British fiction in the first half of the 20th century

Unlike Victorian fiction, the literature of the first half of the 20th century attempted to find substitutes for religion views which were seen as dead. The new spiritual emptiness resulted in hopelessness of trying to believe in anything. Literature was no longer didactic, following the philosophy of "art for art's sake" and liberalism. The short story, the literary form that came from America, became accepted even in Europe.

JOHN GALSWORTHY was still a  traditional, linear and realistic narrator, writing in the fashion of the 19th century realism. His opus The Forsyte Saga traces four generations of a very rich upper-middle class family from the foundation of the wealth in the first generation to the fall of values in the fourth generation. It is interesting documentary fiction throughout late Victorian times to the first decades of the 20th century.

GILBERT CHESTERTON was popular in his lifetime for the use of paradoxes and his opponent in essays was G. B. Shaw. He was a convincing narrator but his ideas are now outdated.  He is to be remembered for the detective series The Innocence of Farther Brown in which he invented a figure of an amateur detective, slightly naive and funny father Brown.

KATHERINE MANSFIELD was born in New Zealand and she is among the first representatives of New Zealand authors writing in English. He wrote short stories of upper middle class women but rather then plot it is the atmosphere of nostalgia, sadness and loss that is influential. Her work builds very impressionist atmosphere and she is considered to be a predecessor of modernist Virginia Woolf with feminine sensitivity on central female characters. She was a short story writer as short fiction became finally accepted at the beginning of the 20th century. Collection: The Garden Party.

HERBERT GEORGE WELLS was a pioneer of science fiction with such novels as The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds which describes a Martian invasion of Earth and brought him nationwide recognition. He is regarded as the father of science fiction.

A number of prophecies described in fictional works such as The First Men in the Moon and The Shape of Things to Come have been fulfilled like the significance of aviation, World War II and the atomic bomb. The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man.

AGATHA CHRISTIE is a famous writer of crime fiction and the best-selling author of all times. She wrote 66 novels and 15 short-story collections and created the characters of Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile.

ALDOUS HUXLEY is considered to be a master of the dystopian novel, best known for Brave New World, a dark vision of a highly technological society of future where people live only for momentary pleasure and do not have freedom to realise their whole human potential. There is no tragedy as emotions such as sadness do not exist in such world because they are distracted by hollow diversions which resembles the current popular culture. He also published an influential study of consciousness expansion through drugs The Doors of Perception and became a guru among hippies.

Point Counter Point presents several characters exchanging different ideas about culture and society which oppositional character creates dynamism. One of the characters is a realistic portray of D.H. Lawrence and he is also the most likeable characters of them all since others are stuck in futile intellectualism of the post-WW1 period. It is satirical presentation of the paralysis of the middle class and intellectuals after the WW1.

Ape and Essence begins with extensive surrealist imagery of man as an ignorant destructive apelike creature. Concerned only with war and technology, mankind has become so removed from reality that it has been reduced to a group of unintelligent animals. Mankind spirals violently towards a World War III which results in the near destruction of mankind. Society seems to have regressed to absolute barbarism. Books are used as fuel, babies are deformed because of radiation and sacrificed to Satan. Women are considered the vessels of unholiness and become the scapegoat for all of society’s evil.

Colonial literature

RUDYARD KIPLING was a supporter of the British colonialism and believed that British enterprise will lead primitive natives to enlightenment. He presented Indians in the animalistic way in which they need to be civilised by the whites.

The Jungle Book was very popular among children and established his fame, presenting a story of Mowgli raised by wolves a led to adulthood by Baloo the bear and Bagheera the black pantheress. He wrote also short stories. His poem The White's Man Burden became a symbolic description of the whole colonial enterprise, a white man taking the burden to civilize the savage natives.

JOSEPH CONRAD on was an opposing voice of colonialism. In his texts he considered it a brutal act that did not civilise people since natives were treated less than human beings. He experienced it at first hand because he was a sailor on trade ships, cruised the world and saw the read situation in Congo and Indo-China. He was originally born in the Polish family and had a Polish name. He has sad childhood, both parents died and he thought he belonged nowhere so he became the sailor. Then he settled in Britain, became a British citizen, changed his name and dedicated his life to writing to become full-fledged writer. The theme of isolation where the character is cut off of the surroundings is a result of Conrad´s experience. He learned to write excellently in English but never learned the spoken language well.

His first novels were semi-autobiographical, going back to his life at the sea such as The Mirror of the Sea. He was also a symbolist with insight of psychology of characters with themes of isolation, interested in motives of behaviour and how people react in dangerous situations. His novels Lord Jim and Nostromo were not accepted, they were too different, only later novels that were more traditional became successful. However, Chinua Achebe criticises his novella Heart of Darkness shows, claiming that Conrad was actually a racist since he describes Congo as a savage land where European mind can become distorted.

The Secret Sharer was also a modernist work. It takes place at sea and is told from the perspective of a young nameless Captain (narrator). He is very unsure of himself as a person as well of his skills and is afraid of new crew. The captain soon encounters a swimmer while he is alone at night on look-out duty. He helps the mysterious swimmer onto the boat and hides him in his cabin. The swimmer name is Leggatt and he swam away from a nearby ship called the Sephora where, as chief mate, killed another crew member during a storm. Leggat´s nature is so influential that even as a convicted murderer, captain gives him another chance. Leggat surely killed that man but his act was brave and selfless because the mate was preventing him from saving the boat during the storm. This shows a moral dilemma – is he to be blamed or admired? Legget was mixed figure of good and evil which Victorians did not like it since they wanted the strict line. When the captain gives Leggat shelter, his own view on morality changes.

The captain keeps Leggatt hidden in his quarters from a visit of the skipper from the Sephora even though he knows that his act is illegal. Eventually the Captain allows Leggatt to escape by bringing the ship close to land for Leggatt to swim away safely, though this risky sailing manoeuvre nearly sends the ship into the rocks, testing the Captain's seamanship.  This story was written in the age of Jung and the Laggat presents other shadow self. When captain gives him his sleeper suit, they look almost identical. Legget symbolises unconscious that is irrational, impulsive and potentionally evil but can also transform dark energy to something better. When captain sees him for first time, Legget looks like some slimy sea creature that seems to have no head just like a rational side is missing. But captain he truthful to himself, accepts his darker self and that makes him stronger when he does not have to suppress it anymore. By the end of the story he takes a complete control of the boat and finally gains confidence as a skipper.