美国文学史梗概
一、殖民地时代和美国建国初期
最早来自这片新大陆的欧洲移民主要是定居在新英格兰的清教徒和马萨诸塞的
罗马天主教徒，二者虽然在教义上有很多不同之处，但他们都信奉加尔文主义：人生在世只是为了受苦受难，而他们唯一的希望是争做上帝的“选民”，死后进天国，相信“原罪”。这时的文学作品也主要反映了这些思想，和欧洲文学一脉相承。
代表作家：考顿·马瑟，乔纳森·爱德华兹，安妮·布拉兹特里特，爱德华·泰勒。
二、18世纪独立战争胜利后，美国经济社会进入稳步发展时期
这一时期是启蒙主义文学运动的时期，主要文学指导思想是“自然神论”（Deism），强调理性，认为“宇宙的运动始于上帝”；自然万物是“神的体现”，人生在世，不再是受苦受难以换取来世的新生，而是要消灭种族、性别和信仰的不平等，建立自己的“人间乐园”。
主要特点：作家多是美国独立战争的积极拥护者和参加者；文学指导思想除了自然神论之外还有“唯理主义”和“新古典主义”，18世纪末还开始萌发了“早期浪漫主义”；文学种类主要有历史、日记和政论，也有诗歌，讽刺小品和劝人向善的故事，18世纪末还产生了话剧。
启蒙运动中出现大量优秀的散文作品，并多出自开国元勋之手，如本杰明·富兰克林，托马斯·潘恩，以及托马斯·杰斐逊。
三、19世纪南北战争时期
这一时期的文学先后发展了浪漫主义，现实主义和自然主义。
浪漫主义：18世纪70年代－19世纪30年代是浪漫主义发展的初期，南北战争前30年（1830－1860）为极盛时期，南北战争后10年逐渐衰微并向现实主义过度。浪漫主义注重“想象”、“激情”和“个性解放”，认为人本质是善良的，铲除邪恶和拯救人类的手段是抛弃一切传统束缚，摧毁一切陈规陋习而回归到“自然的原始状态中去。超验主义是其一分支，强调“天人合一”，认为上帝、人类和自然都是“超灵”的组成部分。
代表作家及作品：爱默生《自然》，索罗《瓦尔登湖》，霍桑《红字》，麦尔维尔《白鲸》，惠特曼《草叶集》。
现实主义：是美国政治、经济发展的必然产物，西部开拓运动、工业化、科学技术的进步都促进了其发展。现实主义的作家一般为实用主义和民主主义的信徒，他们追求和反映的是具有具有显而易见效果并被经验证实了的相对真理，他们创作题材的是普通人平常事，是中产阶级艺术的最高表现。
豪威尔斯是现实主义的奠基人，他发现了马克·吐温，鼓励和帮助了亨利·詹姆斯，影响了自然主义作家弗兰·克诺里斯和斯蒂芬·克莱恩。
自然主义：是现实主义的发展和继续，是现实主义与19世纪科学所强调的“分析法”和“因果律”互相结合的产物，有时被称为“悲观的现实主义”，认为人是一种软弱无能的动物，被置于机械化的世界汇总而成为这一世界中难以驾御的几种势力（包括环境、自然、遗传等）的牺牲品
其里程碑是：19世纪70、80年代左拉的小说的出版，90年代克莱恩的《红色英勇徽章》，1900年德莱塞《嘉莉妹妹》，1912年《金融家》，1925年《美国的悲剧》。
四、20世纪美国文学经历了两次世界大战，跨越了三个时代
a) 斯文时代（1880－1914，The Genteel Age）：这是一个跨世纪的，美国经济繁荣的时代。此时的美国文学与欧洲文学之间有着某种暧昧关系，本质上是欧洲式的和美国的小欧洲新英格兰式的。此时以西奥多·罗斯福为代表的民族主义在文学上有着强烈的反映，人们还念念不忘美国与欧洲的文化联系与差异。
b) 爵士时代（1918－1929, The Jazz Age）：一战后，产生了一代不受约束，幻想破灭了和玩世不恭的年青人，被格特鲁德·斯坦因称为“迷惘的一代”。
c) 经济萧条时代（1929－1941，The Depression Era）：20年代的玩世不恭的态度在此时转化为一种愤愤不平的悲观主义，30年代美国文学转向了“社会抗议文学”，“心理之学”和追求人的精神世界。
美国文学先后经历了现代主义，和后现代主义思潮：
现代主义：一战后到50年代，是一场自觉地反传统的文学艺术运动，表现无意识的荒谬心态，如斯坦因，乔伊斯的小说，运用意识流的手法，如福克纳的《喧哗与骚动》和《我弥留之际》；在组织构架上偏爱用神话，如艾略特的《荒原》，庞德的《诗章》，乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》；风格上以“意象”为主，语言上主张简洁、准确；题材上主要反映一战参与者的生活、思想、感情和前途命运，如多斯珀索斯的《三个士兵》，海明威的《太阳照样升起》，《永别了，武器》，描写了精神崩溃与幻想破灭的一代人。
邪恶是这是文学的主要题材之一，艾略特、弗罗斯特、奥尼尔、卡明斯、埃利森的作品中都有体现。
后现代主义：在二战后，纳粹极权主义大屠杀、原子弹、自然环境的破坏、世界人口过剩和饥荒造成西方人的精神摧残与危机，作家继续进行现代主义反传统的文艺实验，而且企图与当时业已形成规范的现代主义文艺形式决裂。后现代主义主张否定社会秩序，表现支离破碎的世界，认为文艺批评就是现象学形式的理论。此时，美国黑人文学，犹太文学，南方文学，反战文学和女权主义文学竞相发展。
小说家托马斯·品钦，诗人西尔维亚·普莱斯，戏剧家艾玛穆·阿米里·巴拉卡为典型的后现代主义作家。
索尔·贝娄，艾伦·金斯伯格，拉尔夫·埃里森，田纳西·威廉斯，阿瑟·密勒和爱德华·阿尔比是从现代主义向后现代主义过渡的著名作家。
20世纪美国文学的两个特征：
1. 现代主义作家一般是反对传统观念而提倡“个人主义”的或者说他们打破了美国社会、道德和文学的常规。
2. 现代作家潜心探索一种真正属于美国人民的写作手法和语言风格，他们试图以纯美国的方式进行创作。
英国的是我的笔记
英国文学史笔记
英国文学史笔记
1. Childe Harold’s Pilipimage
the poem tells of Childe Harold’s (A youth of noble birth) travels in Europe. Harold is young aristocrat whose “world-weariness” be speaks his loathing fo r English high society ,He leaves him country to escape from the society he hears and hates being solitary and melancholy he seek the company ship of mountains and seas .But beneath this melancholia(精神忧郁症) is a sad earnest a suffering young man of ardent feelings with a keen understanding and a strong love of freedom .Besides Harold’s impressions of the countries he visits. The poem in interspersed with a lyrical out bursts representing Byron’s own philosophical and political views .At First the views are express through the mouth of Hreold ,but by and by the creator and the creation become one the poet steps from the backstage to the fore and speaks directory to the audience himself.
