this movement include William Wordsworth and Samuel
Taylor Coleridge (English), Johann von Goethe (German) Victor
Hugo (French) and Alexander Pushkin (Russia).

The essence of romanticism was that literature must reflect all that
is spontaneous and unaffected in nature and in man, and that
writers were free to ignore aesthetic conventions and all the laws of
the critics, and let their fancy lead where it will. In consequence, to
commonplace details is attributed the charm of novelty; the souls
of common men and women assume glorious significance.
Romantic works typically emphasised intense emotions, sensual
imagery and individualism. They featured lurid themes and
sensational plots (noble damsel in distress in haunted castle is
rescued just in time by charming “prince in shining armour”).

In English literature, romanticism covers the period 1800-1850.

Historically, the period marked the triumph of free government by
free men, something that English writers had been dreaming of and
writing about for more than a thousand years. The ensuing
literature idealised England, making her attractive to both native
and stranger. This was the literature that captured the imagination
of “natives” in the colonies, triggering the desire to live in the
“mother country.”

Realism is a movement originating in the early nineteenth century

which portrayed the details of everyday life in factual, objective
language and without idealisation. The writers sought to let the
story tell itself, devoid of sentiment and thematic manipulation. It is
best understood as the antithesis of romanticism. It refers to a
mode of writing, or a literary convention, that rejects the
extravagant qualities of romance in favour of representing an actual
way of life. The works of Charles Dickens, for example, are said to
be realistic. The characters are average people engaged in plausible
activities. Other writers who wrote in this manner are Henrik Ibsen
and Gustave Flaubert.

Naturalism is a kind of realism. It presents human beings as being

victims of natural forces and the social environment. The characters
(much like Meka in The Old Man and the Medal) are presented as if
they were puppets in the hands of an invisible master. They are
incapable of changing their destiny or the course of history.
Naturalist writers often choose their subjects from the lower depths
of society, viewing their characters’ sordid lives or tragic fates with
scientific detachment.

ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND SOCIAL TRENDS

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

The French Revolution (French: Révolution française; 1789–1799)

was a period of radical social and political upheaval in French and
European history. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for
centuries collapsed in three years. French society underwent an
epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic and religious privileges
evaporated under a sustained assault from liberal political groups
and the masses on the streets. Old ideas about hierarchy and
tradition succumbed to new Enlightenment principles of citizenship
and inalienable rights.

The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French

Revolution. The growth of republics and liberal democracies, the
spread of secularism, the development of modern ideologies and
the invention of total war all mark their birth during the Revolution.

The French revolution has been credited with ushering in the

modern epoch of history. Monarchies in other European countries
accelerated popular reforms to avoid a blood bath. In the case of
France, after the despised Ancien Régime, the French state became
a republic (references will be made in writing to the first republic,
the second republic, the third republic, etc).
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY

The Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade formed in 1787
was formed by a group of Evangelical English Protestants allied with
Quakers to unite in their shared opposition to slavery and the slave
trade. The Quakers had long viewed slavery as immoral, a blight
upon humanity. By 1807 the abolitionist groups had a very sizable
faction of like-minded members in the British Parliament. At their
height they controlled 35–40 seats. Known as the "Saints", the
alliance was led by William Wilberforce, the most well known of the
anti-slave trade campaigners who had taken on the cause of
abolition in 1787 after having read the evidence which Thomas
Clarkson had amassed against the trade. These parliamentarians
had access to the legal draughtsmanship of James Stephen,
Wilberforce's brother-in-law, and were extremely dedicated. They
often saw their personal battle against slavery as a divinely
ordained crusade. In addition, many who were formerly neutral on
the slavery question were swayed to the abolitionist side from
security concerns after the successful slave revolt leading to the
Haitian Revolution in 1804.
After the British ended their own slave trade, they pressed other
nations to do the same. This reflected both a moral sense that the
trade should be stopped everywhere and fear that the British
colonies would become uncompetitive. The British campaign
against the slave trade by other nations was an unprecedented
foreign policy effort. The United States acted to abolish its African
slave trade the same year (but not its internal slave trade); like
Britain, it did not abolish slavery at that time. Slavery itself was legal
in most of the British Empire until the Slavery Abolition Act 1833
came into effect; slavery continued to exist in other nations as well.

CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION

Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in Great

Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century
which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on
Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of
Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws. Requirements to
abjure the temporal and spiritual authority of the Pope and
transubstantiation placed major burdens on Roman Catholics.

From the death of James Francis Edward Stuart in January 1766, the
Papacy recognised the Hanoverian dynasty as lawful rulers of
England, Scotland and Ireland, after a gap of 70 years, and
thereafter the penal laws started to be dismantled. The most
significant measure was the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, which
removed the most substantial restrictions on Roman Catholicism in
the United Kingdom.

In 1823, Daniel O’Connell started a campaign for Catholic

emancipation by establishing the Catholic Association. In 1828 he
stood for election in County Clare in Ireland and was elected even
though he could not take his seat in the House of Commons. He
repeated this in 1829.

O'Connell's manoeuvres were important, but the decisive turning

point came with the change in public opinion in Britain in favour of
emancipation. Politicians understood the critical importance of
public opinion. They were influenced as well by the strong support
for the measure by the Whigs in the House of Lords and the
followers of Lord Grenville (1759–1834). The increasing strength of
public opinion, as expressed in the newspapers and elections over a
twenty-year period overcame religious bias and deference to the
crown, first in the House of Commons and then in the House of
Lords. Every MP elected after 1807, with one exception, announced
in favour of Catholic Emancipation. However the votes in the House
of Lords were consistently negative, in part because of the king's
opposition. The balance in the House of Lords shifted abruptly in
1828-29 in response to public opinion, especially fear of religious
civil war in Ireland.

Finally the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel changed

positions and passed the Catholic Relief Act of 1829. It removed
many of the remaining substantial restrictions on Roman Catholics
in the United Kingdom. At the same time, the minimum property
requirement for voters was tightened, rising from a rental value of
forty shillings (£2) per annum to £10 per annum, so reducing the
total number of voters, though it was later lowered in successive
Reform Acts after 1832. The major beneficiaries were the Catholic
middle classes who could now have new careers in the higher civil
service and in the judiciary. The year 1829 is therefore generally
regarded as marking Catholic emancipation in Britain.

Finally, in 1884, the Reform Act made it possible for all men to vote
in secret. Before this Act, exceptions included slaves, the poor,
Catholics, the unemployed etc.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th
century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining,
transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the socio-
economic and cultural conditions of the times. It began in the
United Kingdom, then subsequently spread throughout Europe,
North America, and eventually the world.

The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in human

history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some
way. Most notably, average income and population began to exhibit
unprecedented sustained growth. In the two centuries following
1800, the world's average per capita income increased over 10-fold,
while the world's population increased over 6-fold. In the words of
Nobel Prize winner Robert E. Lucas, Jr., "For the first time in history,
the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to
undergo sustained growth. ... Nothing remotely like this economic
behaviour has happened before."

Starting in the later part of the 18th century, there began a

transition in parts of Great Britain's previously manual labour
and draft-animal–based economy towards
machine-based manufacturing. It started with the mechanisation
of the textile industries, the development of iron-making
techniques and the increased use of refined coal. Trade expansion
was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads, and
railways.

The introduction of steam power fuelled primarily by coal, wider

utilisation of water wheels and powered machinery (mainly in
textile manufacturing) underpinned the dramatic increases in
production capacity. The development of all-metal machine tools in
the first two decades of the 19th century facilitated the
manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in
other industries. The effects spread throughout Western Europe
and North America during the 19th century, eventually affecting
most of the world, a process that continues as industrialisation. The
impact of this change on society was enormous.

The first Industrial Revolution, which began in the 18th century,

merged into the Second
Industrial Revolution around 1850, when technological and
economic progress gained momentum with the development of
steam-powered ships, railways, and later in the 19th century with
the internal combustion engine and electrical power generation.

