美国文学HenryJames及其作品赏析

1、henry james (1843-1916)contentslife storyliterary career and major worksinternational themefeatures of his worksevaluationcomparison with howells and twainlife storyhe was born into a wealthy cultured family of new england. henry james was one of the few authors in american literary history who did

2、not have to worry about money. he was exposed to the cultural influence of europe at a very early age.later he met and developed a life-long friendship with william dean howells. for a while he attended the harvard law school but read literary works there.he toured england, france and italy, and met

3、 flaubert and trugenev who was then staying in paris.he wanted to be a critic in new york but could not endure the prevailing materialism. he settled down in london in 1876 and spent the rest of his life there. in 1915, he became a naturalized british citizen.james was not married. he once loved his

4、 attractive cousinminny temple who died young.literary career and major workshenry james was a prolific writer, psychological realistic writer, short-story writer, playwright, critic, essayist. he composed novels, travel papers, critical essays, plays, autobiographies and a series of critical prefac

5、es on the art of fiction. his literary career can be divided into three periods;the first period (1865-1882) major theme: the international theme, that is, the meeting of america and europe, american innocence in contact and contrast with european decadence, the clashes between two different culture

6、s and the moral and psychological problems. major works:daisy miller 1879 won him international fame.the american 1877the europeans 1878the portrait of a lady 1881the second period (1882-1895): major themes: experimented with different themes and forms. he wrote his tales of inter-personal relations

7、hips, more english, focusing on realistic social lifemajor works:the bostonians 1886 (a satire account of female emancipation in boston), the princess casamassima 1886 (richly observed novel of anarchists and aristocrats in london) short stories: the death of a lion, the middle yearthe third period

8、(1895-1916)major themes: returned to “the international theme”; developed mature and formidable style, and dwelt on peoples psychology when confronted with ethical problems. he wrote a few novellas and tales dealing with childhood and adolescence.青少年意识小说、国际题材小说major works:the wings of the dove 1902t

9、he ambassadors 1903the golden bowl 1904 the last 3 ones represent the summit of his art鸽翼写一位英国记者为钱财追求一个患有不治之症的美国姑娘的故事。使节描绘一位高雅的法国女人对一个美国阔少所产生的难以抗拒的魅力金碗通过一段继母与女婿私通的故事引发出了许多涉及道德问题的思索这些小说大多颂扬美国资产阶级高尚的品德。它们基本以人物微妙的内心活动为主，有时冗长烦琐 ，并显得晦涩难解。international themeit refers to the meeting of america and europe,

10、american innocence in contact and contrast with european decadence, and its moral and psychological complications, conflicts between new and old world; traditional, innocent, honest american v.s complex, sophisticated, snobbish, arrogant, vain europeans; american freshness of impulse, moral integrit

11、y, candor of heart vs complexity deviousness of the european mentality.marriage and love are used by james as the focal point of the confrontation between the two value systems, and the protagonist usually goes through a painful process of the spiritual growth, gaining knowledge of good and evil fro

12、m the conflicts, as in the portrait of a ladywith the development of his artistic vision and accumulation of his experience, the cultural contrast between nations tends to wear thin and james soon transcends it by realizing that underneath the surface of national differences lies the universal of hu

13、man nature that claims more attention. consequently, he develops his fictional universe from the restricted american-european theme to an exploration of profound and universal questions in his later literary endeavors.daisy millerplotthemescharacterizationdaisy miller plot: it is a novel about ameri

14、can innocence defeated by the stiff, traditional values of europe. daisy brings her “free” american spirit to europe. she looks at people as individuals, rather than as members of a social class. despite her goodness, she is completely misunderstood by the european characters. she meets a young amer

15、ican, who had lived in europe a long time and had taken on the same kind of coldness. the coldness of these people finally leads daisy to her death.themes: this story serves as both a psychological description of the mind of a young woman, and an analysis of the traditional views of a society where

16、she is a clear outsider. henry james uses daisys story to discuss what he thinks europeans and americans believe about each other, and more generally the prejudices common in any culture. characterization: the names of the characters are symbolic. daisy is a flower in full bloom, without inhibitions

17、 and in the springtime of her life. daisy contrasts sharply with winterbourne, who is more ambivalent and unwilling to commit to any relationship. flowers die in winter and this is precisely what happens to daisy, after catching the roman fever or, to put it more bluntly, the attention of foreign me

18、n. as an objective analogue to this psychological reality, daisy catches the very real roman fever, the malaria that was endemic to many roman neighborhoods in the 19th century.a portrait of ladyplotmajor themes literary significance & criticism plot: it is an ironical story of the free-spirited isa

19、bel losing her freedom despite (or because of) suddenly coming into a great deal of money. again, a young, bright american girl goes to europe to “explore life”. after many good offers of marriage, she chooses the wrong man. the most important part of the book is where she realizes her mistake. she

20、sits all alone, late at night, in her “house of darkness”. james shows her inner consciousness in this quiet moment. themes: freedom vs. responsibility, the theme running through the novel and helps explain isabels possible final decision to return to osmond. existentialism, another theme in the sen

21、se that a young american woman confronts her destiny, whatever it might be, and ready to be committed to living with the consequences of her choice with integrity but also a sort of stubbornness. (存在主义：一种强调在怀有敌意或冷漠的世界中个人经历的独特性和孤立性的哲学，它认为人的存在是不可解释的，并强调选择的自由和对自己行为的结果负责)significance:the novel exhibits

22、a huge panorama of trans-atlantic life, a far larger canvas than any james had previously painted. this moneyed world appears charming and leisurely but proves to be plagued with treachery, deceit and suffering. it is only through disappointment and loss, james seems to say, that one can grow to com

23、plete maturity.criticism:contemporary critics recognized that james had pushed the analysis of human consciousness and motivation to new levels, particularly in such passages as the famous chapter 42, where isabel meditates deep into the night about her marriage and the trap she seems to have fallen

24、 into. more recent criticism has come at the novel from feminist, sociopolitical and formalist directions, though some critics have demurred 反对,异议 at these approaches as somewhat anachronistic时代错误的 for what remains, after all, very much a product of the victorian era. in particular, isabels final re

25、turn to osmond has fascinated critics, who have debated whether james sufficiently justifies this seemingly paradoxical rejection of freedom. the portrait of a ladyquestions:why did isabel choose osmond?why did she decide to return to her unhappy marriage at the end of the novel?isabels characters.h

26、ow did james show the conflicts between american and european cultures?features in style.meaning of the title.themes of the novel.artistic features of henry james international themes: james fame generally rested upon his handling of the major fictional theme psychological approach: james fictional

27、world is concerned more with the inner life and human beings than with overt human actions. this emphasis on psychology and human consciousness proves to be a big breakthrough in novel writing and has great influence on the coming generation. james became the first modern psychological analyst in th

28、e novel and anticipated the modern stream-of-consciousness technique which was so widely employed in the first decade of the 20th century.point of view: he believed that the author should avoid artificial omniscience as much as possible. he used a special point of view: internal monologue (illuminat

29、ion of the situation and characters through one or several minds) characterization: he portrays upper-class unmarried women involved in various courtship rituals and marriage rites with upper-class men, and records the social splits that separate males from females in the nations public life.style:

30、over-elaborate, intricate, refined and genteel. later obscure, costive, with long and complex sentences. detailed psychological depiction capable of reproducing every nuances of the fine moral intelligence or expressing the subtlest meanings. at first, his prose is fresh and clear, later it becomes magnificently weighted and complex in its all allusiveness and imagery, according in its evocative power. by the time of his full maturity, james developed a style of writing that answered beautifully to the require