English Literature.ppt

1、English Literature,Before English Literature 15th-6th centuries B.C. Vedas ved, any of the most ancient sacred writings in early Sanskrit, a large body of texts constituting the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, believed to compromise the Samhitas（本集）, the Br

2、ahmanas（梵书）, the Aranyakas（森林书，林深安静处；隐士） and the Upanishads（奥义书）.The four Samhitas are metrical: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. Vedas are considered to be the very fountainhead of Indian literature and philosophy,English Literature,Before English Literature VEDA印度上古时期一

3、些文献的总称。在印度历来被认为圣典。“吠陀”的本义是知、知识。吠陀狭义只指最古的 4 部吠陀的本集部分，广义则兼指本集所附加的其他上古文献。本集中年代最久的作品可上溯到约公元前1500年以前，吠陀中年代最晚的文献则为约公元前6世纪或4、5世纪的产物。 吠陀的 4 部本集是：梨俱吠陀本集、娑摩吠陀本集、夜柔吠陀本集、阿达婆吠陀本集。其中梨俱吠陀是最古的诗集；阿达婆吠陀也是诗集，年代稍晚； 娑摩吠陀 和 夜柔吠陀 是依附于梨俱吠陀的文献，前一部是配曲演唱的歌词选集，后一部是说明如何应用这些歌曲进行祭祀。古代文献中常称三吠陀，是指梨俱吠陀和依附于它的两部吠陀，加上阿达婆吠陀才总称4部吠陀圣典。 梨俱

4、吠陀 主要是颂神用的诗，阿达婆吠陀主要是驱邪(exorcise)禳灾用的诗。前者大概是祭司编订的著作，后者的编订成集与巫师的活动有关。在上古时期，祭司和巫师的职责往往是由一种人履行的。在 4 部吠陀中，最古的梨俱吠陀和阿达婆吠陀包含了人类早期文明史迹和文学创作 ，其中较晚的部分和另两部吠陀则反映了印度上古社会发展的情况。,English Literature,Before English Literature 吠陀成为神圣的经典之后，就成为神秘的著作，只许祭司和高等种姓(caste)的人学习，不许低等种姓的人接触。以祭祀为职业的婆罗门(Brahman)垄断了这些上古的典籍，把它们作为高踞于人民

5、之上的凭借。他们为了保持垄断地位，只在内部口头传授这些典籍，不肯写成文字。而且为了保密 ，并不致传错，他们采用种种特殊的读法，因而不同的家族在传授中形成不同的派别。吠陀有不同的传本，有些传本可能因中断而遗失。吠陀直至19世纪才刊印于世。 传授吠陀的各个派别曾编订了一些文献，称为梵书。各派梵书之后附有各派的森林书。这些书据说只在森林中秘密传授。它们的内容不是讲祭祀，而是讲神秘主义的理论。这时祭祀已不为这些书的作者们所重视，他们转而关心在森林中修道。附在各派森林书之后的是各派奥义书。奥义书也成为一种独立类型的书的总名。这类书现在大概有100多部，许多都是后来人的著作。,English Litera

6、ture,Before English Literature 9th-8th centuries B.C., Homer and his epics In the Western classical tradition Homer is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the very beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an e

7、normous influence on the history of literature. When he lived is controversial. Herodotus estimates that Homer lived 400 years before Herodotus own time, which would place him at around 850 BC; while other ancient sources claim that he lived much nearer to the supposed time of the Trojan War, in the

8、 early 12th century BC. For modern scholars the date of Homer refers not to an individual, but to the period when the epics were created. The consensus is that the Iliad and the Odyssey date from around the 8th century BC, the Iliad being the oldest work of Western literature.,English Literature,Bef

9、ore English Literature Some argue that the Homeric poems developed gradually over a long time - they only became fixed texts about the 6th century BC. The question of the historicity of Homer the individual is known as the Homeric question; there is no reliable biographical information handed down f

10、rom classical antiquity. The poems are generally seen as the culmination of many generations of oral story-telling, in a tradition with a well-developed formulaic system of poetic composition. Some scholars claim that Homer is not the name of a historical poet, but a fictitious or constructed name.

