美国文学复习资料

American romanticism（美国浪漫主义）: an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism. and rebellion against established social rules and conventions.

Transcendentalism（超验主义）is a philosophical and literary movement that flourished in New England from about the early 19th century. It is the summit of American Romanticism. It holds that one must transcend, in a sense go beyond, logic and experience through intuition in order to find the deepest truths. The Transcendentalists stressed spirit or the Over soul. They affirms the role of individual and saw nature as symbolic of the Spirit or God. The main representatives are Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Magyar Fuller.

Realism（现实主义）: The attempt in literature and art to represent life as it really is, without sentimentalizing or idealizing it. Realistic writing often depicts the everyday life and speech of ordinary people. This has led, sometimes, to an emphasis on sordid details.

Naturalism（自然主义）: An extreme form of realism. Naturalistic writers usually depict the sordid side of life and show characters who are severely, if not hopelessly, limited by their environment or heredity.

Modernism现代主义：is loosely a synonym of anything contemporary. Strictly, especially in literary criticism, which began in the late 19th century and the theory of psychoanalysis as its theoretical base. They pay more attention to the psychic time than the chronological one. Imagism意象派: is a poetic movement of England and the United States, flourished from 1909-1917. Its credo, expressed in Some Imagist Poets, included the use of the language of common speech, project matter, the evocation of images in hard, clear poetry, and concentration.

Lost generation（迷失的一代）: It defines a sense of moral loss or aimlessness. The WWI destroyed the innocent ideas, many good young men went to the war and died, or returned damaged, both physically and mentally; their moral faith were no longer valid—they were “Lost

The Beat Generation（跨掉的一代）: The Beat Generation is a group of American young writers and artists popular in the 1950s and early 1960s. The member of the beat generation were new bohemian libertines, who engaged in a spontaneous, sometimes messy, creativity. The beat writers produced a body of written work controversial both for its advocacy of non-conformity and for its non-conforming style. The major writing are jack Kerouac?s on the road and Allen Ginsberg?s Howl.

Iceberg Theory of Writing: 1/8 is above the water. All of the rest is under the water. The same is true with Hemingway?s writing. His sentences only give one small bit of the meaning. The rest is implied. One must go very deep beneath the surface to understand the full meaning of his writing.

Hemingway Code Hero（海明威式英雄）：Hemingway Code Hero，also called code hero，is one who，wounded but strong more sensitive，enjoys the pleasures of life in face of ruin and death，and maintains，through some notion of a code，an ideal of himself.

Stream of consciousness（意识流）: it is one of the modern literary techniques. It is the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images as the character experiences them.

Local color/regionalism: local color is a term applied to literature which emphasizes its settings, being concerned with the character of a district or of an area, as marked by its customs, dialects, landscape or other peculiarities that have escaped standardizing cultural influences. American Puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace form God. As a culture heritage, Puritanism did have a profound influence on the early American mind.

Washington Irving 华盛顿.欧文

1.A History of New York《纽约外史》

2. The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

3."Rip Van Winkle"《瑞普.凡.温克尔》

4."The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."《睡谷的传说》

Edgar Allan Poe埃德加.艾伦.坡

1.The Fall of the House of Usher《厄舍府的倒塌》代表作

2.The Murders in the Rue Morgue《莫格街谋杀案》

3..The Cask of Amontillado《一桶蒙特亚白葡萄酒》

4.《The Raven》乌鸦

5.《To Helen》致海伦

6.Annabel Lee《安娜贝尔?李》

Henry David Thoreau亨利?戴维?梭罗

1. Walden《瓦尔登湖》

Nathaniel Hawthorne 纳撒尼尔.霍桑

1.Twice-Told Tales《尽人皆知的故事》

Washington Irving 华盛顿.欧文

1.A History of New York《纽约外史》

2. The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

3."Rip Van Winkle"《瑞普.凡.温克尔》

4."The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."《睡谷的传说》

Edgar Allan Poe埃德加.艾伦.坡

1.The Fall of the House of Usher《厄舍府的倒塌》代表作

2.The Murders in the Rue Morgue《莫格街谋杀案》

3..The Cask of Amontillado《一桶蒙特亚白葡萄酒》

4.《The Raven》乌鸦

5.《To Helen》致海伦

6.Annabel Lee《安娜贝尔?李》

Henry David Thoreau亨利?戴维?梭罗

1. Walden《瓦尔登湖》

Nathaniel Hawthorne 纳撒尼尔.霍桑

1.Twice-Told Tales《尽人皆知的故事》

2.Mosses from an Old Manse《古屋青苔》

3.The Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales

4.The Scarlet Letter《红字》

5. The House of. the Seven Gables有七个尖角阁的房子》

6.The Blithedale Romance《福谷传奇》

7.The Marble Faun《玉石雕像》

8."Young Goodman Brown,"《小伙子布朗》

Herman Melville 赫尔曼.麦尔维尔

1.Moby-Dick《白鲸》

2.Billy Budd《比利.伯德》

3.Typee《泰比》

4. Omoo《奥穆》

5. Mardi《玛地》

6.Redburn《雷得本》

7. White Jacket《白外衣》

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow亨利?沃兹沃斯?朗费罗

1. V oices of the Night《夜吟》

2. Evangeline《伊凡吉》

3.ballads and other poem 《歌谣及其他》

4.the psalm of life 《人生颂》

5.the song of Hiawatha 《海华沙之歌》

Walt Whitman 华尔特.惠特曼

1. Leaves of Grass《草叶集》

2."Song of Myself.《自我之歌》

3.Drum Taps《鼓点》

Mark Twain 马克.吐温

1.Adventures of Huckleberry Finn《哈克贝利.芬历险记》

2. Life on the Mississippi《密西西比河上的生活》

3."The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,"

