美国文学1stPart

1、American LiteratureA Birds-eye View of American LiteraturePart 1: Colonial America From the settlement of America in the early seventeenth century through the end of the eighteenth Major topic: American Puritanism Major figures: Jonathan Edwards 乔纳森乔纳森爱德华兹爱德华兹 Benjamin Franklin 本杰明本杰明富兰克林富兰克林Part 2:

2、 American Romanticism Time: covers the first half of the nineteenth century Background: Following the nations political independence, theres a rising America with its ideals of democracy & equality, its industrialization, its westward expansion, and a variety of foreign influences such as Walter Sco

3、ttPre-Romanticism Washington Irving 华盛顿华盛顿欧文欧文: inspiring the American romantic imagination eg: The Sketch Book 见闻札记见闻札记 (Rip Van Winkle李伯大梦李伯大梦, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow )睡谷传说睡谷传说 James Fenimore Cooper库柏库柏: offering some fictional version of the American national experience of adventure into the

4、 wilderness of the American West eg: Leatherstocking Tales 皮袜子故事集皮袜子故事集New England Transcendentalism/ American Renaissance(1836-1855)The culmination of American Romanticism Ralph Waldo Emerson爱默生爱默生: leading Transcendentalist, optimism Nature自然自然: the manifesto of American Transcendentalism The Amer

5、ican Scholar美国学者美国学者: Americas Declaration of Intellectual Independence Henry David Thoreau梭罗梭罗: Walden 瓦尔登湖瓦尔登湖Post-Romanticism Nathaniel Hawthorne 霍桑霍桑: a blackness of vision The Scarlet Letter Herman Melville梅尔维尔梅尔维尔 : not optimistic, not hopeful Moby Dick 白鲸白鲸 Walt Whitman惠特曼惠特曼: Leaves of Grass

6、红字红字草叶集草叶集Post-Romanticism Emily Dickinson狄金森狄金森: completely original way of writing Edgar Allan Poe爱伦坡爱伦坡: the most contoversial & misunderstood of American writers Harriet Beecher Stowe比彻比彻: Uncle Toms Cabin 汤姆叔叔的小屋汤姆叔叔的小屋Part 3: The Age of Realism The Civil War (1861-1865) brought the Romantic Pe

7、riod to an end. The Age of Realism came into existence. It goes against the lie of romanticism and sentimentalism, and expresses the concern for the commonplace and the low, offering an objective rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human experience. William Dean Howells豪威尔斯豪威尔斯 Henry

8、James亨利亨利詹姆斯詹姆斯: international theme psychological realism Mark Twain: local colorist The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (fathered modern American literature)马克马克吐温吐温 哈克贝里哈克贝里芬历险记芬历险记Part 4: American NaturalismHistorical Background In the last decade of the nineteenth century, with the development o

9、f industry & modern science, intelligent minds began to see that man was no longer a free ethical being in a cold, indifferent & essentially Godless universe. In this chance world he was both helpless & hopeless. They saw mans life governed by the two forces of heredity & environment, forces absolut

10、ely beyond mans control. Emile Zola 左拉左拉 Stephen Crane斯蒂芬斯蒂芬克莱恩克莱恩: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets (the first American naturalistic work) The Red Badge of Courage 红色英勇勋章红色英勇勋章 Frank Norris弗兰克弗兰克诺里斯诺里斯: McTeague 麦克提格麦克提格 (the manifesto of American naturalism) 街头女郎麦吉街头女郎麦吉 Theodore Dreiser德莱赛德莱赛: Siste

11、r Carrie (the work in which naturalism attained maturity) O. Henry: short stories Jack London: scathing social criticism嘉莉妹妹嘉莉妹妹欧欧亨利亨利杰克杰克伦敦伦敦Part 5: Modernism The First World War made America a different country, and its literature underwent a substantial change.Poetry Ezra Pound 庞德庞德: the father o

12、f modern American poetry Cantos 诗章诗章 (Imagism: the economy of expression, the use of a dominant image) T.S. Eliot艾略特艾略特 : the most important literary figure of the period The Waste Land 荒原荒原(spiritual poverty)Poetry William Carlos Williams威廉斯威廉斯: simple, direct, formless Wallace Stevens斯蒂文斯斯蒂文斯: art

