UNIVERSITY OF LUXEMBOURG FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, HUMANITIES, ARTS AND EDUCATION BACHELOR EN CULTURES EUROPNNES - ENGLISH

ESSAY THE LITERATURE WORKBOOK BY CLARA CALVO AND J.J. WEBER 1998

AUTHOR: AIJA LIVCA

LECTURER: PROF. JEAN-JACQUES WEBER

LUXEMBOURG 2011

The book I have been working with is The literature workbook written by Clara Calvo and Jean Jacques Weber, published in 1998 by Routledge. The workbook mainly deals with 3 genres: poetry, drama and fiction and it is divided into ten chapters. The book is a great help for students which do not have any previous or little knowledge and experience with analyzing literature works. Because the book is published more than ten years ago it does not deal with literature of twenty-first century and that is the main disadvantage of the workbook; nevertheless, there are many things which I found interesting and very useful. Each chapter somehow reflects on previous chapters; because of this, reader can use the knowledge and information from chapters which one had looked at before. In every chapter there is are project works related to the topic and it helps to develop understanding of the theme discussed before; nonetheless, for students who are working individually with this book it is more or less difficult because there is no one to discuss this subject with . Also exercises and activities given in the workbook is a good way how to shore ones understanding and follow up readers progress. The workbook deals with a lot of historical information, because of this, it is necessary to have some previous knowledge about events mentioned or of course there is another possibility for reader to do an individual research on these events. I think this is a great advantage of it because literature is very much connected with historical events of particular time and reader should not only see the meaning from one s point of view but should take into account the context(s) of the work. Some examples mentioned in the workbook are already known, for example; Paradise lost, Frankenstein , Emma. From the one hand it makes one understand and analyze these works from different point of view as understood previously, but from other hand reader may want to deal with unknown works in order not to have preconceptions. Some theories mentioned in the book are through analyzing given fragments, for example, of a sonnet; it makes reader confused because one cannot say that if particular statement is meant as unchangeable truth. In The Literature Workbook there is a glossary at the end of it and it makes reading and working with it easier; nevertheless, author of this paper expected it to be wider, because some of the words written in bold on the sides of the text were not found in the glossary. Further reading suggestions ease the search for similar examples discussed in the book; not to mention that further reading suggestions tempt

reader to know a bit more if the theme discussed in the chapter was interesting for one. Personally for me the workbook was a addition to the work I have been doing in the lectures at university; many examples given in the book I could recognise from my lectures in Introduction to discourse analysis and other courses. Reflection is one of the basics of knowledge and a learning process.

All tragedies are finished by a death All comedies are ended by a marriage This part of poem Don Juan written by romantic poet Lord Byron introduces a chapter number five, Sheridans school for marriage (The effect of Education and the nature of Comedy) From my point of view this quotation reveals the main difference between tragedy and comedy. One is with a really happy ending and another with a sad ending; it also shows the main theme hidden in comedy marriage. I have chosen to apply approaches mention in this chapter which considers with comedy. As the workbook discusses the comedy deals with marriage market; and tries to show what role marriage has in the society in particular time and place. As my own example I can mention Pride and Prejudice written by Jane Austen where mothers role and aim is to get a wealthy husbands for all her daughters; many readers can see her role as parody but in fact her future depends on it, because in a case of Mr. Benets death she and her daughters would stay without house and with very little amount of money. The Literature Workbook shows that the role of womens education is very important in comedies, examples given in the book shows that womens education and skills are the ones which ensures good possibility of having a wealthy husband. In the fifth chapter of the book it is said: He is comic because of his speech is full of hyperbole... . From this statement I understand that it is important to have character which is exaggerating in order to gain a comic and funny appearance; though, I would disagree because for some readers exaggerating makes the character book annoying and not comic at all. Nevertheless, I would agree that using a malapropism in a speech makes character amusing for me as a reader. In the workbook it is said: The eighteenth-century English writer Horace Walpole thought that tragedy makes us feel and comedy makes us think. I have different opinion about this statement because in fact Horace Walpole said: The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those who feel. One can interpret this quotation in a different way as an author of the chapter I am working with. The other reason why I do not agree with previously mentioned quotation from the workbook is my own personal opinion; as an example there is the book Lost in the Wild: Danger and Survival in the North Woods written by Cary J Griffith which ends as a tragedy with a death of the main character. After reading this book and another
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book Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wild; I had quite opposite opinion, if the first book made me think of importance of our society and money than the other just made me laugh and for me it means - to feel. Nonetheless, as I wrote before this is my personal opinion as I do not have extended knowledge is this field.