4.Innocents Abroad《傻瓜出国记》

5.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer《汤姆。索娅历险记》

6.The Gilded Age《镀金时代》

7. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court《亚瑟王宫

廷中的美国佬》

8.The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson《布丁。海德威尔逊的悲剧》

9.The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

Henry James 亨利.詹姆斯

1. Daisy Miller《黛西.米勒》

2.The Portrait of A Lady 《贵妇人的画像》

3.Novels like The Bostonians《波士顿人》

4.The Wings of the Dove《鸽翼》

6.The Golden Bowl《金碗》

Theodore Dreiser西奥多?德莱塞

1.Sister Carrie《嘉莉妹妹》

Robert Lee Frost罗伯特. 弗罗斯特

1.A Boy's Will《一个男孩的意愿》

2.North of Boston《波斯顿以北》

3.Mountain Interval《山间低地》

4.New Hampshire《新罕布什尔》

5.After Apple-Picking《波斯顿以北》

Ezra Loomis Pound埃兹拉. 庞德

1. In a Station of the Metro在地铁车站

2. Hugh Selwyn Mauberley 休.赛尔温.莫伯利

3. The Cantos诗章

Ernest Hemingway 欧内斯特.海明威

1.The Sun Also Rises《太阳照样升起》

2.A Farewell to Arms 《永别了，武器》

3.For Whom the Bell Tolls《丧钟为谁敲响》

4.The Old Man and the Sea《老人与海》

5..Men Without Women《没有女人的男人》

6. .The Snows of Kilimanjaro《乞力马扎罗之雪》

7..To Have and Have Not 《有钱人和没钱人》

Scott Fitzgerald 弗.斯科特.菲茨杰拉德

1.This Side of Paradise 《人间天堂》

2.Tender Is the Night《夜色温柔》

3.The Great Gatsby 《了不起的盖茨比》

William Faulkner 威廉.福克纳

1. The Sound and the Fury《喧哗与骚动》.

2. Light in August《八月之光》

3. Absalom, Absalom!《押沙龙，押沙龙》

4. Go Down, Moses《摩西，走下去》

5. A Rose for Emily《纪念爱米丽的玫瑰》

Poor Richard?s Almanac Benjamin Franklin

The Song of Hiawatha Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The History of New York Washington Irving

The Sketch Book Washington Irving The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Raven Edgar Allan Poe

The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allan Poe

The House of Seven Gables Nathaniel Hawthorne Light in August William Faulkner

Dry September William Faulkner

The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner Jennie Gerhardt Theodore Dreiser

The Gilded Age Mark Twain

The Pisan Cantos Ezra Pound

Simple Speaks His Mind Langston Hughes Tender Is the Night Francis Scott Fitzgerald Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain

An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser Chapter 3 Questions about Rip Van Winkle

through?

Answers He sleep through American Independent War.

2. Why was Rip Van Winkle so surprised when he returned to the village?

Answers He knew nobody of the village. The villagers, dress was in a different fashion, and he also found his beard had grown a foot long. The village was lager and more populous. His house had fallen and his dog had forgotten him.

3. What comparison is Irving implying when he states at the end of the story that Dame Van Winkle’s death has released Rip from “petticoat government”？

Answers: “petticoat government” means Rip?s wife?s government to him .His wife?s death released Rip, he is not annoyed by his wife anymore, he eventually gets out of his wife?s control .The “petticoat government” symbolizes the colonial government，so it implies Americans becomes independent and out of Britain?s control .

4. How much effect did American Revolution have on daily life of the common people?

Answers:

Dress: their dress was of a different fashion from that to which he was accustomed

Village: the village was larger and more populous, the familiar haunts had disappeared, flag was an assemblage of stars and stripes

Topics: Before, common people were just gossiping, but now, they talked about rights of citizens, elections, members of congress, liberty, Bunker^ hill, heroes of seventy-six, and other words, which he couldn?t understand.

5. Analyze the humorous elements in Rip Van Winkle? Answers illogical sentence: t4His fences were continually falling to pieces, his cow would either go astray or get among the cabbages....as he had some outdoor work to do, unsuitable words: “sessions ”，“profound”, “junto”，“patriarch”

Irony: “_"if so, Rip Van Winkle was thrice blessed?，，“thrice blessed? ?here is an irony.