2. The cricissitudes of his life and his adventures in many countries are described against caries social backgrounds and he is seen to take part in
different historical events this giving amid panorama of contemporary life (ababcc )
3. Don Juan
Don Juan is Byron’s masterpiece writer in the prime of his creative pow er .His aim was to remove the choak which the manners and max of high society throw over their secret signs and show that to the world as they are .He called this poem an epic satire .A satire on abuse of the present state of society almost all Don Juan is real life .Either my own of from people I know. In Don Juan Byron displayed his genius as romanticist and a realist simultaneously
4. Ozymandias
The author shows his strong love behavior and his consistent hatred for tyranny. In this poem he also expresses his long for the nevenage of a once tyrannical King.
5. Ode to the West Wind
The west wind is considered a “destroyer” because it drive the last sign of life from trees, it’s is also considered the “preserver” because it scatters the seas which was come to life in spring.
6. To a Sky-Lark
The author portrays the softy flight of the sky-lark, the west wind and the
sky-lark are symbols of freedom spiritual vitality that the poet want to possess desperate his bitter criticism of the harsh society. The poet fuses in both poems a note of optimism of promising for humanity.
7. John Keats
About poem: To Keats poetry exist for it’s own sake if preoccupy with philosophy or politic or any course at all, it will lose it’s own identity or quality Aim: Keats was not only the last but the most perfect of Romanticist the only artistic aim in this poetry was to create a beautiful world imagination as apposed to the Sophie realistic of his days
创作原则: "beauty is truth, truth beauty " at the bottom of his poem lies his this satisfaction with the society in which he lied and experienced great miseries and sufferings
8. On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer
韵律韵脚：ABBA，ABBA，CDCD，CD（意大利）
9. Ode to a Nightingale
In this poem the author express his wishes to free himself form the burden of human cares and anxieties and to moaners himself in a world of beauty together with the bird
10. What is the genre of English literature in the 19th century
So far as the literary form for genre is concerned, the main contribution made by the 19th century critical realists lies in their perfection of the novel. Like the realists of 18th century, the 19th century critical realists made use of the broad canvas of novel for full and detailed representations of social and political events, and of the fate of individuals and of hole social classes. However, the realistic novels of 19th century went further than those of 18th century in fact they not only pictured the conflicts between separate individuals who stood for definite social strata(circle), but also showed the broad social conflicts over and above the fate of the mere individual
