曼曼的美国文学.doc

08级4班：邹怡曼；学号：200805140440A Comparison between Mark Twain and Herry JamesAbstract: They were born in different social classes. Mark Twain was born inFlorida, Missouri, to aTennesseecountry merchant, his family was very poor; James was born in New York City into a wealthy family, his father, Henry James Sr., was one of the best-known intellectuals in mid-19th-century America. Personally thinking, it was the reason to the difference of their works.There are some differences and also some similarities between Mark Twain and Herry James.Key words: Mark Twain , Herry Jame, Comparison. Marriage Herry James did not marry all his life, he has ever loved his younger female cousin, but she died when she was very young. Mark Twain claimed to have fallen in love at first sight with Charles Langdons sister, Olivia, and they married in February 1870 in Elmira, New York. Their famous timeMark Twain was famous at his time while Herry James was famous after his death. Personally thinking, it is because Mark Twains works are easy to understanding for the readers, Herry James works are always beyond the readers understanding, his works are always very complicated. Reviewer They were both reviewers. Herry James was an artist, he always fought for accomplishing his writing art. Herry James has worked many discriminating comment. As Morris Robert said , James was firstly judging works by morals, later he changed his way by aesthetics. His comments focused on the style of the article also the deep problem about Human Value. He thought that article must close to life. There was no significance if it was far away from the real life. For some reasons, Mark Twain was always ignored by people about his status on comment because he was too famous on his wrtting, but actually he has a very important influence on the role of social reviewer. He loved life and the citizen all his life, pursued freedom and fair, and he advocated that people should love each other to live a better life. He always stood on the side of people who were always oppressed. He opposed to helotism, opposed to cheatting and slander. He always attacked American Imperialists savage acts in the other coutries such as China, Philippines. RealismThey are both representatives of realism but they are different, to the theme, James always choose upper-class while Mark Twain always choose the lower-class to describe. In my opionion, this is because their different Social status when they are born. Writing skills To the writing skill, Herry always did some idealization on the reality. He focused on the aesthetics “visual angle”-the way to describe ones personality-using a special way to tell the story, that is, to introduce the story line and all the characters by one or several persons. We could understand the story by the characters psychologies. Mark Twain always anglicized his novels words. He used to use his familiar place to show the temporal social life. He tought that novelist should not lump together different lives in one country. He clarified the importances of the local literatures. He used to use his experiences to work a novel, such as Life on the Mississippi, Tom Sawyer was also his memory about his childhood at West. He comibined his writing with public lecturing and foreign travelling, becoming American ambassador at large, and requiring an international reputation as humorist-frontier-philosopher.ProductiveThey were both very productive, Herry Jamess wrtting career could be devided to three periods. The first period was from 1865 to 1882, he has written some famous novels in that period such as The American, Dasiy Miller, The Portait of a Lady. Dasiy Miller maked him win the international reputation, it explored the differences between Europeans and Americans, the old and the new worlds. The Portait of a Lady was one of his most famous works. Herry Jamesoften described the efforts of middle-class Americans to make their way in European capitals. Mark Twain often focused on the lower-class. The second period was from 1882 to 1895, in this period, he gave up his “international subject” and began to describe the delicate relationship between people. Unfortunately, he failed. In his last period, after 1895, he written some novels about child and teenager, backed to the theme when pure mind happened to the complicated society. The most famous novels were The Turn of the Screw and What Maisie knew. In the beginning of 20th century, he written the most famous novels The Ambassadors, The Wings of Dove, The Golden Bowl, these three represented his biggest success in literature. After these, he backed to his “international subject”. Mark Twain has written so many works such as The celebration Jumping Frog of Calaveras Country, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Actually Mark Twain was a optimistic writtor, but Twain passed through a period of deep depression, which began in 1896 when his daughter Susy died of meningitis. In that period, he has written A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, The Mysterious Stanger and his autobiography. In his famous novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a famous people said that, “to describe the image of Huck, Mark Twain used Hucks own words, which looked as if vulgar but magical in fact, not the narrators language and mechanical description as usual. By using Hucks speaking language; it melted emotion and the event together, and united form and effect, which created Mark Twains style. We might as well understand that like this: “Lincoln liberated the Black, and Mark Twain liberated writers mind.” This novel reflected his writing style and artistic charm on