American Romanticism.doc

2. American Romanticism 2.1 Background The term “Romantic” as a name for a school of literature(文学流派) is opposed to the “Classic”. It is first used by the German critic Friedrich Schlegel at the beginning of 19th century. Romanticism marked the reaction in literature, philosophy, art, religion, and politics from the Neoclassicism and formal orthodoxy of the past. Neoclassicism, as represented by John Dryden and Alexander Pope, admired objectivity, harmony, rationality, dignity, proportion, and moderation. Neoclassicists stressed artistic systems and technical correlation of stylistic components, admired conciseness, elegance, good taste and wit, combined pleasure with instruction, and matched content to style. But romantics stressed individual and creative function of imagination. It placed individual at the very center of life and all experience and at the center of art. Romanticism in England was marked by the publication of Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge. It stressed the importance of creative imagination by which one could see beyond the actual reality into an ideal world. 2.2 Characteristics1) Romanticism rebelled against the objectivity of rationalism and stressed the creative function of imagination. 2) For romantics, the feelings, intuitions and emotions were more important than reason and common sense. Romantics thought that one could find truth through ones feeling. 3）The romantics stressed the close relationship between man and nature. They viewed nature as an exemplar and source of vivid physical beauty, and as a manifestation of spirit in the universe. They saw nature as a revelation of truth, the living garment of God. Therefore, nature was a suitable subject for art. They believed that God was immanent in creation. In other words, when they look at the finite objects in this world, they would find the presence of an infinite God. 4) They emphasized individualism. They stressed personal freedom and freedom from formalism, tradition, and conformity. They delighted in self-analysis, intricate examination and full exposure of the soul. They cherished no hero-worship, yet believed in the perfectibility of humanity. Romantics believed in the natural goodness of human beings. 5) They affirmed the inner life of the self (subconscious), and wanted each person to be free to develop and express his own inner thoughts. 6) They showed strong interest in the past, esp. the medieval. They were attracted by the primitive because the primitive was innocent and close to nature. For example, they wrote about American Indians. They romanticized the American Indians into a noble savage who was close to nature, and therefore close in touch with God. 7) They were attracted by the wild, the irregular, the indefinite, the remote, the mysterious and the strange.8) They were interested in variety. In romantic fiction, mystery, romance, and adventure play the largest part in plot. Typical literary forms of romanticism include ballad, lyric, sentimental comedy, problem novel, historical novel, gothic romance, metrical romance, sonnet and critical essay. 2.3 American Romanticism Time: from the end of the 18th century to the outbreak of the Civil War 1) Background: a. native factors: Fast development of the new nation (America was striving for political, economic and cultural independence from Britain. Radical changes took place in all aspects of life: burgeoning industrialism, great immigration, westward movement, etc. There are many new ideals. Its ideals of individualism, democracy, political equality and American dream were distinctly American. The new ideals were strong enough to inspire Romantic spirit. )b. foreign influence:Romanticism emerged in England from 1798 to 1832. It added impetus to the growth of Romanticism in America. In England the general features of the works of the romantics is dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society. British Romanticism inspired the American imagination. Thus American Romanticism came into being.c. development of journalism: Another factor that promoted American Romanticism was the ever-increasing numbers of magazines which provided the playground for romantics. (Some influential periodicals appeared, such as The Atlantic Monthly. They need more literary productions.)2) Distinct features: a. American Puritanism served as a cultural heritage in American literature (受清教思想影响).American moral values were essentially Puritan. Its influence over American Romanticism was quite noticeable. Many American Romantic writers tended to moralize, to edify rather than to entertain. (puritan influence)Therefore, sex and love were subjects American authors were particularly careful in approaching. For example, Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter talks about the effect of adultery on the people rather than the sin itself. b. The difference of American literary Romanticism and the European literary Romanticism（本土题材）.American romanticism presented a totally new experience alien to European culture. The exotic landscape, the frontier life, the westward expansion, the myth of a New Garden of Eden in America, and the Puritan heritage were a few examples of the native material for an indigenous literature. c. The contrary of American Romanticism to the American PuritanismThe romantic literature opposed neoclassicism. It was different from the neoclassical which underlined formality, order, and authority, and stressed imagination, passion and individuality. American romantic literature advocated individualism and encouraged people to fight for individual right and human happiness bravely. But the 18th-century Puritanism overemphasized the “person of community” and neglected the “individual person”.d. （美国作为一个新民族的独特新颖之处）Another thing to mention in connection with American Romanticism was the “newness” of the Americans as a nation. Their ideals of individualism and political equality, and their dream that American was to be a new garden of Eden for man were distinctly American. Their existence in the minds of the people produced a feeling of “newness”, which inspired the romantic imagination. Early American romanticism was best represented by New England Poets William Cullen Bryant and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in poetry (课本P43) and James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving in fiction. Longfellow: The Song of Hiawatha海华沙之歌the first American epic in blank verse about the American Indians (unrhymed iambic pentameter )3) Main writers A. Washington Irving (1783-1859)a. Life He once wrote under the name Diedrich Knickerbocker. He once was the Minister to Spain. He bought a house called Sunnyside on the Hudson River at Tarrytown. b. Literary achievements Works：A History of New York from the Beginning to the End of the Dutch Dynasty (1809) The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819-1820)The History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828)A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada (1829)The Alhambra (1832)Life of Goldsmith Life of Washington He was the first American writer of imaginative literature to gain international fame. He was regarded as the father of American literature. c. Literary Career: two parts (1)1809-1832: a. subjects are either English or European; b. conservative love for the antique The writing career of Irving can be divided into two important periods. The first period span spanned from his first book to the year 1832, the other stretching the rest of his life. In the first period, Irving was drawn to the relics and ruins of Europe and wrote mainly about English or European subjects. By temperament Irving seemed to be conservative and loved the antique. He found value in the past and in the traditions of the old world. His obsession with the Old World: the picturesqueness, ruins and objects of antiquity is probably due to his long stay (17years) in Europe, such as London and Spain. (2)1832-1859：back to America Back in America, Irving found a new spirit of nationalism in American feeling and art and literature. At that time, the country was striving for indigenous culture and literature. So in the last years of his life, Irving wrote a few books about the American west, such as The Crayon Miscellany, which contains “A Tour on the Prairie”, Astoria, and Adventures of Captain Bonneville. The most important work in the first period of Irvings career might be The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819-1820)见闻札记The short story as a genre in American literature probably began with Irvings The Sketch Book, a collection of essays, sketches, and tales, of which the most famous and frequently anthologized are “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. The book touched American imagination and foreshadows the coming of Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe, in whose hands the short story attained a degree of perfection as a literary tradition. It also marked the beginning of American Romanticism. The gothic, the supernatural, and the longing for the good old past, which some of its pieces exhibit are romantic enough in subject. But Irving wrote in the neoclassical tradition of Joseph Addison and Oliver Goldsmith. d. Characteristics of Irvings writings P47 1. Irving avoids moralizing, he wrote to amuse and entertain, which is different from the basic principles of his puritan forebears. 2. He is good at enveloping his stories in an atmosphere, which compensates for the slimness of his plot. 3. His characters are vivid and true 4. He used humor in his stories. 5. His language was finished and musical 6. His style was imitative, true, lucid, a bit sentimental, etc. He learned how to write well from Addison and Steel, but modeled himself on Goldsmith, so he is called “the American Goldsmith”. e. Rip Van Winkle瑞普凡温克尔This short story is based on German folk tales, but Irving changed the setting of the original to the native Hudson River valley. It tells that an old man named Rip drank some beverage and fell into asleep for 20 years. After that, he returned to the village where he came from, and found everything changed. People talked about revolution and election, and he has no idea of what that means. There have been many comments on this tale saying that it shows Ervings attitude against the American Revolution, and his approving of the past. On reading it the second time, it occurs to me that Erving only showed his bewilderment: coming out of the oppressed life, people were at a loss about what they should do. Discussion 1) Develop a graphic organizer to display six major plot events or other literary elements (i.e. setting, characters, theme, conflict, point of view).2) Summarize the changes that occurred while Rip slept.Have students read excerpt and write a summary which explains the connection between the legend and the history of North Carolina in the 1800s.3）Some of the smaller discussions on Rip Van Winkle included the romantic notion of capturing fleeing nature in words, the use of fantasy in the story, the romantic ideals of individualism and identity, and attacking American politics and religion.III. 思考题：1. What is the characteristic of the American Romanticism（美国浪漫主义有什么特点）?2. What is the influence of Puritanism to the American literary Romanticism (清教主义对美国浪漫主义有什么影响)?3. Imagine the implication of the short story Rip Van Winkle（分析小说瑞普凡温克尔的寓意）。f. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow在睡谷的传说中克莱恩看着地里的牲畜家禽，想像着它们在饭桌上让人美餐的情景等等，读来令人忍俊不禁。欧文的文风模仿中有创新，形成了自己独特的风格。著名女作家张爱玲曾翻译过睡谷的传说。睡谷的传说自1912年首次搬上银幕以来，曾有多个电影版本相继面世，其中迪斯尼的卡通版无头骑士传奇最为深入人心。1999年，好莱坞著名导演、悬念大师蒂姆伯顿（Tim Burton）将睡谷的传说改编后重拍（片名为Sleepy Hollow），在戏剧化与幽默感兼顾的情况下将欧文的小说原著提升到一个新高度。2004年，由乔尼。德普主演的是最近的英文版，可以一看Think about:The theme The characterization: Ichabod Crane & Brom Bones The plot / The implication B James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) a. life b. works：(1)Precaution (1820, his first novel, imitating Jane Austins Pride and Prejudice )(2) The Spy (his second novel and great success)(3) Leather Stocking Tales (his masterpiece, a series of five novels)The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, The Deerslayer c. Analysis on Leather Stocking TalesIt is a series of five novels about the frontier life of American settlers. Comments on Cooper and this writing: Cooper created a myth about the formative period of the American nation. If the history of America is, in a sense, the process of the American settlers exploring and pushing the American frontier forever westward, then Coopers Leather Stocking Tales effectively approximates the American national experience of adventure into the west. He helped introduce the “Western” tradition into American literature by using the West and the front