13、 is to create order out of a world of chaos & confusion E. E. Cummings 康明斯康明斯 Robert Lee Frost 弗罗斯特弗罗斯特: full of life, truth, and wisdom, not always sunny & happy L（a l e af fa ll s） one l iness Novel F. Scott Fitzgerald 菲茨杰拉德菲茨杰拉德: The Great Gatsby 了不起的盖茨比了不起的盖茨比 (the frustration & despair resultin

14、g from the falilure of the American dream) Ernest Hemingway: portray the dilemma of modern man utterley thrown upon himself for survival in an indifferent world, reveal mans impotence & his despairing courage to assert himself against overwhelming odds brought the colloquial style to near-perfection

15、海明威海明威 William Faulkner 福克纳福克纳 (The Southern Renaissance): made the history of the Deep South the subject of the bulk of his work, and created a symbolic picture of the remote past Yoknapatawpha 约克纳帕塔法郡约克纳帕塔法郡: a microcosm of the whole macrocosmic nature of human experienceBlack American LiteratureI

16、nspired by the myth of deliverance from slaveryRemained for a long time as oral traditions, folksongs & oratoriesWritten Black literature appeared in the 18th, esp. the 19th centuryBlack American Literature Frederick Douglass道格拉斯道格拉斯: My Bondage and My Freedom Booker T. Washington布克布克华盛顿华盛顿: struggl

17、e against discrimination as the postbellum African American leader W. E. B. DuBois杜波伊斯杜波伊斯: The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches黑人的灵魂黑人的灵魂Black American LiteratureThe Harlem Renaissance 哈莱姆文艺复兴哈莱姆文艺复兴: the 1920s, an upsurge of Black literature Langston Hughes 兰斯顿兰斯顿休斯休斯Black literature come

18、of age: the 1940s Richard Wright理查德理查德赖赖特特: Native Son土生子土生子Black American LiteratureRalph Ellison拉尔夫拉尔夫埃利森埃利森 Invisible Man Toni Morrison托妮托妮莫里森莫里森 Beloved Alice Walker艾丽丝艾丽丝沃克沃克: The Color Purple Alex Haley艾力克斯艾力克斯. 哈雷哈雷: Roots 看不见的人看不见的人宠儿宠儿紫色紫色根根American DramaAmerican Drama Eugene ONeill 尤金尤金奥尼尔

19、奥尼尔: nihilistic, nightmarish Clifford Odets奥达茨奥达茨: Waiting for Lefty Tennessee Williams威廉姆斯威廉姆斯 Arthur Miller 亚瑟亚瑟米勒米勒 Death of a Salesman Edward Albee爱德华爱德华阿尔比阿尔比等待左翼分子等待左翼分子推销员之死推销员之死Part 6: American Literature since1945 Literature is of robust energey & bustling activity: the war novel, the south

20、ern novel, the Jewish novel, the Beat novel, the black novel fantasy, surrealism, non-fiction, meta-fiction, science-fiction, parody, pop literature Saul Bellow 索尔索尔贝娄贝娄 Seize the day J. D. Salinger 塞林格塞林格 The Catcher In The Rye Joseph Heller约瑟夫约瑟夫海勒海勒 Catch-22 (black humour) Flannery OConnor 奥康纳奥康纳

21、 Allen Ginsberg 金斯堡金斯堡 Howl (Beat Generation)勿失良辰勿失良辰麦田里的守望者麦田里的守望者第第22条军规条军规嚎叫嚎叫 Part 1: Colonial America(early 17th century-the end of the 18th) American Puritanism Jonathan Edwards Benjamin Franklin Puritans serious & religious, advocating highly religious & moral principles Gods chosen people, m

22、eant to build a new Garden of Eden Idealists, religion was of primary importance, original sin, Gods grace More practical A doctrinaire opportunist Puritans Attacked for: religious intolerance & bigotry, austerity of taste & killjoy way of life Comparison: Puritanism & Chinese ConfucianismPuritanism

