美国文学史.ppt

1、A General Introduction to American Literature,Discussions,China, experts agree, is the nation of the future The commercial and intellectual success its emigrants have enjoyed in nations from Malaysia to the United States all augur (预示) impending global dominance. In literature, however, the Chinese

2、mainland, as far as Western ears go, is pretty quiet. Bookstores, the Times reports, are bustling, but nearly half the purchases consist of textbooks and half the translations are of American books. John Updike: “Bitter Bamboo” What is the implication of Updikes comment ? Do you agree with him?,What

3、s your understanding about American literature and culture at present? Do you know the reason for the year of 1620 to be an important mark in American history? Why is the United States also called the New World by some people?,Core Doctrines of Puritanism,1.Absolute will of God (Bible ) 2.Original S

4、in (total depravity) 3.Predestination and limited atonement (the elect),American Puritans,American Puritans believed they were chosen by God to build an ideal community in America by leading a moral, simple and hardworking life. They were intolerant and strictly punished drunks, adulterers, violator

5、s of the Sabbath and other religious believers different from themselves.,Influence of American Puritanism upon American literature,1. Two major undercurrents in American literature: moods of optimism and frustration 2. writing style: A) distinctively American symbolism: in relation to the Puritans

6、metaphorical mode of perception about the worldthe phenomenal world is nothing but a symbol of God. B) Simple, fresh, direct, plain, a touch of nobility,Periodization of American Literature Key Themes in American Literature,Periodization of American Literature,1. Early American Literature (17th cent

7、ury and 18th century) The Literary Scene in Colonial America (ab.1607-1765) Literature of Enlightenment and Revolution (1765-1790s) 2. 19th_century American Literature 1) Romanticism; 2)Realism; 3)Naturalism 3. American Literature of the 20th century and the present 1)modernism; 2)postmodernism,The

8、Literary Scene in Colonial America (ab.1607-1765),Humble origins: diaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, sermons. Characteristics: in contentponderously religious or serving colonial expansion or both; in formimitating and transplanting English literary tradition; loosely structured an

9、d long sentences,William Bradford(1590-1567) Of Plymouth Plantation: to deliberate the religious and idealistic nature of their colonizing undertaking John Winthrop(1588-1649) 1630 Sails for New England; delivers his “A Model of Christian Charity” aboard the Arbella “We shall find that the God of Is

10、rael is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemiesfor we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill”,Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672),Background: well educated at childhood; came to America with Arbella in 1630; “tenth muse” in America Characteristics: singularly

11、 puritan mode of perception; about the justice of Gods way with His Puritan flock; in search of mans nature and destiny and his mission in the new world,Contemplations (9),I heard the merry grasshopper then sing. The black-clad cricket bear a second part; They kept one tune and played on the same st

12、ring, Seeming to glory in their little art. Shall creatures abject thus their voices raise And in their kind resound their Makers praise, Whilst I, as mute, can warble forth no higher lays?,To My Dear and Loving Husband,If ever two were one, then surely we, If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;

13、 If ever wife was happy in a man Compare with me, ye women, if you can. I prize thy love more than whole Mines of goldOr all the riches that the East doth hold. Then while we live, in love lets so persever That when we live no more, we may live ever,Edward Taylor (1642-1729),came to America in 1668;

14、 a meditative poet; a Puritan poet,Meditation 38,Oh! What a thing is man? Lord, who am I? That Thou shouldst give him law To regulate his thoughts, words, life therby. And judge him wilt thereby too in Thy time. A court of justice Thou in heaven holdst To try his case while hes here housed on mold.,

15、Literature of Enlightenment and Revolution (1765-1790s),1.Most writers are also activists or supporters of the Independent War. 2. Genres: diaries, political pamphlets, poetry, satire literature, novel, drama, etc. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, William Hill Brown (novelist), Philip Freneau (a

16、 poet), Thomas Pain, etc. “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph” (Thomas Pain: American Crisis),Philip Freneau (1752-1832),1) “Poet of the American Revolution 2) The first American-born poet (the most significant poet of eighteenth-century America); 3) notable mainly for two things

17、: using his poetic talents serving the national independence; advocating nationalism in American literature,The Indian Burying Ground,In spite of all the learnd have said; I still my old opinion keep, The posture, that we give the dead (指白人要求的“躺姿”） Points out the souls eternal sleep. Not so the anci

18、ents of these lands The Indian, when from life releasd, Again is seated with his friends, And shares again the joyous feast,American Romanticism,1.1770s-1830: burgeoning period 2.1830-1860:culminating period(American Renaissance) 3.1860-1870s declining period,Features of American Romanticism,1.indiv

19、idualism 2.optimism 3.emphasis on imagination and emotion 4.a cultural revolution (The American Scholar),Representatives of American Romanticism,Representatives of early romanticism: Washington Irving (The Sketch Book), James Cooper (Leatherstocking Tales), William Bryant (Thanatoposis), etc. Repres

20、entatives of romanticism in the latter period: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville (novelists) Henry Longfellow, Edgar Allan Poe ,Walter Whitman, Emily Dickinson (poets) Ralph Emerson, Henry Thoreau (essayist) etc.,American Realism,Reasons for the rise of realism 1.western movement (Mark Twain) 2.

21、industrialization 3.development of science (Pragmatism, inductive method) 4.opposition to genteelism Representatives of Realism: Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Henry James, etc.,American Naturalism: Pessimistic Realism,A man said to the universe: “Sir, I exist!” “However,” replied the universe “T

22、he fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.” _Stephen Crane,Features and Representatives of Naturalism,1. Objective description 2. man governed by heredity and environment 3.unconventional subjects Frank Norris, Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, Jack London, etc.,American Modernism (1918-194

23、5),Features and Major Representatives of Modernism 1. The Waste Land The Sound and The Fury (an illustration of the spiritual poverty of the west of the time) 2. Revolutionizing the traditional literary arts (Imagism) 3. alienation, desperation, the lost generation, stream of consciousness T.S. Elio

24、t, Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, etc.,“Lifes but a walking shadow, a poor player,/That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,/And then is heard no more; it is a tale/Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/Signifying nothing”. (Macbeth) 人生不过是一个行走的影子，一个在舞台上指手划脚的拙劣的伶人，登场片刻，就在无声无

25、息中悄然退下；它是一个愚人所讲的故事，充满着喧哗和骚动，却找不到一点意义。,American Postmodernism,Major Features of Postmodernism 1.experimental writing techniques: Challenging traditional concepts about plot, characters, or even the way to write a literary work 2. black humor ( absurd literature): Joseph Heller 3. ontological problem

26、4. diversity in novel writing and poetry .,There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for ones own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as

27、soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Joseph Heller Catch-22,Non-fictional novel: Truman Capote; Norman Mailer; Tom Wolf War novel: James Jones; Irwin Shaw Southern novel: Katherine Anne Porter; Robert Penn Warren Black American Literature: Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, etc. Jewish American literature: Saul Bellow; Bernard Malamud; Philip Roth The B