11、The influence of the Homeric epics in shaping Greek culture was widely recognized, and Homer was described as the teacher of Greece. Homers works, which are about fifty percent speeches, provided models in persuasive speaking and writing that were emulated throughout the ancient and medieval Greek w

12、orlds.,English Literature,Before English Literature,English Literature,Before English Literature The Iliad: Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy (Ilium) by a coalition of Greek states, the Iliad tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King A

13、gamemnon and the warrior Achilles. Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war, the Iliad mentions or alludes to many of the Greek legends about the siege, the earlier events, such as the gathering of warriors for the siege, the cause of the war and similar, tending to ap

14、pear near the beginning, and the events prophesied for the future, such as Achilles looming death and the sack(the plundering of a place by an army or mob; usually involves destruction and slaughter ) of Troy, prefigured and alluded to more and more vividly approaching the end of the poem, making th

15、e poem tell a more or less complete tale of the Trojan War.,English Literature,Before English Literature The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon. Indeed it is the secondth

16、e Iliad being the firstextant work of Western literature. It was probably composed near the end of the 8th century BC, in Ionia, the Greek coastal region of Anatolia.The poem mainly centers on the Greek hero Odysseus (disju:s, or Ulysses, as he was known in Roman myths) and his long journey home fol

17、lowing the fall of Troy. It takes him ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed he has died, and his wife Penelope pinelpi, pnelpi and son Telemachus tilemks must deal with a group of unruly suitors, competing for Penelopes hand in marriage. (after about

18、40 days adventures at sea, Ody returned as the only survivor. Disguised as a beggar, he killed all the suitors and got happily reunited with his family),English Literature,Before English Literature The city of Ithaca sits on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, in Central New York. It is named for the

19、 Greek island of Ithaca. Ithaca is best known for being home to Cornell University. 伊萨卡（Ithaca）位于纽约州中部，在著名的手指湖（Finger Lakes）之一的凯尤加湖（Cayuga Lake）南端，是一个山水环抱中的美丽小城。伊萨卡是个美丽浪漫的希腊名字。在希腊爱琴海中有一个岛叫伊萨卡，在荷马史诗伊利亚特和奥德赛中，伊萨卡是神话英雄奥德修斯的故乡。很多国人耳熟能详的文化名人曾经在这里倘佯游学，留下了他们的足迹。比如著名的新文化运动的旗手之一胡适先生就曾经在康奈尔大学农学院学习，在伊萨卡的山水间度过了

20、约五年的青春时光。著名语言学家赵元任先生也在康奈尔大学游学了五年，主攻数学和物理。诗人徐志摩来伊萨卡访问时为这里起名“伊的家”。女作家冰心则把Ithaca译为“绮色佳”（又一说是胡适译），为译名的佳作，至今仍广泛使用。,English Literature,Before English Literature 很多中国学人可能不知道中国科学院的前身中国科学社也是在伊萨卡诞生的。1915年，中国留学生任鸿隽、秉志、周仁、胡明复、赵元任、杨杏佛、过探先、章元善、金邦正等人在康奈尔大学成立中国科学社（后于1918年迁回中国）。在校期间他们还创办了科学杂志，后来成为中国的权威科学期刊。其他在康奈尔学习过

21、的著名中国学人还有茅以升，杨石先，谈镐生，邹秉文、金善宝等，他们都成了日后中国各个领域的砥柱人物。伊萨卡的美丽风景想必都深深地印在了他们的留学记忆中了。 伊萨卡的风光也吸引了许许多多来自世界各地的许多学者来到康奈尔大学学习工作，他们在远离大城市的美丽山水间沉心于学问中，一代代的学人把这么一个相对年轻的大学建设成了一所世界顶尖学府。被称作量子时代 (Quantum era) 的最后一个巨人的著名物理学家贝特（Hans Albrecht Bethe）三十年代从欧洲到这里后说，他一到伊萨卡就感觉像到了家。他在康奈尔一下就工作了七十年。,English,Before English Literatur

