Литературная география Великобритании в контексте системного подхода при обучении английскому языку

Charles Dickens is an outstanding representative of realism in English literature. Let's read the definition.

Realism, a mode of writing that gives the impression of recording or 'reflecting' faithfully an actual way of life. The outstanding works of realism in 19th-century fiction include Honore de Balzac's Illusions perdues (1837-43), Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary (1857), and George Eliot's Middlemarch (1871-2) (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms by Chris Baldick, Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York, 2001, 280 p.).

2. Rochester & Canterbury

· Rochester in Kent

· Restoration House

· Gads Hill Place

· the Dickens House Museum in Broadstairs, Kent

· Bleak House

· annual Dickens Festival

· medieval Canterbury

Our next destination is Rochester & Canterbury. In 1816 the family moved to Chatham, in Kent. Here you will see Restoration House. Charles Dickens used this house as a model for Miss Havisham's Satis House in Great Expectations.

Charles and his family lived from 1857 to 1870 at Gads Hill Place. Charles Dickens wrote a number of his novels at Gads Hill, “The Mystery of Edwin Droid” is among them.

The Dickens House Museum in Broad stairs, Kent is the house of Miss Mary Pearson Strong, the basis for Miss Betsey Trotwood in David Copperfield. Here is the original Bleak House (Fort House) where David Copperfield was written.

Some expressions and phrases from Dickens' novels became idiomatic. Let's watch the video «Dickens at 200 with The Teacher from BBC Learning English» about idioms connected with Dickens and answer the questions (CD/Приложение 7).

1) What was typical for London in Dickens' times?

2) What is the meaning of the word “Dickensian”?

3) What sights connected with Charles Dickens have you seen in the video?

4) Who do the English call a scrooge?

5) When is it appropriate to use the phrase “What the Dickens”?

To have a better understanding and view of Dickens' characters, notions and language let's work with the extract from «Great Expectations» and exercise the Reported Speech as well (Приложение 5). Your task is to rewrite the Direct Speech into the Reported speech using the following information (Murphy R. English grammar in use: a self-study reference and practice book for intermediate students of English: with answers. Cambridge: University Press, 2004. 379 p.).

In general, the present form in direct speech changes to the past form in reported speech: am/is > was; do/does > did; will > would; are > were; have/has > had; can > could; want/like/know/go etc. > wanted/liked/knew/went etc.	this /these - that /those here -» there; now -» then today -- that day yesterday -» the day before tomorrow -- (the) next day last week -» the week before a week ago -» the week before

3. Dickensian London

· the Court of Chancery at Lincoln's Inn Grays Inn

· Old Curiosity Shop (Holborn, London)

· the Dickens House Museum, Doughty Street, Clerkenwell

· the Marshelsea Prison

· Westminster Abbey, the Poet's Corner

· Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

In Camden Town Dickens got inspiration for many of his characters. Jarndyce and Jarndyce (Bleak House) begins at the Court of Chancery at Lincoln's Inn. «Jarndyce and Jarndyce» is a fictional court case in Chancery in the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

Here is Grays Inn, one of the Inns of Court, where Dickens was a solicitor's clerk in 1828. This period of his life is featured in several of his books including David Copperfield and Great Expectations.

Charles Dickens is famous for coining words. Here you can see some of them. Your task is to read the quotes from Charles Dickens' novels and try to guess the definition of the words in bold. За основу упражнения взята статья «Dickensian Soup: 11 Words from Charles Dickens» (Tung A. Dickensian Soup: 11 Words from Charles Dickens [сайт]. URL: http://blog.wordnik.com/dickensian-soup-11-words-from-charles-dickens).

a) characterized by excessive gossip or activity
b) to confuse, perplex
c) slang for knowing; cute
d) to act or move in a ramping manner; spring or rush violently
e) a feeling of fear and revulsion
f) slang for a surgeon or doctor g) To clap eyes on sub.

1) «The court was all astir and a-buzz, when the black sheep -- whom many fell away from in dread -- pressed him into an obscure corner among the crowd». ( Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859)

2) «The country», says Mr. George, plying his knife and fork; «why, I suppose you never clapped your eyes on the country, Phil? » (Bleak House, 1853)

3) «She was constantly complaining of the cold and of its occasioning a visitation in her back which she called 'the creeps'». (Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1850)

4) «He'll be what the Italians call regularly flummoxed». (Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1837)

5) «To think of Jack Dawkins -- lumpy Jack -- the Dodger -- the Artful Dodger -- going abroad for a common two penny-halfpenny sneeze-box! » (Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, 1839)

6) «When I got home at night, and delivered this message for Joe, my sister 'went on the rampage', in a more alarming degree than at any previous period». (Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, 1860)

7) «'What! Don't you know what a sawbones is, sir? » inquired Mr. Weller. «I thought everybody know as a sawbones was a surgeon». (Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1837).

