9. Whose works would you most probably choose to read if you were interested in satire?
[A] Alexander Pope.[B] Oliver Goldsmith.
[C] R.B. Sheridan. [D] W. M. Thackeray.
10. Which of the following writers was a Nobel-Prize winner?
[A] Alexander Pope.[B] John Galsworthy.
[C] Thomas Hardy. [D] W. M. Thackeray.
JOHN GALSWORTHY (1867-1933) Although John Galsworthy wrote many good plays, it is as a novelist and creator of the Forsyte family that he is best remembered. The whole progress and background of the Forsyte family over a period of forty years is told with great skill and charm in a series of novels. Galsworthy was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH (1728-1774) Born and educated in Ireland, Oliver Goldsmith traveled widely in his earlier years and the knowledge and experience he accumulated were later put to good use. He arrived in London where he made the acquaintance of Samuel Johnson, who helped him sell a short novel, The Vicar of Wakefield. His drama She Stoops to Conquer, produced in 1773, was a great success.
THOMAS HARDY (1840-1928) The wild heaths of mid-Dorset are Thomas Hardy country; he was born here, the Wessex of his novels. Hardy's impressions of the countryside and of nature were the staple of much of his writing. Tess of the D'Urbervilles, The Return of the Native and Far from the Madding Crowd are his best-known books. Hardy is also remembered for his poetry and drama.
ALEXANDER POPE (1688-1744) Alexander Pope, poet and satirist, was born in the City of London. He was largely self-educated and at an early age showed the satirical skill and metrical ingenuity on which much of the fame rests. The Rape of the Lock, published in 1712, established Pope's reputation. He occupies a high place among English poets.
R. B. SHERIDAN (1751-1616) Richard Brinsley Sheridan, dramatist and politician, was born in Ireland but educated in England. Although at first unsuccessful, when Sheridan came to London he made his name as the writer of such comedies as The Rivals, The School for Scandal and The Critic, which brilliantly exposed the intellectual and social pretensions of the time. These place Sheridan in the forefront of great English dramatists. He also shone as an orator in Parliament.
W. M. THACKERAY (1811-1863) popular novelist. While Dickens delighted in W. B. Thackeray was Dickens' only real rival as a society. Thackeray concentrated on the snobbery of the wealthy, exposing their stratagems in such writing on the eccentric and the poorer classes of novels as Vanity Fair, where his easy style masks a penetrating wit. In this novel Thackeray's characterization of Becky Sharp was one of his most successful. |