11. The 19th century realists’ strength.
The English realists of the 19th century not only give a satiric portal of a bourgeois and all the classes, but also showed the profound sympathy for the common people classes, but also showed the profound sympathy for the common people. In their best works the greed and hypocrisy of upper classes are contrasted with the onshest and good heartedness of the sympathy men of the lower classes. Hence humor and satire are used; humor is tinged with lyricism and servers to stress the human qualities of positive characters. However, bitter satire is used to expose the seamy side of rural society, through the stretches of various negative characters given birth to by the capitalist system, critical realism reveals the corrupting influence of rule of cosy upon human nature. Here lies in the democratic and humanistic character of critical realism and … in the 19th century
12. The 19th century realists’ weakness
The critical realists of the 19th century did not, and, due to their world outlook, could, not, find a way to eradicate social evils. They did not realize the massive of changing bourgeoisie society, they were unable to find a good solution to the social contradictions, the chief tendency in their works is not a revolution but rather a reformism: they often start with a powerful exposure of the ugliness of the bourgeoisie world, merely to close in a much too co-incidental happy ending or an impotent compromise(So we can see at once the …)
13. Characteristics of critical realism
In general the critical realists described with much vivid and great artistic skill. The chief traits of the English society and criticized the capitalized system. from a democratic view point:
1Critical realism is reflection of the reality with objectivity specificity and facility 2It is an intense exposure and criticism of greed and hypocrisy of ruling class 3The representative characters depicted within the prevented surrounding unfair both to the summit
14. Analysis of Oliver twist
Oliver Twist tells the story of an orphan boy, whose adventures provide a description of the lower depths of London.
? In the preface to the novel, Dickens proclaims himself a realist:
He makes his readers aware of the inhumanity of city life under capitalism. The first eleven chapters provide a most bitter and thoroughgoing exposure of the terrible conditions in the English workhouse of the time and the cruel treatment of a poor orphan by all sorts of “philanthropists” 慈善家.
The famous scene in Chapter II, in which Oliver was beaten up and punished merely because he ventured to ask for an extra portion of gruel to alleviate his intolerable hunger, is only one of the many details to show the extreme brutality and corruption of the oppressors and their agents.
It is in scenes like this we see the great critical realist voicing the helpless sufferings of the poor and the oppressed.
? Dickens succeeds in calling forth the reader’s sympathy for the lower classes:
In the vivid description of the thieves’ den and of the under-world of London, Dickens succeeds in calling forth the reader’s sympathy for the down-trodden people of the lower classes, who, degraded and corrupted by the social environment of the time, either climb up to be parasites 寄生虫of oppressors or fall to be victims of society or even criminals. Among the characters of the lower strata, Oliver is the only one who emerges happy and successful in the end.
This happy issue/ending which Dickens’ nov els usually end in comes about as a result of his optimistic belief in the inevitable triumph of good over evil.
Defects of the novel:
1. The improbability of the plot:
Toward the end of the novel, the plot gets to be very intricate and the reader is simply mystified, and when the mystery is finally revealed to him, he is faced with impossible coincidences which lead to the happy ending.
At critical moments Oliver has been once and again saved by “kindly” gentlefolk, who happen to be his parents’ k ith and kin. 亲属
2. The unconvincingness of some characters.
Oliver himself is a pale figure who seems to be the helpless victim of fate. Fagin and Bill Sikes are too inhuman to be true, while the rich Mr. Brownlow and Miss Maylie are vaguely pictured as benevolent and good.
Here we may see that—
Dickens, while sympathizing with the miseries of the people, did not know what or who was responsible for such miseries and even cherished some illusion about rich and idle people like Mr. Brownlow and Miss Maylie. The whole social question, in Dickens’ opinion, would be settled if only every employer followed the example set by “good gentlemen” like Brownlow.
15. Women’s novelists in 19th century
Women novelists began to appear in England during the second half of the
18th century, but some gifted women of the 19th century made such contributions to the English novel that they have justifiably won their places in the front ranks of the brilliant realists headed by Dickens and Thackeray. These remarkable women novelists are Jane Austen, George Eliot and the Bronte sisters.
I .Jane Austen
Founder of the novel which deals with unimportant middle class people.
