A refracted vision of America The Great Gatsby is like a mirror of the America of the 1920's. America in the Great Gatsby is a fundamental notion and the novel cannot be studied without the historical context of the time. The novel reflects the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties and the opposition between East and West. The Great Gatsby emphasizes the strange association between materialism and spiritualism, which is crucial to the Puritan ethic. Gatsby is seeking wealth because […]
Both the novel and the American society correspond to the beginning of a modern era. America is a direct consequence of the age of reason (18th century). Indeed, the first settlers intended to escape the tyrannical power of absolute monarchs. The novel is also the result of a revolution : social revolution: when the middle-class asserted its cultural autonomy idealogical change that put the single individual at the centre of the world Yet, there are profound contradictions: America did not […]
Introduction The 18th Century can be dubbed "the Age of Enlightenment" as it was marked by French philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau or Diderot (the Encyclopédie was published in 1761). The Enlightenment is characterized by the belief of natural goodness of man : man is perfectible, it is the idea of progress obtained through the use of reason. Since man is naturally good, all bad things come from society : if we could fight prejudices and oppressive social institutions, man […]
Voici la seconde saison d'Utopia, diffusée sur Channel 4. La série nous ramène dans les années 1970, quand Philip Carvel commence à travailler sur Janus avec Milner. Alors qu'il teste le virus sur son fils réticent, Pietre, il conduit une expérience macabre sur un lapin avec l'espoir de susciter une réaction de la part de son enfant. Il pense avoir échoué jusqu'à ce que sa femme achète un lapin à Pietre qui le tue juste après. Sa femme le jette […]
Après presque un an et demi, Utopia s’apprête à faire son retour sur Channel 4 pour sa seconde saison. Thriller énigmatique, Utopia se centre sur un groupe de personnes que rien ne connecte au départ, mais qui vont se rencontrer grâce à leur intérêt pour un étrange graphic novel. Leur existence va alors être bouleversée quand ils vont se retrouver pris au cœur d’une conspiration et être poursuivis par une mystérieuse organisation. Vous pouvez trouver la première saison ici : […]
Je vous invite à regarder la nouvelle série de la chaine Channel 4 - Utopia - scénarisée par Dennis Kelly. Passionnés par l’étrange roman graphique The Utopia Experiment, un groupe de personnes se retrouve pris au cœur d’une conspiration menée par des personnes sans scrupules qui tuent avec une facilité déconcertante et avec beaucoup d’imagination. Ils ne savent pas ce qu’on leur veut, mais celui qui trouvera la suite jamais publiée de l’histoire aura toutes les réponses. Utopia est indéniablement […]
Voici un petit court-métrage tourné par Emily Janice Card et Keith Paugh qui pourrait me réconcilier avec Jane Austen et le roman sentimental sur la condition féministe en général :
Narratives The Short-Story and the Novel Relatives in Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad : "A free and wandering tale" Lord Jim : How is Conrad's first-hand experience of seamanship perceptible throughout the Patna episode ? Macbeth by Shakespeare Introduction to Macbeth Political questions in Macbeth The dramatic quality in Macbeth A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare Introduction to A Midsummer Night's Dream Background of A Midsummer Night's Dream Structure […]
Introduction The Short Story appeared in the 19th century, inherited from tales and narratives. As Edgar Allan Poe stated it, a Short Story must have a "unity of impression, of totality and of single effect". It could be compared to poetry: consciousness, inner life and the end of the story subjected to many interpretations lead to a sudden illumination from the part of the reader: at a certain point, this latter understands everything. The Novel is based on a principle […]
Introduction In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald condensed the story's events. It appears that two important changes were introduced: Fitzgerald suppressed a long episode of Gatsby's childhood in order to heighten the sense of mystery surrounding his protagonist's youth. This fragment was then turned into a short story Absolution that was published in a review Mercury. The second important change concerned the order of the events and the fact that in the original version it was Gatsby who spoke. In the […]
The Great Gatsby is the third novel of Fitzgerald, published in 1925 after This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and the Damned (1922). Introduction It is a turning point in Fitzgerald literary career because it was to improve on his previous works: he tested new techniques and insisted on the novelty of his enterprise: 'I want to write something new, something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and 'intricately patterned' (letter to Perkins, agent at Scribners). Indeed, Fitzgerald devoted […]
