引用Felicity老师的一句话：无论你是谁、无论你在哪里，休息的时候坐下来，捧本书，无论看哪位作家的作品，慢慢地读、细细地品味……

                                           Great British Writers

                                                              By  Felicity    Summarised by Arthur 

Jane Austen(1775-1817)

‘I think I may boast myself to be, with all possible Vanity, the most unlearned & most uninformed Female who ever dared to be an Authoress.’     

Jane Austen was a Georgian writer who lived in the Bath area. She was born on 16 December 1775 and her father was a clergyman ( a person alike to a vicar). In 1801, her family moved to Bath as the bigger the area a clergyman worked, the higher the salary. In 1795 aged 20, she wrote her first book: Sense and Sensibility. Her other works include: Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

Sense and Sensibility

 It was about two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Elinor is a sensible girl who conceals her emotions and and Marianne is the direct opposite of her sister. The story starts with the Dashwood family gets un-inherited from a large sum of money. A family friend, Colonel Brandon gives them a little cottage to live in. One day, while Marianne is walking home from somewhere, it starts raining heavily and Marianne twists her ankle in the ‘struggle’ to get home. John Willoughby ( a friend of Colonel Brandon and later Marianne’s boyfriend ) sees her in trouble and helps her onto his horse-drawn carriage and takes her to her house. After her rescue, Marianne falls in love with Willoughby and are secretly engaged. After a while, Willoughby has to go back to London for business reasons leaving a distraught Marianne with her family. After a while, another man, Edward Ferrars comes along and Elinor falls in love with him. Edward then gets uninherited the same way the Dashoods did and then marries Elinor. Colonel Brandon then marries Marianne. Fact: In Sense and Sensibility, it was first drafted Elinor and Marianne and the author was written: By a Lady.

Pride and Prejudice

 Her most famous work isPride and Prejudice. It tells the story of Elizabeth Bennet who meets a man called Colonel Fitzwilliam Darcy who is a rich ( worth about £796,000 every year in 2018 numbers ) and handsome with lots of arrogance. Elizabeth falls in love with him but breaks up when she finds out how arrogant he is. Basically, Fitzwilliam just wants her as a woman that he can show of. Then comes in Mr Collins (a clergyman) who is a cousin of his father. In the end, she marries Mr Darcy anyway.

The picture below is a graph of all of the relationships in Pride and Prejudice.

Mary Anne Evans ( George Eliot )(1819－1880)

“Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot? I know no speck so troublesome as self.”

Mary Anne Evans was a author that lived in the Victorian era. She wrote under the pen name ‘ George Eliot’ as she believed that the books that had female authors were all ‘Silly Novels written by lady novelists’ ( though she did quite like the Brönte sister’s books ). Her most famous book is Middlemarch. It tells of a girl called Dorothea who marries Edward Casaubon. Other novels include:Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner.

The Brontë Sisters ( Currer, Ellis and Action Bell )

This time, the authoress are not just one but three sisters. Again, they wrote under pen-names,  as Currer Bell, Ellis Bell and Action Bell ( Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë ). Their best works are…

Charlotte Brontë(1816－1855)：《Jane Eyre》

Emily Brontë(1818－1848）：《Wuthering Heights》

Anne Brontë(1820年－1849)：《The Tenant of Wildfell Hall》

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is 10 years old and goes to live with the Reeds after her parents died of typhus. She goes to Lowood Institution ( a school for orphaned and poor girls that was based on the Brontë’s childhood Boarding school ). She befriends an older girl: Helen Burns and in a class, Helen gets a lashing for dirty nails and poor stance. Later, a typhus epidemic strikes and Helen dies of consumption in Jane’s arms. Conditions then improve dramatically. After she grows up, she gets employed at Lowoods as a teacher. After that, she starts new life as a governess and teaches a young french girl called Adèle Varens. In winter, a horse passes and it slips on the ice. Jane help the man and learns that he is Edward Fairfax Rochester; the master of the house (it is not known that if he is Adèle’s father). He accuses her of bewitching his horse and making it slip. She gets herself out of the situation. Strange things happen that include strange laughing voices, a fire in which Jane saves Rochester’s life ( were she splashes water on him and the fire) and a attack on a house-guest called Mr Mason. Rochester goes to a party and returns days after with Blanche Ingram ( whom he wants to marry). Mr Reed gets a stroke and soon dies. They go to France and later she leaves him as she refuses for religious reasons. She gathers all of her money together and leaves. She tried unsuccessfullyto trade her hankercheif and gloves for food after she left her bundle of valuables in her coach. After a housekeeper refuses her, she prepares to die but St. John Rivers rescues her. She regains her health and regains her job as a governess. She teaches his daughters and after they go on to be governess, she finds out that his uncle, John Eyre has died and left her all of his inheritance of £20,000 ( just under £1.7 million in 2018 numbers) to her. John wants him to marry him and go to India with him and Jane rejects the marriage but agrees the trip. She returns to the house and finds it has been burned down and Rochester tells her that her wife set the house on fire and jumped of the roof. In the end, they marry and  Rochester regains his sight enough so that he can see their new baby.

