Vypracovala: Miroslava Šimová
Parents and grandparents usually read the first books to their children and grandchildren. These are fairy tales or stories and they often have more pictures than text. They take children to the fantasy world and teach them to distinguish good from evil. The children’s books by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm that are worldwide popular are read and loved by many generations of children.
Teenagers and young people usually read adventures, science fiction, romances or novels. Adults, on the other hand, like to read detective stories, historical novels, and books of travellers or biographies. Some people enjoy reading poetry but there are not many because this genre is not easy to read. These days people in Slovakia read original Slovak books and books translated from different languages.
We can buy books in a wide range of bookshops. Some are small and specialised, others are situated in big shopping centres where people can drink a cup of coffee or tea and see a presentation of new books. Buying books via the Internet has become very popular. However, people in Slovakia do not buy many books. It has two main reasons. The first one is that books are getting expensive and many people cannot afford them. This often leads to illegal photocopying, mainly among students who copy textbooks that they need for their studies. The second reason is that we have a crisis of reading nowadays because people do not look for information in books. They need to save time and therefore they look up the information on the Internet.
There are several reasons why people prefer watching film instead of reading books. Reading a book takes more days or weeks, watching a film just one or two hours. People do not have to concentrate and imagine things because everything is on the screen. Therefore it is very important to develop a good relationship towards reading and literature from their childhood.
Books can enrich our lives very positive. Reading brings pleasure to our life and trains our imagination. A good book is a pleasant way to escape from the real world. People who read a lot improve their vocabulary and can express themselves better. Some people think that books will die out one day. They think that people will not have time to read books and everything will be read in electronic form. On the other hand, others argue that reading is a hobby for many people and books are a part of the cultural heritage of every nation.
Every year, the Swedish Academy awards the Nobel Prize for Literature to the writer whose work of fiction is considered to be a unique literary achievement. Winning the Nobel Prize is one of the highest honours for a writer. There are many Nobel Prize writers for example: S. Becket, E. Hemingway, W. Faulkner and J. Steinbeck.
Literature can be divided into 2 categories:
non – fiction books (textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, travel/history/art books and cookery books)
fiction books – poetry (poems, sonnets)
prose (tales, short stories, novels, romances, crime stories, science fiction, thrillers, westerns and historical novels)
To the most famous British and American writers belong:
British
William Shakespeare – the most famous writer in the British history – Hamlet, Romeo
and Juliet, King Lear
William Defoe – the author of traveller books and novels – Robinson Crusoe
Agatha Christie – one of the most famous detective stories and novels writers of all times – Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – creator of the most famous detective of all times – Sherloch Holmes
Charles Dickens – one of the most famous novelists– David Copperfield, Oliver Twist
Charlotte and Emily Bronte – famous women novelists of the 18th century – Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights
American
Ernest Hemingway – wrote novels and short stories about war, love and human relationships – The Old Man and the Sea (his most famous work)
John Steinbeck – wrote novels mainly about the social problems in America in the first half of the 20th century – Grapes of Wrath
H.G.Wells – the author of one of the first science fiction novels – The Time Machine
J.D.Salinger – wrote psychological novels – Catcher in the Rye
Použitá literatúra:
Bérešová, J. a kol.: Nová maturita z angličtiny, Aktuell, 2005
Billíková, A., Preložníková, S. Angličtina – nová maturita – vyššia úroveň. Enigma,
2008.