22、e,English Literature,Before English Literature 7th Century B.C. Sappho /sfo/ was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is kn

23、own for certain about her life. The bulk of her poetry, which was well-known and greatly admired throughout antiquity, has been lost, but her immense reputation has endured through surviving fragments. Sexuality: Sapphos poetry centers on passion and love for various personages and both genders. The

24、 word lesbian derives from the name of the island of her birth, Lesbos, while her name is also the origin of the word sapphic; neither word was applied to female homosexuality until the nineteenth century. The narrators of many of her poems speak of infatuations and love for various females, but des

25、criptions of physical acts between women are few and subject to debate. Whether these poems are meant to be autobiographical is not known, although elements of other parts of Sapphos life do make appearances in her work.,Roman bust of Sappho, copied from a lost Hellenistic original in Istanbul Archa

26、eological Museum,English Literature,Before English,Sappho reading to her companions on an Attic vase of c. 435 BC.,English Literature,Before English Literature Sappho did travel throughout Greece, but spent most of her life on island of Lesbos itself. Sappho essentially lived a life of leisure, surr

27、ounded by the many women whom she educated (in music and poetry) and to whom she wrote romantic poems. Sapphos poetry is lyrical because it was sung to music on an instrument called the lyre. Lyrical has come to mean any poetry that concerns intimate, individual responses to the world written musica

28、l-sounding language (melodic). Lyric does not involve the grand stories or narratives of epic poetry nor is it motivated usually by consideration of the Gods (such as epic poetry). Sappho was greatly appreciated in her own lifetime. The Greek philosopher Plato elevated her from the status of great l

29、yrical poet to one of the Muses: the immortal figures of inspiration (she was honored throughout Greece as the 10th mortal Muse) Much of her work only exists in fragments, however, because the later Christian Church (with its authorities in both Constantinople and Rome) ordered her lesbian love poet

30、ry to be burnt. We have only one twentieth of what Sappho is thought to have written,English Literature,Before English Literature 萨福(Sappho，约前630或者612约前592或者560)，古希腊著名的女抒情诗人，一生写过不少情诗、婚歌、颂神诗、铭辞等。一般认为她出生于莱斯沃斯岛一贵族家庭。丰盛的财富使她能自由地决定自己的生活方式，而她选择了在当时的文化中心勒斯博（Lesbos）岛上专攻艺术。她的父亲喜好诗歌，在父亲的熏陶下，萨福也迷上了吟诗写作。她是第一人描述

31、个人的爱情和失恋的诗人。 青年时期曾被逐出故乡，原因可能同当地的政治斗争有关。被允许返回后，曾开设女子学堂。古代流传过不少有损于她的声誉的说法，但从一些材料看，她实际上很受乡人敬重。 萨福的诗体是独创的。西方诗歌史上把这种诗体称之为“萨福体”。它们是独唱形式的荷马时代和古希腊悲剧中有许多是歌队的集体合唱诗体短小，以抒情和倾述内心情怀为主，音节更为单纯、明澈。在“萨福体”的格律中，每一节分为四行，每一行中长短音节在相对固定中略有变化，前三行有点像荷马时代的六韵步诗体hexameter ，第四行则音节简短，显得干脆明快。,English Literature,邵洵美（1906-1968），南洋路矿

32、学校，剑桥大学（肄业）,新月诗人，散文家,出版家，翻译家。主编狮吼，金屋出版新月，论语等,诗集有天堂与五月、花一般的罪恶。 妻子盛佩玉（表姐弟），盛宣怀孙女。祖父邵友濂，为晚清重臣。另曾与美国女作家项美丽(Emily Hahn) 同居。女婿方平，著名翻译家。生父邵恒，为一纨绔子弟。邵过继给伯父邵颐，其前妻为李鸿章的嗣女。 在出版事业上颇有成就，尤其是论持久战英译本的出版也有他的一份贡献。解放后，邵洵美埋头于翻译工作，译作有拜伦的青铜时代、雪莱的解放了的普罗米修士、泰戈尔的两姐妹等，他是翻译界公认的一流翻译家。 邵洵美出生名门，家财万贯。从剑桥回到上海后，结交了上海滩除左翼作家外几乎所有的文学家

