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ANIMATED SUMMARY 

AESTHETICISM AND DECADENCE: RIASSUNTO IN INGLESE 

Aestheticism. Aestheticismwas a literary movement which developed in whole Europe by the middle of the 19th century, as a reaction against the utilitarianism and the moral restrictions of the Victorian Society .

It originated in France  about 1835. Adopting  Gautier’s slogan “Art for Art’s sake”, the aestheticism broke with the conventions of the time and gave free rein to imagination and fantasy. The early members of the movement chose to live and extravagant “vie de Bohème”: a life spent in the pursuit of sensation and devoted to the cult of art and beauty, sometimes marked by excesses, but always rich in creative energy. 
In painting, the Aesthetic theories led (ha portato) to impressionism, where the artists chose what they called “pure painting” where sentiment or moral judge were subordinated to colour and the pattern (modello) of light and shadow.

In literature, Aestheticism was full of Hedonism and slowly became what is known (e lentamente divenne ciò  che è conosciuto) as Decadentism, between 1880 and 1890. After this period, in France was replaced by the term “Symbolism”.

Aesthetic Movement: riassunto in inglese

AESTHETICISM AND DECADENCE: SUMMARY

 

Decadentism was characterized by a sort of extremism, because the main traits (i tratti principali) of Aestheticism underwent a process of refinement (subirono un processo di raffinamento) which developed until it got into the absurd, the distasteful (nel cattivo gusto) and the futile. Decadentists felt totally different from the mass and were attracted by the unusual. They found an escape from the reality in their selves with the help of drugs which brought them into the so called “Paradis artificiels” where the illusions replaced reality. 
Decadentists found beauty even in evil and decay, according to the poems of Charles Baudelaire.

Decadentism and Aestheticism: riassunto in inglese

AESTHETICISM OSCAR WILDE

 

Oscar Wilde – Life and Works. Oscar Wilde was born (in 1854) and grew up in Dublin. He studied at first in Trinity College and then, he went to Oxford. He went to London where he had a beautiful social life with party and meeting and he was considered the best talker in London. So he became a popular and eccentric dandy and also a spokesman for the school of “Art for Art’s sake”. He spent several months in Paris where he met Zolà, Balzac, Hugo and Mallarné. In 1881 Wilde published his first volume on “Poems”. In 1882 he gave a lecture tour in America, on his arrival in New York, Wilde said: <>. In 1884  he married Constance Lloyd and had two children.

The Aesthetic movement: riassunto

AESTHETICISM AND DECADENCE: OSCAR WILDE

 

In 1891 he published “The Soul of Man under the Socialism”, the collection of “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories” and the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. In the spring of 1895 Wilde’s popularity declined because he was accused and arrested for homosexual offences and he was relased in 1897, in this period he wrote his confessions “The Profundis”. So Wilde emigrated to France, where he died in poverty and obscurity in 1900. Hisaestheticism had important influence on the work of others, including Gabriele D’Annunzio in Italy.

20 expressions with GET -video with Alex

James nice video- body parts as verbs

The Cold War - Activities and reading - 5th Class student -

Here is the link to the page  with activities - The Cold War

What was the Cold War?

Citation: C N Trueman "What was the Cold War?" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 25 May 2015. 22 Feb 2018. 

The Cold War is the name given to the relationship that developed primarily between the USA and the USSR after World War Two. The Cold War was to dominate international affairs for decades and many major crises occurred – the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Hungary and the Berlin Wall being just some. For many, the growth in weapons of mass destruction was the most worrying issue.

A clash of very different beliefs and ideology – capitalism versus communism – each held with almost religious conviction, formed the basis of an international power struggle with both sides vying for dominance, exploiting every opportunity for expansion anywhere in the world. 

Note that USSR in 1945 was Russia post-1917 and included all the various countries that now exist individually (Ukraine, Georgia etc) but after the war they were part of this huge country up until the collapse of the Soviet Union (the other name for the USSR).

Logic would dictate that as the USA and the USSR fought as allies during World War Two, their relationship after the war would be firm and friendly. This never happened and any appearance that these two powers were friendly during the war is illusory.

Before the war, America had depicted the Soviet Union as almost the devil-incarnate. The Soviet Union had depicted America likewise so their ‘friendship’ during the war was simply the result of having a mutual enemy – Nazi Germany. In fact, one of America’s leading generals, Patton, stated that he felt that the Allied army should unite with what was left of the Wehrmacht in 1945, utilise the military genius that existed within it (such as the V2’s etc.) and fight the oncoming Soviet Red Army. Churchill himself was furious that Eisenhower, as supreme head of Allied command, had agreed that the Red Army should be allowed to get to Berlin first ahead of the Allied army. His anger was shared by Montgomery, Britain’s senior military figure.

So the extreme distrust that existed during the war, was certainly present before the end of the war……..and this was between Allies. The Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, was also distrustful of the Americans after Truman only told him of a new terrifying weapon that he was going to use against the Japanese. The first Stalin knew of what this weapon could do was when reports on Hiroshima got back to Moscow.

So this was the scene after the war ended in 1945. Both sides distrusted the other. One had a vast army in the field (the Soviet Union with its Red Army supremely lead by Zhukov) while the other, the Americans had the most powerful weapon in the world, the A-bomb and the Soviets had no way on knowing how many America had.

So what exactly was the Cold War?

In diplomatic terms there are three types of war.

Hot War : this is actual warfare. All talks have failed and the armies are fighting.

Warm War : this is where talks are still going on and there would always be a chance of a peaceful outcome but armies, navies etc. are being fully mobilised and war plans are being put into operation ready for the command to fight.

Cold War : this term is used to describe the relationship between America and the Soviet Union 1945 to 1980. Neither side ever fought the other – the consequences would be too appalling – but they did ‘fight’ for their beliefs using client states who fought for their beliefs on their behalf e.g. South Vietnam was anticommunist and was supplied by America during the war while North Vietnam was pro-Communist and fought the south (and the Americans) using weapons from communist Russia or communist China. InAfghanistan, the Americans supplied the rebel Afghans after the Soviet Union invaded in 1979 while they never physically involved themselves thus avoiding a direct clash with the Soviet Union.

The one time this process nearly broke down was the Cuban Missile Crisis.