美国现实主义.American Realism.课件

1、American Realism (1860-1914)I. The Definition of Realism & Historical BackgroundII. American Realism III. Mark TwainIV. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)RomanticismImaginationfictionalRealismReality truev. s3Realism In literature, faithful representation of life. Realism carries the convicti

2、on of true reports of phenomena observable by others. It may be contrasted with ROMANTICISM, IMPRESSIONISM, and EXPRESSIONISM, which are less true to external phenomena, although each carries its own kind of truth. Realism is a slippery (difficult to understand) term, sometimes used too loosely to b

3、e of value except as an indicator of a readers reaction.4 The term realism refers, sometimes, confusingly, both to a literary method based on detailed accuracy of description and to a more general attitude that rejects idealization, escapism, and other extravagant qualities of romance in favor of re

4、cognizing soberly the actual problems of life. 5 It is anti-romantic, and anti-sentimental. To put it another way, realism is applied by literary critics in two diverse ways: (1) to designate a recurrent mode of, in various eras and literary forms, of representing human life and experience in litera

5、ture, and (2) to identify a movement in the writing of novels during the nineteenth century. 6 As a mode of writing, it gives the impression of recording or reflecting faithfully an actual way of life, of representing life as it really is. Realistic fiction is written to give the effect that it repr

6、esents life and the social world as it seems to the common reader, evoking the sense that its characters might in fact exist, and such things might well happen. It is characterized by verisimilitude (逼真) of details derived from observation. 7 They offer an objective rather than an idealistic view of

7、 human nature and human experience, an objective account of real life. They are detached observers of life. The narrators in their work stand back to report what they have observed. The realistic writers are usually ethical writers and their language is largely ironic. I. The Rise of Realism: Histor

8、ical Background“The industrial North had triumphed over the agrarian South, and from that victory came a society based on mass labor and mass consumption.”“an age of extremes”-“of decline and progress, of poverty and dazzling wealth, of gloom and buoyant hope”A. The Civil WarB. The Gilded Age16The t

9、hree major realistic writers Mark TwainWilliam Dean HowellsHenry JamesII. American Realism (1860-1914)Broadly defined as the faithful representation of reality or verisimilitude, realism is a literary technique practiced by many schools of writing. Although strictly speaking, realism is a technique,

10、 it also denotes a particular kind of subject matter, especially the representation of middle-class life.A. RealismB. American RealismIn American literature, the term realism encompasses the period of time from the Civil War to the turn of the century during which William Dean Howells, Rebecca Hardi

11、ng Davis, Henry James, Mark Twain, and others wrote fiction devoted to accurate representation and an exploration of American lives in various contexts. C. The Characteristics of American RealismAmerican realists renders reality closely and in comprehensive detail. b. American realists selectively p

12、resent the reality with an emphasis on verisimilitude, even at the expense of a well-made plot.c. Character is more important than action and plot; his/her complex ethical choices are often the subject. Characters appear in their real complexity of temperament and motive. They are in explicable rela

13、tion to nature, to each other, to their social class, and to their own past. d. Class is important. The novel has traditionally served the interests and aspirations of middle class. (characters from all social levels are examined in depth).e. Events are usually plausible. Realistic novels avoid the

14、sensational, dramatic elements of naturalistic novels and romances. f. Diction is natural vernacular, not heightened or poetic; tone being comic, satiric, or matter-of-fact. g. Objectivity in presentation becomes increasingly important: overt authorial comments or intrusions diminish as the century

15、progresses. III. Mark Twain (1835-1910) A. Mark Twains Life- born in Hannibal, Missouri- apprenticed to a printer- a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi- fought in the Civil War -went to the silver fields of Nevada- joined the staff of Territorial Enterprise- began his career as a frontier humoristB.

16、 Mark Twains Main WorksInnocents Abroad (1869);Roughing it (1872);The Gilded Age (1873);The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876);The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884);Life on the Mississippi (1883) .C. Characteristics of Mark Twaina. His works sum up the tradition of Western humor and frontier realis

17、m. b. He writes about his people and his own life. c. His greatest achievement on literature is his use of the dialect and his portrayal of the locale. D. The differences between Howells, James and Mark Twain In thematic terms, James wrote mostly of the upper reaches of American society, and Howells

18、 concerned himself chiefly with middle class life, whereas Mark Twain dealt largely with the lower strata of society.Technically, Howells wrote in the vein of genteel realism, James pursued an “imaginative” treatment of reality or psychological realism, but Mark Twains contribution to the developmen

19、t of realism and to American literature as a whole was partly through his theories of localism in American fiction, and partly through his colloquial style.IV. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)A. Plot SummaryMark Twains classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, tells the story of a

20、teenaged misfit who finds himself floating on a raft down the Mississippi River with an escaping slave, Jim. In the course of their perilous journey, Huck and Jim meet adventure, danger, and a cast of characters who are sometimes menacing and often hilarious. B. Main Charactersa. Huckleberry Finn: M

21、ain character of the book. He is an illegitimate child who runs away from his adopted family to be free of society and civilization. b. Jim: Miss Watsons slave. He runs away and journeys down the Mississippi River with Huck. Together, they have many adventures, and Jim becomes a father figure for Hu

22、ck. d. Widow Douglas: Adopts Huck to try and civilize him. e. Miss Watson: Sister of the Widow Douglas. She tries to teach Huck religion and how to spell. f. Pap: Hucks drunkard father. He kidnaps Huck because he wants his money, but Huck escapes. c. Tom Sawyer: Hucks best friend who freely spins li

23、es and loves adventure. The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldnt stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags

24、 and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back. (Chapter I) Paragraph Analyses道格拉斯寡妇认我做干儿子，说要教我做人的规矩；可是只要想想这寡妇为人处世多古板、多正经，就能

25、明白一天到晚呆在她屋里真是活受罪；所以到了我再也受不了的时候，我就溜啦。我又穿上原来的破衣烂衫，重新躲到我那只大木桶里，真是自在逍遥，可汤姆索亚找到我，说他要成立一个强盗帮，如果我肯回到寡妇那儿做一个受人尊敬的人，我可以加入这个帮、于是我就回去了。Well, I tried the best I could do to kinder soften it up somehow for myself by saying I was brung up wicked, and so I warnt so much to blame; but something inside of me kept sa

26、ying, “There was the Sunday School, you could a gone (could have gone) to it; and if youd a done it theyd a learnt you there that people that acts as Id been acting about that nigger goes to everlasting fire.” (Chapter XXXI)于是，我就想方设法地试图为自己开脱。我对自个儿说：我从小就在邪恶的环境中长大，因此不能过于怪罪我啊。不过，在我的心里，还有另外一个声音在不停地说，“还有

27、主日学校哩。你本该到那儿去。要是你早去的话，他们会在那儿教导你的嘛，教导你说，谁要像我那样为了黑奴所干的这一切，是要下地狱受到永恒的烈火的煎熬的。It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a- trembling, because Id got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: All

28、 right, then, Ill GO to hell-and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming. (Chapter XXXI)这真叫我难做。我拿起纸捏在手里。我浑身哆嗦，因为我得在两种做法中做出决定，从此定局，这一点我心里明白。我几乎屏住气，琢磨了一阵儿，然后对自己说：“好吧，我就下地狱吧。”我把纸撕了。这是可怕的念头和可怕的话，可是话已经说了，那就随它去吧，从未想过要改变说法。C. Themesa. The primary theme of the novel is the conflict between civilization and natural life. b. Anoth