Wuthering Heights

Lockwood, the new tenant at Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire. There, goes to his master’s house (a cottage called  Wuthering Heights) and meet a servant, a reserved young woman and a uneducated man that speaks like a servant. That night, he read a Diary entry of the former inhabitants of the house: Catherine Earnshaw. That night, he had a nightmare that Catherine’s ghost. After Lockwood got home, his housekeeper: Ellen ( Nelly) tells him the story.

Start:  Thirty years earlier, the Earnshaws live in Wuthering Heights with children:Catherine and Hindley and Nelly is a servant. Earnshaw returns from Liverpool and brings in an orphan ( Heathcliff and later the landlord and Lockwood’s master). Heathciff later becomes Earnshaw’s favourite and he gets beaten by Hindley and becomes friends with Catherine. He and Catherine start spying on Edgar Linton and Catherine gets attacked by their dog. When the Lintons visit, they make fun of Heathcliff and a fight ensues. Heathcliff is locked in the attic and vows revenge. Frances gives birth to a son and and dies. Catherine becomes engaged with Edgar but still loves Heathcliff but doesn’t want to marry him of his low social status. Nelly warns of the plan which Heathcliff hears and leaves and Catherine falls ill. Catherine gives birth and passes away soon after. Heathcliff confesses on the day Catherine died, he dug up her coffin and has been plagued with her ghost ever since.

 Dickens(1812—1870）

Charles Dickens is a Victorian author who lived in London. He lived a life of comfort before his father was arrested for being in such debt. He then stopped school and had to do work in ink factory ( where he wrote on the labels as he had been educated ). In 1833, he wrote The Pickwick Papers and it was his first big success. He then continued to write and also becoming a campaigner for children's rights (as poor, lower-class children were forced to work long, poorly-paid hours). His notable works are The Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Tale of two cites.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson ( Lewis Carroll )(1832-1898)

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was an English Mathematician. He wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll and wrote many English classics, such as Alice in Wonderland ( Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ).The idea of Alice in Wonderland came when he was on a boat trip with the Dean of Christ church's daughter: Alice Liddell, and he told him a story with her as the main character. That idea started his writing career and later wrote Through the Looking Glass and some poems such as: Jabberwocky, The Hunting of the Snark. He died of pneumonia following influenza at his sister's house.

J.R.R Tolkin(1892-1973)

J.R.R Tolkin was an English writer, philologist and poet. He is the writer of 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit'. He was born in South Africa and when war broke out in 1914, he enlisted in the Lancashire Fusiliers and was later promoted to second lieutenant. He was a friend of C.S Lewis and were both in a informal writing group called ' the Inklings'. In 1972, he was appointed 'Commander of the order of the British Empire'. He died aged 81 in 1973. His works include Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

C.S Lewis(1898-1963)

C.S Lewis was an Irish-born novelist, as well as a scholar and broadcaster. He was born in Belfast, Ireland (now part of northern Ireland). He went to both Oxford and Cambridge Universities and studied literature at both. In the Great War, he took part as a second lieutenant and was wounded by a British shell that fell short. He first started writing after World War I and later wrote The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy as well as a few religious book such as Mere Christianity, Miracles and The Problem of Pain.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle(1859 – 1930)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also was a British writer and doctor who wrote in his spare time. He is most famous for his book, Sherlock Holmeswhich was a worldwide sensation. He wrote a book about the Mary Celeste ( named Marie Celeste), focused on the story of the famous ghost ship. He was friends with the famous American escapist, Harry Houdini. He died on 7th July, 1930 of a heart attack. His works include: The Sherlock Holmes, The Lost World, The Hound of the Baskervilles(among the more famous ones).

J.K Rowling(1965-)

J.K Rowling is the much-loved author of theHarry Potter series and crime-fiction author under the name of Robert Galbraith. She has lived a 'rags to riches' life from living on benefits to being named the first billionaire author byForbes magazine. She was born in Yate in Gloucestershire and later went to Portugal to teach English as a foreign language. On a delayed train-trip in 1990, she first thought of theHarry Potterseries as she says " that it just zoomed into my mind like a train'. When she got to London, many of the characters had formed shape. In 1997, the firstHarry Potterbook (Philosopher'sStone)  came out  many sequels later followed (Chamber of secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of fire, Order of the Phoenix, The half-blood prince, The Deathly Hallows and The cursed child). Her Books written under the pen name include the crime fiction series Cormoran Strike series (The Cuckoo's calling, The Silkworm, Career of Evil and Lethal White) as well as an separate novel: Troubled Blood,due to come out in 2020 ( but launch was delayed by the Coronavirus pandemic).