33、和艺术家。他的朋友张若谷、陆小曼回忆道，当时邵洵美的私人书房里放着估价五千金以上的希腊女诗人沙弗像真迹，用20万金磅在伦敦拍来的史文朋的手稿，用羊皮纸装订的波德莱尔恶之花的第一版（花一般的罪恶深受波德莱尔颓废主义风格影响），和结拜大哥徐悲鸿送给邵洵美的描绘巴黎酒吧“红磨坊”即景的帆布油画,Before English Literature,English Literature,Before English Literature Emily Hahn (Chinese: 項美麗, January 14, 1905 - February 18, 1997) was an American jour

34、nalist and author. Called a forgotten American literary treasure by The New Yorker magazine, she was the author of 52 books and more than 180 articles and stories. Her writings in the 20th century played a significant role in opening up Asia to the west. Her years in Shanghai, China (from 1935 to th

35、e Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in 1941) were the most tumultuous of her life. There she became involved with prominent Shanghai figures, such as the wealthy Sir Victor Sassoon, and was in the habit of taking her pet gibbon, Mr. Mills, with her to dinner parties, dressed in a diaper and a minute di

36、nner jacket. Supporting herself as a writer for The New Yorker, she lived in an apartment in Shanghais red light district, and became romantically involved with the Chinese poet and publisher Sinmay Zau (Chinese: 邵洵美; pinyin: Shao Xunmei). He gave her the entre that enabled her to write a biography

37、of the famous Soong sisters(宋霭龄是邵洵美的五姨妈的英文老师),English Literature,Before English Literature 邵洵美和他的美国情人 美国女作家艾蜜莉哈恩曾以宋家三姐妹一书享誉海内外，而她与中国著名诗人邵洵美有一段旷世奇缘。 1905年，艾蜜莉哈恩出生在美国的圣路易城，毕业于威士康辛大学。1928年，她在纽约亨特女子学院任教，开始写作。同时，被聘为纽约人特约撰稿人。 1935年从刚果来到上海。她最早结识的就是邵洵美。当年上海有个外国女交际家丽茨夫人，是上海一家著名洋行大班的妻子。她喜欢中国京剧，就投钜资组织了一个京剧团。邵洵

38、美因与丽茨的朋友来往比较密切，被邀请当了她的京剧团的负责人，并把梅兰芳请进了剧团。而埃米莉哈恩正是在这个剧团里和邵洵美一见倾心。 那天，在兰心大戏院她一见到邵洵美，就为他生有一张面白鼻高的有着希腊脸型的面庞而惊异，更为他的多才多艺和流利的英语而倾倒。不久，她就深深地爱上了他。两人的香巢构筑在福州路江西路转弯处的都城饭店里。邵洵美还根据她的名字音译，替她取了个项美丽的中文名字。他俩的同居完全公开。项美丽经常出入邵家，她与邵洵美的妻子盛佩玉成了朋友，与邵家大小也和睦相处。邵家人都昵称她蜜姬 艾蜜莉哈恩小名Mick，邵洵美将它译成了蜜姬。到上海后，即将见闻和搜集的材料，每月写成一二篇通讯或特写寄发纽

39、约人。(项美丽比邵洵美长命得多，直到1997年2月17日辞世，活了92岁。虽然她与邵洵美只生活了5年，但她一生出版了52本书，其中有10本是写中国的。10本中又有4本是以邵洵美为主角。 ),English Literature,Before English Literature Hahn frequently visited Sinmays house, which was highly unconventional for a Western woman in the 1930s. The Treaty of the Bogue was in full effect, and Shangha