Economic historians are in agreement that the onset of the

Industrial Revolution is the most important event in the history of
humanity since the domestication of animals and plants.
 SUMMARY

In this lecture we have discussed the events and trends of earlier centuries
that continued to shape and define literary opinions and production in the nineteenth
century. It is worth re-iterating here that modern lifestyles are the result of the trends
and events discussed in this lecture. Of particular significance were medical advances and
industrial inventions.

What the scientists and inventors could not possibly have foreseen was the impact their
inventions and discoveries would have on fragile ecosystems and on human
relationships. Advances in medicine meant a longer life expectancy as well as lower
mortality rates generally. The result was an unprecedented increase in population.
Machines and other industrial inventions meant that a lot more work could be done in a
lot less time. People who had been waking up at 4am in agrarian societies could now
have an eight-to-five work day. Suddenly, they had leisure time. In addition to leisure
time, there was a surplus of services and goods. It became necessary to find ways and
means of disposing the surplus goods, services and time: bourgeois materialism was
born. It is the subject of our next lecture.

ACTIVITIES

Read the poem below:

If –

If you can keep your

head when all
about you Are
losing theirs
and blaming
it on you,
If you can trust yourself
when all men
 doubt you, But
make allowance
for their doubting
too;
If you can wait
and not
be tired
by
waiting,
Or being
lied
about,
don’t deal
in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too
wise:

If you can dream – and not

make dreams your
master; If you can
think – and not make
thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the
truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves
to make a trap for
fools,
Or watch the things you
gave your life to,
broken, And stoop
and build ’em up
with worn out tools:

If you can make one

heap of all
your winnings
And risk it on
one turn of
pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start
again at your
beginnings
And never
 breathe a
word about
your loss;
If you can force your
heart and nerve and
sinew To serve your
turn long after they
are gone, And so hold
on when there is
nothing in you Except
the will that says to
them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can walk with crowds

and keep your
virtue, Or walk with
kings – nor lose the
common touch,
If neither foes nor loving
friends can hurt
you, If all men
count with you,
but none too
much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my
son!

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was born in 1865, and died in 1936. He was a

widely popular writer of the early years of the 20th century. His
inspirational poem ‘If – ’ is still a favourite with many. It is a
memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism, regarded as a
traditional British virtue.
Now read the extract below, taken from Orwell’s essay ‘Rudyard
Kipling.’
...the nineteenth century imperialist outlook and the modern
gangster outlook are two different things. Kipling belongs
very definitely to the period 1885-1902. The Great War and
its aftermath embittered him, but he shows little sign of
having learnt anything from any event later than the Boer
War. He was the prophet of British imperialism in its
expansionist phase (even more than his poems, his solitary
 novel, The Light that Failed, give you the atmosphere of that
time) and also the unofficial historian of the British army, the
old mercenary army which began to change its shape
in1914. All his confidence, his bouncing vulgar vitality,
sprang out of limitations ...

Kipling spent the later part of his life sulking, and no doubt it
was political disappointment rather than literary vanity that
accounted for this. Somehow history had not gone according
to plan. After the greatest victory she had ever known,
Britain was a lesser world power than before... The virtue
had gone out of the classes he idealised, the young were
hedonistic or disaffected, the desire to paint the map red had
evaporated. He could not understand what was happening,
because he had never had any grasp of the economic forces
underlying imperial expansion.

Now, having read both items, and from your general knowledge of
history and literature, write a critical appraisal of the poem ‘If – ’.

FURTHER READING

Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. 1902.

Tolstoy, Leo. What is Art? 1897.

SELF-TEST QUESTIONS

1. Describe one literary movement from the nineteenth century which had a major
influence on creative writing in the twentieth century and explain the nature of
the influence.
2. List some of the modern conveniences (at least six) which are taken for granted in
the twenty-first century but which people living in the eighteenth century could
only think of as science fiction.
3. Name a thinker of earlier centuries and elaborate on his influence over his
contemporaries as well as on the twentieth century.