Now let's see how you understood the definition of these words. Match the word with its translation

1) abuzz	a) хирург
2) the creeps	b) замечательный
3) to flummox	c) неистовствовать, быть вне себя от ярости
4) lummy	d) содрогание; мурашки
5) to be on the rampage	e) сбивать с толку; приводить в замешательство
6) sawbones	f) гудящий, жужжащий

A shop named 'The Old Curiosity Shop' can be found at 13-14 Portsmouth Street, Westminster, London. It was built in the sixteenth century and named 'The old curiosity shop' after the novel was published.

The Dickens House Museum is on Doughty Street, Clerkenwell. Dickens lived here from 1837 to 1839. The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby we're created here. It's a Georgian terraced house where Dickens's memorabilia and library of his work is represented.

Here you can see the note about the Georgian Style.

Georgian style (1714 to 1837)

Georgian style embraces a century under the reign of three Georges and is often divided into the Palladian, early and late Georgian periods. The style was partly a reaction to baroque which George I loathed.

Style

· harmony and symmetry

· airiness, space and light

· pale colour schemes and woodwork

· delicate furniture (Georgian style [сайт]. URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/design/period_georgian.shtml#top).

Here is the Marshalsea prison where Dickens' father spent three months in 1824 for his debts.

Dickens lived in Victorian England, at the height of the Industrial Revolution. English Victorian era, Industrial London, the poor became the images of his works. Let's read some information about the Victorian era and Industrial Revolution to get a better idea of the setting in Dickens' novels.

The Victorian era was a time when Queen Victoria was queen of Britain from 1837-1901. It is considered a time of change where the British Empire reached its height; industry and trade expanded rapidly, science and technology made great advances, middle class grew enormously with an overall population growth of 50%, and a change from an Agricultural nation to a mainly Industrial nation.

In spite of Britain's prosperity during the Victorian era, workers lived in terrible poverty. Benjamin Pisraeli described the era as "Two nations, one rich, one poor." (Victorian Era [сайт]. URL: https://sites.google.com/a/cheshire.k12.ct.us/victorian-era/).

Industrial Revolution - a period of major industrialization that took place during the late 1700s and early 1800s. The Industrial Revolution, beginning in Great Britain, quickly spread throughout the world. This time period saw the mechanization of agriculture and textile manufacturing and a revolution in power (i.e., steam ships and railroads) and had a massive effect on social, cultural and economic conditions (Industrial Revolution [сайт]. URL: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/industrial-revolution.asp).

Finally we can end the tour with a visit of Westminster Abbey, to see the Poet's Corner where the author is buried.

Read the beginning of Bleak House by Charles Dickens and answer the questions (Приложение 6).

1) How does the author describe London?

2) What parts of speech does he use the most?

3) Are there any syntactical peculiarities?

4) What stylistic devices can you find in this extract?

5) Why does the author begin his novel with images of morning London?

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was known as one of Dickens' favourite places. Charles Dickens borrowed some features from this pub and described it in A Tale of Two Cities. One can have a dinner here like it Dickens did in the old times.



ПРИЛОЖЕНИЕ 5

(рекомендуемое)

Отрывок из произведения «Большие надежды» Чарльза Диккенса

Read the extract from «Great Expectations» and rewrite the Direct Speech into the Reported speech.

My name is Philip Pirrip, but as a child I could not say my name.

I called myself Pip, and that has been my name ever since.

I never knew my mother and father. They both died when I was a baby. I was brought up by my only sister, who was married to a blacksmith, Joe Gargery.

My story begins on a cold, grey winter afternoon in the churchyard where my parents are buried. I would often go to their graves and look down at the words on their gravestone: Philip Pirrip and Georgiana, Wife of the Above. I was a sensitive and lonely child and was often sad.

The marshes beyond the churchyard were grey. The river beyond the marshes was a darker line of grey. A bitter wind was blowing across the marshes from the sea. The graveyard was a dark and frightening place.

I shivered. Cold and afraid, I began to cry.

