英国文学-USAnLitI2014upda

1、The United States of American LiteratureSpring 2013,I think therefore I am. Descartes,Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous. Confucious,Its exhilarating to be alive in a time of awakening consciousness; it can also be confusing, disorienting, and painful. Adrie

2、nne Rich,That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something youve understood all your life, but in a new way. Doris Lessing,To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark. Victor Hugo,Why American Literature?,Would you name some authors, their works? What

3、 do you think of them?,For its Americanness,I dont give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way. Mark Twain,An Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. An American is a person who does things because they havent been done before. Mark Twain,Course Evalua

4、tion,Attendance (10%) Participation (20%) Term Paper (10%) Term Exam (60%),Provisional Syllabus of “Glimpse of USAn Literature ”,I. Survey of the Major Trends and the Respective Representative Writers blend of culture Blend of Purposes: religious freedom Pilgrim escape from the past fortune-hunting

5、dream-fulfilling adventure-taking sight-seeing,The New World,The New Promised Land; New Jerusalem; Zion “An unimaginable empire, between the Isthmus of Panama and the Arctic, of nearly eight million square miles, more than half of it covered by ancient forests of fabulous density.” (The American Tra

6、dition in Literature, V1,3),Protestant Traits,The majority of them, and predominantly those who came to rest in New England and the Middle colonies, were products, in some sort, of the Protestant Reformation, a fact which continues to influence the life and thought of the United States. (The America

7、n Tradition in Literature, V 1,4),Idea of Martin Luther(1483-1546) “priesthood of believers” “Neither Pope or Bishop nor any other man has a right to impose a single syllable of law upon a Christian man without his consent.” John Calvin(1509-64):Predestination and Grace “In Adams fall we sinned all.

8、”,“He was a visionary who never forgets two plus two equals four; he was a soldier of Jehovah who never came out on the losing side of a bargain. He was a practical idealist.,Puritan,He came to the New World to found the perfect society and the Kingdom of the elect and never expected it to be perfec

9、t, but only the best that fallible men could make.,His creed was the revealed word of God and his life was the rule of moderation; his beliefs were handed down on high and his conduct was regulated by expediency.He was a doctrinaire and an opportunist.”Perry Miller,Puritanism,the Dissidence of Disse

10、nt, the Protestantism of Protestant Religion 1607Jamestown, a trading post, commercial venture, Virginia 1620Plymouth, Massachusetts, May Flower, humble country folk coming for religious reason(Dec.11; 102 pilgrims, out of whom 50 died within the year; 300 in 1630) 1630Massachusetts Bay Company, pro

11、sperous, worldly, Governor John Winthrop (1636- Harvard 1638- Cambridge printing press 1693- William and Mary College,The early colonists wanted to prove that they were Gods chosen people who would enjoy Gods blessings on earth and in Heaven. They were exiles under special grace of God to establish

12、a theocracy in the New World. Lofty idealism, militant self-assertiveness Self-cultivation, self-improvement,Key Concepts,1. Gods Mysteries 2.Predestination 3. Total Depravity,Great Men/Women and Their Works,William Bradford(1590-1657) Of Plymouth Plantation John Winthrop(1588-1649) 12 times chosen

13、governor of MA Bay, A Model of Christian Charity Anne Bradstreet(1612?-1672) Mary Rowlandson(1636?-1678?) Jonathan Edwards(1703-1758) Freedom of the Will,City Upon A Hill,“There are two rules whereby we are to walk one towards another: Justice and Mercy. Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and

14、 to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justice, to walk humbly with our God (He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, and love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah6:8 ),For we must Consider that we

15、 shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon US, so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.” (John Winthrop, A Model of Christian C

16、harity, in The American Tradition in Literature),THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT,In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are under-written, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc.,Having undertake

17、n, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves together i

18、nto a civil body politic,for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the

19、 general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.,In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the eleventh of November New Style, November 11, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland, th