Metaphor: “in the fiery furnace of domestic tribulation...'an d “the fiery furnace” is a

Metaphor，the writer put his wife?s bad temper as “fiery furnace”

Hyperbole, Simile

Chapter 3 Questions about the Scarlet Letter

1. Who empowers Dimmesdale to stand on the scaffold?

Answers his love for God, love for Pearl, and his guilty empowers him to stand on the scaffold.

2. Why does Dimmesdale want to reveal?

Answers: Because his love of god and he want to get redemption.

3. Why does Chillingworth try desperately to stop Dimmesdale from confessing his sins on the scaffold? Answers because he want to revenge.

4. This novel makes extensive use of symbols. How do they help develop the themes and characters in the novel? Answers: the letter A: Adultery: the heroine commits adultery at first

Able/Alone/Alienation/Art: She couldn?t be accepted by the country people, she goes to live in the seaside with her daughter lonely? so it represent “Alone，?. Hester lives on embrodinary and some other works, she is efficient in embrodinary, so here “A” represent “Art” and “Able”Affection: Hester thinks she loves Dimmesdale

Angel rat last of the novel, an angel composes of many stars lights up the sky

Author Dimmesdale: This name can be short for “AD”, it can be the first two letters of

“Adultery”, and also the first two letters of “Adam”, who steal the forbidden fruit.

Scaffold：It represents the doctrines of Puritanism, and also shows the three people are the sacrifice of religion.

5. What is the narrative point of the novel? And what is the effect of the narrative point of view?

Answers ln an omniscient point and free indirect speech, know everything of everybody

Chapter 4 Questions about Sister Carrie

chapter? Name them.

Answers:

—scene 1: Hurstwood want to commit suicide and become a begger.

~scene2: Hurstwood went to broad way and want to get something from Carrie, but he failed to do meet her. —scene3: The description of surroundings and Hurstwood made a decision.

—scene4: The conversation between Lola and Carrie —scene5: Drouet is a playboy.

—scene6: The conversation between Mrs.Hurstwood and her daughter and her son-in-law.

—scene7: Many people waited for a Lotty house, and finally Hurstwood got one and he committed suicide.

—scene8 Carrie?s success but she feels lonely.

2. Why does Carrie still suffer from unsatisfied desires after she became successful?

Answers: According to the theory of Maslow's need, people …s needs have many levels from the basic one to the higher one .Once people achieve the lower needs they always want to pursue the higher ones .So for Carrie, she wanted to achieve self-actualization, so she still suffers from the unsatisfied desire.

3. How do you see Dreiser’s naturalism influencing his works in Sister Carrie

Answers: the rules of …survival the fittest? completely reflects in the novel?

4. Discuss the character of Carrie and her relationships with Drouet and Hurswood.

Answers:

The character of Carrie: Carrie is a girl who tries her hard in the brutal society. She has confronted with great difficulties, in order to live, she bear all the sufferings and succeed at last, relationships with Drouet: when Carrie first come to the city, Drouet helped her lot, but Drouet just a playboy, he was not love Carrie.

Relationships with Hurswood: Hurswood loves Carrie deeply, he can give up all he had possessed for Carrie.

Chapter 5 Questions about Indian Camp

does the story describe? Has the relationship changed? Why and how does it change?

-Answers: At the very beginning, the relationship between Nick and his father is very anaclitic. Then after a series of experience he had got through, their relationship changed, he is not so satisfied with his father, and on the other hand, he become understand something by his own learning. At the end of the novel, Nick and his father's relationship become remote.

2. Why did the husband kill himself?

Answers:①His foot had been cut by the ax.

②His wife had been trying to have baby for 2 days. He had listened to his wife?s scream for 2 days, he felt very worried, but nothing he can do nothing for it. His esteem had been trampled.

(3)As an Indian he is, while the doctor is a white man, he had been suffered the racial mortification. ④He want to let his death to revolt his esteem.

?His pain to torment him both physically and mentally

3. What does the last sentence mean?

-Answers: His will is the unconquerable will, i.e. is a kind of grace under pressure.

4. What did Nick learn from his witnessing both birth and death over one night?

Answers: He would never die.

Chapter 5 Questions about the Great Gatsby

according to the narrator?

Answers: It is a kind of luxurious Party.

2, What kind people would attend the parties according to the narrator?

Answers: The people who wandering around every day, and the golden girl.

3, What is your impression on Gatsby after reading the text? Answers: At the very beginning, he is very mystery, at the end of the novel he is very pitiable and obstinate.

4, What is the theme of the novel?

Answers: The theme of the novel is to discuss the life of Gatsby. lt is an ironic about the pursue of American Dream. 5, Analyze the symbols in this chapter.

Answers:

West egg/East egg: West egg symbolized the rich and the wealth, the East egg symbolize the higher social classes, who have owned eminent status.

Morth: it is symbolized the short duration of happiness, and it will goes to destruction.

The color: Yellow/Golden symbolized the money and wealth, the corruption and luxurious of the life, Blue/Green symbolized the sad, sorrow, and hope, nature, vigor. The …white …symbolized the vanity of Daise?s inner side, and her pale.