40、i was a city divided by Chinese and Westerners at the time. Sinmay introduced her to the practice of smoking opium, to which she became addicted. She later wrote, Though I had always wanted to be an opium addict, I cant claim that as the reason I went to China.“ She wrote China to Me and My Chinese

41、Husband.,English Literature,Before English Literature 7th Century B.C. Aesops Fables Aesop or Esop (620-564 BC) was a Greek writer credited with a number of popular fables, although his existence remains uncertain and no writings by him survive. Numerous tales appearing under his name were gathered

42、across the centuries and in many languages in a storytelling tradition that continues to this day. In many of the tales, animals speak and have human characteristics. Scattered details of Aesops life can be found in ancient sources, including Aristotle, Herodotus, and Plutarch. An ancient literary w

43、ork called The Aesop Romance tells an episodic, probably highly fictional version of his life, including the traditional description of him as a strikingly ugly slave who by his cleverness acquires freedom and becomes an adviser to kings and city-states. A later tradition (dating from the Middle Age

44、s) depicts Aesop as a black Ethiopian.,),English Literature,Before English Literature The 6th-7th Centuries Confucius: Confucius (551 BC 479 BC) was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period. His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of

45、social relationships, justice and sincerity. These values gained prominence in China over other doctrines, such as Legalism (法家) or Taoism (道家) during the Han Dynasty (206 BC AD 220). Confucius thoughts have been developed into a system of philosophy known as Confucianism. Because no texts survive t

46、hat are demonstrably authored by Confucius, and the ideas most closely associated with him were elaborated in writings that accumulated over the period between his death and the foundation of the first Chinese empire in 221 BC, many scholars are very cautious about attributing specific assertions to

47、 Confucius himself. His teachings may be found in the Analects of Confucius (論語), compiled years after his death. For nearly 2,000 years he was thought to be the editor or author of all the Five Classics (五經) such as the Classic of Rites (禮記) (editor), and the Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋) (author).

48、,English Literature,English Literature Epic poetry An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. The first epics are known as primary, or original, epics. One such epic is the Old English

49、 story Beowulf. Epics that attempt to imitate these like Miltons Paradise Lost are known as literary, or secondary, epics. Another type of epic poetry is epyllion (plural: epyllia), which is a brief narrative poem with a romantic or mythological theme. The term, which means little epic, came into us

50、e in the nineteenth century. In the East, the most famous works of epic poetry are the Ramayana and Mahabharata, with the Iliad and the Odyssey, which form part of the Western canon, fulfilling the same function in the Western world.,English Literature,English Literature 9 main characteristics of an

51、 epic: It opens in medias res.直入本题地；直接交代事件发展过程地 The setting is vast, covering many nations, the world or the universe. Begins with an invocation to a muse (epic invocation). It starts with a statement of the theme. Includes the use of epithets. Contains long lists (epic catalogue). Features long and

52、 formal speeches. Shows divine intervention on human affairs. Star heroes that embody the values of the civilization.,English Literature,English Literature,Homeric style Aristotle remarks in his Poetics that Homer was unique among the poets of his time, focusing on a single unified theme or action i

53、n the epic cycle. The cardinal qualities of the style of Homer are well articulated by Matthew Arnold: The translator of Homer should above all be penetrated by a sense of four qualities of his author:that he is eminently rapid; that he is eminently plain and direct, both in the evolution of his tho

54、ught and in the expression of it, that is, both in his syntax and in his words; that he is eminently plain and direct in the substance of his thought, that is, in his matter and ideas; and finally, that he is eminently noble,English Literature,English Literature Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 Dec

55、ember 1822 15 April 1888) was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator. Matthe

56、w Arnold has been characterized as a sage writer, a type of writer who chastises and instructs the reader on contemporary social issues,English Literature,English Literature Homers epics: Concentrated plot Marvelous structure Two lines- that of men and god/gods Divine element-prodution and solution of conflict; development and change of plot Various styles in narration Muscular tragic wars Navigation: mild, tender, beautiful Iliad 3rd person and Odyssey in 1st and 3rd persons Il lack of lyrical description; Od fu