20、e eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Dom. 1620.,The Age of Enlightenment and Reason in American Literature,Humanism: Concern with this World and the People in it; Belief in the possibilities of human progress and the comforts of material success.,Rejection of Medieval Authoritarianis

21、m,The universe was not a mystery revolving around the whim of an inscrutable God, but a mechanism operating by a rational formula that could be understood by any intelligent man.,Catch Words of the Time:,1.Order 2.Reason 3.Progress People tended to believe in a Deistic God who appeared to have desig

22、ned the universe according to scientific laws and then withdrew from direct intervention of human affairs.,Great Thinkers,Descartes (1596-1650) “I think therefore I am”, Newton (1642-1728) Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy John Locke (1632-1704) Treatises of Civil Government (1690),Gover

23、nments were not based on divinely ordained hierarchies extending from God through kings to men. Governments were the result of agreements between men, “social contracts” in which men surrendered certain freedoms to protect their natural rights of life, liberty, and property. Thus, liberty once surre

24、ndered was not forever lost, and governments that violated natural rights and oppressed the people deserved to be overthrown.,Literary Style,Clarity, restraint, balance and simplicity. Clear sense and mathematical plainness as opposed to the ornate, the extravagant, and the bombast.,Benjamin Frankli

25、n (1706-1790)“If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong. I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other. But I soon fou

26、nd I had undertaken a task more difficult than I had imagined.,While I was employed in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that

27、 it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct.,I included under thirteen names of virtues all that

28、 at that time occurred to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully expressed the extent I gave to its meaning. 1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. 2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

29、,3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time. 4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought;perform without fail what you resolve. 5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself;I.e. waste nothing. 6. Industry. Lose no time; be

30、 always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.,7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty. 9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear

31、 resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. 10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloth, or habitation.,11. Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. 12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakne

32、ss, or the injury of your own or anothers peace or reputation. 13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.,Seven Virtues,A list of the seven heavenly virtues - to oppose the seven deadly sins - appeared later, in an epic poem entitled Psychomachia, or Battle/Contest of the Soul. Written by Aurelius Cl

33、emens Prudentius, a Christian governor, who died around 410 A.D., it entails the battle between good virtues and evil vices. The enormous popularity of this work in the Middle Ages helped to spread the concept of holy virtue throughout Europe. The virtues are identified as chastity, temperance, char

34、ity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. Practicing them is said to protect one against temptation from the seven deadly sins, each one having its counterpart. Due to this, they are sometimes referred to as the contrary virtues.,Seven Virtues,chastity Temperance Charity Diligence Patience K

35、indness humility,Seven Deadly Sins,Lust Gluttony Greed Sloth Wrath Envy Pride,Franklins Autobiography is also a reflection of 18th century idealism. Often called the Age of Reason, the 18th century was the age of men such as John Locke and Isaac Newton. Intellectualism flourished along with scientif

36、ic inventions and advances in political thought. Many people held to the optimistic belief that man could be perfected through scientific and political progress. Franklin ascribes to these beliefs partially, and Part Two of the Autobiography shows him trying to live them out.,Perhaps the Autobiograp

37、hy has most endured because, despite its muddled nature, it is the preeminent work that mythologizes a hero of the American Revolution. Franklin is often introduced to elementary school children as a Renaissance man, someone who seemed to master all fields of knowledge-he was, among other things, sc

38、ientist, inventor, statesman and writer.,Michel Foucault (1926-1984),Discipline and Punish (1975) Foucault suggests this individuality can be implemented in systems that are officially egalitarian, but use discipline to construct non-egalitarian power relations:,Historically, the process by which th

39、e bourgeoisie became in the course of the eighteenth century the politically dominant class was masked by the establishment of an explicit, coded and formally egalitarian juridical framework, made possible by the organization of a parliamentary, representative regime. But the development and general

40、ization of disciplinary mechanisms constituted the other, dark side of these processes. The general juridical form that guaranteed a system of rights that were egalitarian in principle was supported by these tiny, everyday, physical mechanisms, by all those systems of micro-power that are essentiall