'Quiet, you little devil!' cried a terrible voice. 'Keep still - or I'll cut your throat!'

A rough-looking man had taken hold of me. He held me tightly by the neck.

'Oh, don't cut my throat, sir!' I cried. 'Please, don't!'

The man's rough grey clothes were torn and muddy. Like me, he was shivering with cold. His shoes were old and broken. He had a torn piece of cloth tied round his head. And his eyes were wild and terrible.

'Tell me your name,' the man growled. 'Tell me. Quick!'

'Pip, sir. Pip,' I answered.

'Show me where you live,' the terrible man demanded.

I pointed towards our village, which was about a mile away from the churchyard.

The man stared at me for a moment. Then, with a sudden movement, he picked me up and turned me upside down. A piece of bread fell out of my pocket. The man pushed me onto a gravestone. Then he grabbed the bread and began eating greedily.

I sat on the gravestone where he had put me, shivering and crying with fear.

'Now, tell me, where's your mother?' the man in grey asked suddenly.

'There, sir,' I answered, pointing over his shoulder to my mother's grave.

The man looked behind him and started to run.

'I mean - she's buried there, sir. That's my mother. "Georgiana, Wife of the Above".'

'Oh, I see,' the man said, limping slowly back. 'And is that your father there buried with your mother?'

'Yes, sir,' I replied.

'Then who do you live with?' the man asked. 'That is, if I let you live,' he said roughly.

'With my sister, sir - Mrs Joe Gargery - wife of Joe Gargery, the blacksmith, sir.'

'A blacksmith, is he?' the man muttered, looking down at his leg. There was a thick band of iron round his ankle, with a broken chain hanging from the band.

The man came nearer. He took hold of my arms and tipped me back over the gravestone as far as I could go. His terrible eyes stared into mine.

'Now, look here,' he said. 'Do you know what a file is?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Then you get me a file. And you get me some food. Do you understand?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Bring me, early tomorrow morning, a file and some food,' the man repeated slowly. 'Bring them to the Old Fort, over there, by the river. Say nothing to no one and maybe I'll let you live (Dickens Ch. Great Expectations. London: Macmillan Education, 2005. P. 8-10).



ПРИЛОЖЕНИЕ 6

(рекомендуемое)

Примеры заданий по теме «Литературная география Великобритании»

1) Match the sight with the writer's work.

1. Restoration House	a) David Copperfield
2. Gads Hill Place	b) Bleak House
3. The Dickens House Museum, Broadstairs, Kent	c) Great Expectations
4. Bleak House (Fort House)	d) The Pickwick Papers', `Oliver Twist' and `Nicholas Nickleby'.
5. the Court of Chancery at Lincoln's Inn	e) The Mystery of Edwin Drood
6. Grays Inn	f) David Copperfield' and `Great Expectations'.
7. 'The Old Curiosity Shop' 13-14 Portsmouth Street, Westminster, London.	g) A Tale of Two Cities
8. The Dickens House Museum, Doughty Street, Clerkenwell	h) Bleak House, David Copperfield
9. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese	i) 'The Old Curiosity Shop'

2) Read the extract from «Bleak House» by Charles Dickens and answer the questions. Translate words in bold type and make up five sentences.

London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln's Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes-gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun. Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers. Foot passengers, jostling one another's umbrellas in a general infection of ill temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if this day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest (Dickens Ch. Bleak House / Ch. Dickens. - Moscow: Foreign languages publishing house, 1957. -P. 4).

1. How does the author describe London?

2. What parts of speech does he use the most?

3. Are there any syntactical peculiarities?

4. What stylistic devices can you find in this extract?

5. Why does the author begin his novel with images of morning London?

3) Read Charles Dickens's biography and fill in the table (см. Таблица 1). Who was Charles Dickens?

Charles Dickens is a famous English writer. People all over the world enjoy his stories. One of them is Oliver Twist, the story of a poor boy in Victorian times. Books by Dickens can be funny and sad. His stories are full of interesting 'characters' (people).

When did Dickens live?

Dickens was born in England in 1812. He died in 1870.

His first big success was The Pickwick Papers. This was in 1837, the year Victoria became Britain's Queen. Dickens lived through the Industrial Revolution. He wrote about how life was changing, especially for poor people.

Early life

Where was Dickens born?