JACK: Charming day it has been, Miss Fairfax. GWENDOLEN: Pray don't talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. And that makes me so nervous. JACK: I do mean something else. GWENDOLEN: I thought so. In fact, I am never wrong. JACK: And I would like to be allowed to take advantage of Lady Bracknell's temporary absence... GWENDOLEN: I would certainly advise you to do so. Mamma has a way of coming back suddenly into a room that I have often had to speak to her about. JACK: (nervously )Miss Fairfax, ever since I met you I have admired you more than any girl... I have ever met since... I met you. GWENDOLEN: Yes, I am quite well aware of the fact. And I often wish that in public, at any rate, you had been more demonstrative. For me you have always had an irresistible fascination. Even before I met you I was far from indifferent to you. (JACK looks at her in amazement)We live, as I hope you know, Mr Worthing, in an age of ideals. The fact is constantly mentioned in the more expensive monthly magazines, and has reached the provincial pulpits, I am told; and my ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence. The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you. LADY BRACKNELL (cont'd) JACK: You really love me, Gwendolen? GWENDOLEN: Passionately! JACK: Darling! You don't know how happy you've made me. GWENDOLEN:My own Ernest! JACK: But you don't really mean to say that you couldn't love me if my name wasn't Ernest? GWENDOLEN: But your name is Ernest. JACK:Yes, I know it is. But supposing it was something else? Do you mean to say you couldn't love me then? GWENDOLEN: (glibly) Ah! That is clearly a metaphysical speculation, and like most metaphysical speculations has very little reference at all to the actual facts of real life, as we know them. JACK: Personally, darling, to speak quite candidly, I don't much care about the name of Ernest... I don't think the name suits me at all. GWENDOLEN: It suits you perfectly. It is a divine name. It has a music of its own. It produces vibrations. JACK: Well, really, Gwendolen, I must say that I think there are lots of other much nicer names. I think Jack, for instance, a charming name.
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My chosen extract is from the play Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wild and first performed in 1895. 1 As mentioned in The Literature Workbook that pretending and mistaking one person for another which are thought to be two persons are in fact one person is a typical feature of classical comedies and are found in already in the Greek comedies. In a fact, this thing has been done also in this play when Jack is pretending of being Ernest for Gwendolen, a woman he wishes to marry, in a town and being Jack in a country side. Nevertheless, in the play Jack is not the only one who is being mistaken for two persons his friend Algernon follows his friends example and also takes Ernest role which leads to misunderstanding and amusing situation at the end of the play by two young ladies Gwendolen and Cecily. And in the extract given above Jack is trying to tell the truth about him being Jack not Ernest; nonetheless, it does not work because Gwendolen do not want to see that. Importance of Being Earnest is a play about marriage market In the extract Jack is proposing Gwendolen and saying that he loves her; though, he do not have high social status and in the nineteenth-century social status and money were those aspects which defined man as a good candidate for marriage. Jack does not propose in front of Gwendolens mother, Lady Bracknell, because he is scared of her. She has the social status and she is the one who dictates fashion; when she speaks everyone listens to her. But if we look at Jack; for example, in this quotation: Miss Fairfax, ever since I met you I have admired you more than any girl... I have ever met since... I met you he is very nervous and even cannot make a sensible sentence when he is just going to propose. There is a malapropism used in the main characters name of the play which is Ernest. This name is the central character of the play; everything goes around him. But if we look closely to the name Ernest it could also mean a word earnest which is mentioned in the title of Importance of Being Earnest; additionally, in the Cambridge dictionary word earnest is explained as an adjective which means serious or determined, especially too serious and unable to find your own actions funny. And as other resources show in Victorian age earnest also was a name for a homosexual

http://cmgww.com/historic/wilde/

man. 2 In one word there can be many meanings meant by the author and with this one word author can play around and make reader to laugh. Education of young women was as important in the nineteenth century as being wealthy men in order to have good chances in marriage market. In the extract reader can notice that Gwendolen is an educated woman and she knows what she is saying, for example, when she asks Jack to stop the small talk (he starts a conversation asking about weather) but instead say what he wants; or when she uses such a phrase like metaphysical speculation. We cannot see in this particular extract, but Jack has a sister and she is quite opposite to Gwendolen. She has a governess who is teaching her; nonetheless, Cecily is not interested in the studies; she rather spends her free time fantasying and writing her diary. The main reason why Jack wants Cecily to be educated is the possibility of having good chances in the marriage market. Despite of Jacks wishes Cecily is not interested in German language at all; in fact she hates it. Nonetheless, Lady Bracknell has a quite opposite opinion; she asks Algernon to come to her diner in order to play German songs instead of French; it is because of the influence of French revolution and in England high aristocracy was scared that the same thing could happen in Britain. Cecilys attitude towards German language can be seen as a revolution in Britain. The play ends with arrangement of two marriages Algernon is going to be married with Cecily and Jack with Gwendolen. As the play ends with marriage arrangements; it is one more prove that the play is a comedy.

http://www.anglik.net/oscarwilde.htm

Analyzing comedy is not as easy as I thought in the beginning. In the chapter which was dealing with the comedy there were several terminologies used; nonetheless, I was not able to find all the features in the play which were mentioned in the workbook, for example, hyperbole and double entendre. The thing that worked in analyzing my chosen extract is comedy as a school of marriage. I could see Jack position in the society and how important role men had in the nineteenth-century; that not only women were under pressure but also men; if the women could sometimes find wealthy men with ones good looks, then men did not have this opportunity they had to be wealthy enough to find a fine wife. Confusion of identity is another factor that worked in analyzing the play, as one can see above. In Importance of Being Earnest that is one of the main factors what makes this play a comedy; reader can see there a double life not only by confusing Jack to be two persons, but also between country side and city. In the extract I also found a malapropism; nonetheless, finding it is not the thing to relay on, but understanding why it is used. As one could see it was used in order to make fun of audience with a help of word game. Why education of young women is so important in the comedy? As I concluded it is because this aspect influenced and defined if women will have good possibility of having a good husband of not. Therefore, it is very much combined with a marriage market. Oscar Wild had a great talent to play around this subject and make audience laugh at them and their own believes about what women should look like and to pretend to be like. Of course we cannot say that each work of literature ending with marriage is considered to be a comedy; nonetheless, as I draw conclusions it is the main characteristic of drama to be a comedy.