41、y non-egalitarian and asymmetrical that we call the disciplines. (222),Foucaults argument is that discipline creates docile bodies, ideal for the new economics, politics and warfare of the modern industrial age - bodies that function in factories, ordered military regiments, and school classrooms. B

42、ut, to construct docile bodies the disciplinary institutions must be able to (a) constantly observe and record the bodies they control and (b) ensure the internalization of the disciplinary individuality within the bodies being controlled. That is, discipline must come about without excessive force

43、through careful observation, and molding of the bodies into the correct form through this observation.,The Autobiography is the only enduring token that enshrines all the facets of his diverse nature; it presents Americans today with a great hero from the past who helped establish the tradition of t

44、he American Dream. Numerous critics have often called Franklin the first American; his autobiography provides a good example of why.,Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)The Declaration of Independence,Epitaph,Author of the Declaration of the American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for religious fr

45、eedom, and father of the University of Virginia.,John Keats,This Grave / contains all that was Mortal / of a / Young English Poet / Who / on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart / at the Malicious Power of his Enemies / Desired / these Words to be / engraven on his Tomb Stone: / Here lies O

46、ne / Whose Name was writ in Water. 24 February 1821,John Adams, Samuel Adams Boston Tea Party (Dec. 16, 1773),Birth of a new nation; King George III,The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.,When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve

47、 the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of natures God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel t

48、hem to the separation.,We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.,That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,

49、deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.,That whenever any government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their

50、 safety and happiness.,我们认为下面这些真理是不言而喻的：人人生而平等。造物主赋予他们若干不可剥夺的权利，其中包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。为了保障这些权利，人类才在他们之间建立政府，而政府之正当权力，是经被治理者的同意而产生的。当任何形式的政府对这些目标具破坏作用时，人民便有权力改变或废除它，以建立一个新的政府；其赖以奠基的原则，其组织权力的方式，务使人民认为惟有这样才最可能获得他们的安全和幸福。,Prudence,indeed,willdictatethatgovernmentslongestablishedshouldnotbechangedforlighta

51、ndtransientcauses;andaccordinglyallexperiencehathshownthatmankindaremoredisposedto suffer,whileevilsaresufferable,thantorightthemselvesbyabolishingtheformstowhichtheyareaccustomed. Butwhenalongtrainofabusesandusurpations,pursuinginvariablythesameobjectevincesadesigntoreducethemunderabsolutedespotism

52、,itistheirright,itistheirduty,tothrowoffsuchgovernment,andtoprovidenewguardsfortheirfuture security.,Suchhasbeenthepatientsufferanceofthese colonies;andsuchisnowthenecessity,which constrainsthemtoaltertheirformersystemsof government.ThehistoryofthepresentKingof GreatBritainisusurpations,allhavingind

53、irect objecttyrannyovertheseStates.Toprovethis,let factsbesubmittedtoacandidworld.,Relevance to the Present Today,This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny. This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children

54、 of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.,So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and

55、how far we have traveled. In the year of Americas birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution wa

56、s most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:,Let it be told to the future world.that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive.that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it.,America. In the face

57、 of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our childrens children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we

58、did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and Gods grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.,逸事,1812年开始，在本杰明.拉什的劝说下,两位素有嫌隙的开国元老开始通信.生性暴躁的亚当斯和沉静明智的杰弗逊分别代表了北方和南方的最高文化. 1826年7月4日，适逢独立宣言签字50周年之日，约翰.亚当斯在他的农庄逝世.在

59、弥留之际他说: “托马斯.杰斐逊还活在人间.” 他不知道对方在同一天比他先走了一步. 随着这些博大的胸怀相继谢世,美国革命的古典时代在美国人的心目中便似乎突然失去了光芒而且遥不可及了 华盛顿.欧文的世界,Romanticism and Its Characteristics,As an approach in literary creation, romanticism is ever present, but as a literary trend or movement, it occurred and developed in Europe and America at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries under the historical background of the industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. Caspar David Friedrich, Wan