On 7 February 1812, Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth. His parents named him Charles John Huffam Dickens. Portsmouth was the home of the Royal Navy. His father, John Dickens, worked as a clerk for the Navy. His mother's name was Elizabeth Barrow. She wanted to be a teacher and run a school.

Happy times

The Dickens family never had much money. Charles had seven brothers and sisters. Mr Dickens dreamed of being rich. Mrs Dickens dreamed of owning a school. Somehow things never went right. In 1816 the family moved to Chatham, in Kent. Charles was happy there. He went to school. He explored the countryside. He loved the old castle at Rochester.

Hard times

In 1822 the family moved to London. Now times were hard. Mr Dickens was sent to prison for six months for not paying his bills.

Charles (aged 12) had to work in a dirty old factory, beside the River Thames. He could hear rats squeaking and running about. His job was to put labels on pots of 'blacking', used to clean fireplaces.

Dickens never forgot this unhappy time. He wrote about it later.

Growing up

By 1824 Mr Dickens had enough money to send Charles back to school. In 1827 Charles got a job in a lawyer's office. He hated it. In his books he makes most lawyers horrid! Charles learned shorthand. He got a job writing about Parliament. He travelled around England by stagecoach, writing for newspapers. He wrote stories about the people he met.

Dickens the writer

Dickens is a success

In 1833, he sold his first story. At first Dickens called himself 'Boz'. This was his pen-name.

In 1836, he married Catherine Hogarth.

Suddenly he became famous. His funny stories called The Pickwick Papers were a success.

Oliver Twist came out in 1837. It was a grim tale about an orphan boy (Oliver), who is sent to the workhouse. Oliver ends up in the London underworld, in a gang of thieves led by Fagin. The story ends happily for Oliver, but people were shocked. Were poor children really treated so badly? Life for poor children in Victorian times was very hard. Small children worked in coal mines and factories.

Little boys were made to climb inside chimneys and clean them. Oliver Twist almost becomes a 'chimney-boy'. Instead he is made to work for an undertaker.

London was a big, crowded city. Many poor people lived in slums. Homeless children slept on the streets. Many people died from diseases. Almost half the funerals in London in the 1830s were of children under 10.

London did not have a police force until 1829. Even young children were sent to prison.

Dickens the celebrity

In 1846 Dickens became editor of the Daily News, a newspaper. He did not like being told what to do by the owners, so in 1850 he started his own magazine, Household Words. Now he could write what he liked.

Two famous books

Of his many books, Dickens liked David Copperfield best. In it he wrote about Mr Micawber, who seems very like Dickens' father.

In 1843, Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol. It is one of his most famous stories. In it, we meet the miser Scrooge - and three ghosts!

Family life

Dickens and his wife had 10 children. But their marriage was not happy. In 1858, they split up.

Dickens loved acting. He had his own little theatre at home. While acting in a play in 1857, Dickens fell in love with Ellen Ternan, an actress.

What happened to Dickens?

Dickens saw many changes during his life, made by the Industrial Revolution. In 1820 most people in England worked on farms. When Dickens died in 1870, most people worked in towns. Many poor people worked in factories and lived in slums.

Dickens was angered by the sad things he saw. In his books, he tried to show what was wrong. In Nicholas Nickleby, he wrote about a terrible school, Dotheboys Hall, where unwanted children were cruelly treated. He wanted to make life better for people. He wanted new libraries, hospitals and schools.

How did Dickens die?

In 1864 Dickens and Ellen Ternan were in a train crash. Dickens was not badly hurt, but he was never very well after this accident. In 1868 he went on a tour of the United States. He read to large audiences, on stage. It was very tiring. He came home worn out and sick.

Dickens died in June 1870, at home in Kent. He was working on a new book. It was The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Charles Dickens was buried in Westminster Abbey (Charles Dickens [сайт]. URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/famouspeople/charles_dickens/).

Таблица 2 - Жизнь и творчество Чарльза Диккенса

	Year	Location (county, town)	Facts about Dickens' life / Historical background	Works of Charles Dickens	Historical background
Where was Dickens born?	1812	Portsmouth
Happy times	1816	Chatham, Kent
Hard times	1822		Mr Dickens was sent to prison
Growing up	1827
Dickens is a success	1833
	1837			The Pickwick Papers
Dickens the celebrity	1846
	1850
Two famous books	1843
	1849			David Copperfield
Family life	1857, 1858
What happened to Dickens?	1838--1839			Nicholas Nickleby
How did Dickens die?	1864
	1868	USA
	1870

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