23、 & Literature American literature is based on a myth, that is, the Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden. American literature is a literary expression of the pious idealism of the American Puritan bequest. The puritans dreamed of living under a perfect order and worked with indomitable courage & confi

24、dent hope toward building a new Garden of Eden in America. A tremendous amount of optimism Emerson: saw the American as Adam himself reborn, standing simple & sincere before the world Thoreau: an Adam in his Eden Whitman: rapturous at the sight of the Americans bustling with activity as the children

25、 of Adam restored to lost paradise Henry James: the innocence & simplicity of his Americans as so many NewmansPuritanism & Literature A mood of frustration or despair in the works of especially later periods: at the latter end of weal stands woe when the dream did not materialize, and when only a Gi

26、lded Age came instead of the anxiously expected GoldenPuritanism & Literature The American Puritans metaphorical mode of perception was chiefly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. Physical life was simultaneously spiritual; every passage of life, enm

27、eshed in the vast context of Gods plan, possessed a delegated meaning. The world was, in a word, one of multiple significance. Puritanism & Literature The puritans have been abhorred for their austerity & rigidity in matters of taste, notorious, in a manner of speaking, for their distaste for the ar

28、ts & for any manifestation of sensuous beauty. With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple & direct; the rhetoric is plain & honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible.The Literary Scene in Colonial America The early poets were in fact s

29、ervants of God. In content these early writings served either God or colonial expansion or both. In form, if there was any form at all, English literary traditions were faithfully imitated and transplanted.Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)布莱德斯特律布莱德斯特律 Tenth MuseContemplations (9) I heard the merry grassho

30、pper then sing. The black-clad cricket bear a second part; They kept one tune and played on the same string, Seeming to glory in their little art. Shall creatures abject thus their voices raise And in their kind resound their Makers praise, Whils I, as mute, can warble forth no higher lays?Edward Ta

31、ylor(1642-1729)爱德华爱德华泰勒泰勒 a meditative poet a Puritan poet, concerned about how his images speak for GodThomas Paine(1737-1809)托马斯托马斯潘恩潘恩 His works are of revolutionary & inflammatory character Common Sense American Crisis The Rights of Man The Age of Reason 常识常识美国危机美国危机人权人权理性时代理性时代Philip Freneau(17

32、52-1832) Dawning nationalism: The Rising Glory of America 蒸蒸日上的美洲蒸蒸日上的美洲 Lyric quality, sensuous images, fresh perception of nature, noble savagery: The Wild Honey Suckle 野忍冬花野忍冬花 Two basic patterns of thought in 18th century America Enlightenment, reason, order, deism the best way to worship God is

33、 to study his handiwork, and to do good things to mankind The persistent Calvinist belief that God was all, and man was, since the Fall, basically evil and enslaved by his sense of sin, all he could do was to worship the Almighty and hopeJonathan Edwards(1703-1758)爱德华滋爱德华滋 The last great voice that

34、was ever heard in America to reassert the Calvinist stance His works reveal his medieval mind. He represents the element of piety, the religious passion, the aspect of emotion & ecstacy, of the New England tradition. He discovered a dynamic world filled with the presence of God. And he urges his peo

35、ple to enjoy the sweetness of conversion, the change of heart with the help of the grace of God. A good deal of a transcendentalistJonathan Edwards The Freedom of the Will 论意志自由论意志自由 The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended 原罪说辩原罪说辩 The Nature of True Virtue 论德性的真谛论德性的真谛Benjamin Franklin(1706-179

36、0)本杰明本杰明富兰克林富兰克林 rare genius， Jack of all trades essayist, scientist, orator, statesman, philosopher, political economist, ambassador Autobiography 自传自传 Poor Richards Almanac穷理查德年鉴穷理查德年鉴Poor Richards Almanac Famous sayings: Lost time is never found again. A penny saved is a penny earned. God help th

37、em that help themselves. Fish and visitors stink in three days. Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin It is the simple yet immensely fascinating record of a man rising to wealth and fame from a state of poverty & obscurity into which he was born, the faithful account of the colorful career of Americas first self-made man. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Puritan: self-analysis, industrious, frugal, prudent simplicity, directness, concision Spokesma