简介：

简·奥斯汀（Jane Austen，1775年12月16日－1817年7月18日）英国小说家，她的主要作品诠释评论了18世纪末英国地主乡绅的生活。她出版的第二部小说《傲慢与偏见》是她在世时评价最高的作品。她小说中的情节常常反映了女性为追求社会地位和经济保障而把婚姻作为依靠。她的作品批评十八世纪下半叶的感性的小说，而且她的小说是十九世纪向现实主义转换的一部分。她的主要作品：《理智与情感》： Sense and Sensibility，《傲慢与偏见》：Pride and Prejudice，《曼斯菲尔德庄园》：Mansfield Park，《爱玛》：Emma，《诺桑修道院》： Northanger Abbey，《劝导》： Persuasion。

《理智与情感》讲述埃莉诺和玛丽安两姐妹生在一个英国乡绅家庭，姐姐善于用理智来控制情感，妹妹的情感却毫无节制，因此面对爱情时，她们作出了不同的反应。以这两位女主角曲折复杂的婚事风波为主线，通过“理智与情感”的幽默对比，提出了道德与行为的规范问题。该作是简·奥斯汀的第一部小说，但写作技巧已经相当熟练。故事中的每一个情节，经作者的巧妙构思，表面的因果关系与隐藏在幕后的本质缘故均自然合理。

《傲慢与偏见》主要讲述了乡绅之女伊丽莎白·贝内特和富有的达西先生的爱情故事，反映了19世纪英国乡绅阶层的礼节、成长、教育、道德、婚姻的情态。小说描写了小乡绅班纳特五个待字闺中的千金，主角是二女儿伊丽莎白。她在舞会上认识了达西，但是耳闻他为人傲慢，一直对他心生排斥，经历一番周折，伊丽莎白解除了对达西的偏见，达西也放下傲慢，有情人终成眷属。

玛丽·安（Mary Anne，1819年11月22日－1880年12月22日），笔名乔治·艾略特（George Eliot），是一位英国小说家。她的作品包括《佛罗斯河畔上的磨坊》（1860年）和《米德尔马契》（1871年－1872年）等。

勃朗特三姐妹 The three Brontë sisters：Charlotte, Emily and Anne，她们的笔名分别是：Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell。

《简·爱》，Jane Eyre，19世纪英国文学名著，作者是英国女作家夏洛蒂·勃朗特，1847年10月16日 以“柯勒·贝尔”这个男性化的笔名初次在伦敦出版。作品讲述一位从小变成孤儿的英国女子在各种磨难中不断追求自由与尊严，坚持自我，最终获得幸福的故事。小说引人入胜地展示了男女主人公曲折起伏的爱情经历，歌颂了摆脱一切旧习俗和偏见，成功塑造了一个敢于反抗，敢于争取自由和平等地位的妇女形象。

《呼啸山庄》，Wuthering Heights，英语文学经典名著，英国文学家艾米莉·勃朗特生前唯一的一部小说，1847年以“艾利斯·贝尔”这个男性化的笔名初次在伦敦出版。第二年艾米莉·勃朗特过世，年仅30岁。小说描写吉卜赛弃儿希斯克利夫被山庄老主人收养后，因受辱和恋爱不遂，外出致富。回来后，对与其女友凯瑟琳结婚的地主林顿及其子女进行报复的故事。全篇充满强烈的反压迫、争幸福的斗争精神，又始终笼罩着离奇、紧张的浪漫气氛。此作品多次被改编成电影作品。

查尔斯·狄更斯（Charles Dickens，1812年2月7日－1870年6月9日），英国19世纪中期（维多利亚时代）文学家，作品以个人生活传记体见长，受到同时期及后世全球评论家、学者和读者的广泛赞誉与认可。作品包括：《雾都孤儿》：Oliver Twist，《圣诞颂歌》：A Christmas Carol等。

路易斯·卡罗 (Lewis Carroll)：英国作家、数学家、逻辑学家、摄影家，以儿童文学作品《爱丽丝梦游仙境》与其续集《爱丽丝镜中奇遇》而闻名于世。

托尔金（Tolkien）：英国作家、诗人、语言学家及大学教授，以创作经典古典奇幻作品《霍比特人》、《魔戒》与《精灵宝钻》而闻名于世。

柯南·道尔爵士 (Conan Doyle)：英国作家、医生。因塑造了成功的侦探人物──福尔摩斯，而成为侦探小说作家。除此之外他还曾写过多部其他类型的小说，如科幻、历史小说、爱情小说、戏剧、诗歌等。如：夏洛克·福尔摩斯 (Sherlock Holmes)等。

乔安娜·罗琳，笔名J·K·罗琳 (J. K. Rowling)，英国小说家、电影编剧及制片人，代表作为《哈利波特》系列作品。她的《哈利波特》畅销全球，热卖超过4亿本，成为史上最畅销的书籍之一；其同名改编电影也成为电影史上票房收入最高的电影之一。