Her works:
Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Persuasion
II. George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
Novels:
Adam Bede (first)《亚当贝德》
The Mill on the Floss 《弗洛斯河上的磨坊》
Silas Marner 《织工马南》
Adam Bede is a novel of moral conflicts, showing the contest of personal desires, passions, temperament, human weakness and the claims of moral duty. In the novel, the two pairs of lovers, Arthur and Hetty, and Adam and Dinah are described in contrast to each other. The former are shown to be always thinking of their own interests without any consideration of others, while the latter pair are endowed with high moral principles which guide their conduct for the good of others and themselves.
According to Eliot, the moral principles of man are closely connected with the “religion of heart”. This shows the influence of the bourgeois positive philosophy which seeks to reconcile science with religion and to prove the possibility of social harmony and concord in the capitalist society.
Analysis to George Eliot and her works: the novels of George Eliot mark the beginning of a new stage in the development of English critical realism following that of Dickens and Thackeray. Her characters were not grotesque types, but real, common men and women, but in other aspects her work marks retrogression. She shifted the centre of gravity in the novel from the social problems to the problems of religion and morality. While being aware of the evils of bourgeois society, she did not attack the social system. She believed in the sentimental “religion of humanity”, and cherished the illusion that humanity and love could do away with the evils
of capitalism.
III The Bronte Sisters
I. Charlotte Bronte
a. The Lowood school is the embodiment of the bourgeois principles of education, the aim of which is to bring up obedient slaves for the rich.
b. Another problem raised in the novel is the position of women in society. Jane Eyre maintains that women should have equal rights with men.
c. Charlotte Bronte attacked the greed, petty tyranny and lack of cul-ture among the bourgeoisie and sympathized with the sufferings of the poor people. Her realism was colored by petty-bourgeois philanthropy. Like Dickens, she believed that education was the key to all social problems, and that by the improvement of the school system and teaching, most of the evils of capitalism could be remove
d.
16. A brief review of historical backgrounds of 20th century
In the period of the transition between the 19th and 20th century the British Empire in the reign of Queen Victoria fell into a decline from the summit of its worldwide supremacy.
In the mean time, capitalistic Europe was divided into hostile camps for the colonial division of the world.
In 1917 the October Revolution broke out in Russia and a socialist state emerged.
1929 a great economic crisis in the capitalist world caused an unprecedented economic depression in Britain.
17. The definition of Stream of Consciousness
Stream of Consciousness is a narrative technique that presents as if they were coming directly from a character’s mind. Lacking chronological order, the events in a stream of consciousness narrative are presented from the character’s point of view, mixed in with the characters’ ongoing feelings and memories.
Developed by writers as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf,
stream-of-consciousness writing is used to reveal a character’s complex psychology and to present it in realist detail. The novelists demonstrated an awareness of the inner workings of the mind. One’s present was believed to be the sum of his past. Time was no longer a series of chronological moments to be presented by the novelists in sequence, but as a continuous flow in the consciousness of the individual
18. Thomas Hardy
1). representative works.
Tess of the d’Urbervilles, far from the Madding Crowd, under the Greenwood, the Reture of the Native, the Mayor of Casterbridge, Jude the Obscure.
2). Hardy’s position in English literature.
The last and one of the greatest Victorian novelists.
3). theme.
Tess of the d’Urbervilles tells the tragic life story of a beautiful country girl. It is a fierce attack on the hypocritical morality of the society and the political status quo in England. The misery and tragedy of Tess rise to a bitter cry of protest and denunciation of the society.
Hardy became more and more convinced that mankind is subjected to the rule of some hostile mysterious fate, which brings misfortune to human life. So, there is a strong naturalistic tendency in the novel.
“Justice was done, and the Precedence of the Immortals had ended his sport with Tess.”
I. Consolidation and practice
Compare the two main figures: Tess and Angel
Tess: pure, simple
Angel: hypocritical and selfish
Angel is no angel at all, but an ordinary man. Tess has forgiven him, but he cannot forgive Tess.
II. Summary
The dominance of the novel which began in the Victorian Age, continued and increased during the
美国文学史复习提纲 名词解释
I. Explain the following literary terms(名词解释). 1. Romanticism The most profound and comprehensive idea of romanticism is the vision of a greater personal freedom for the individual. Appeals to imagination; Stress on emotion rather than reason; optimism, gen iality. Subjectivity: in form and meaning. 2 American transcendentalism American transcendentalism was an important movement in philosophy and literature that flourished during the early to middle years of the nineteenth century (about 1836-1860). For the transcendentalists, the soul of each individual is identical with the soul of the world and contains what the world contains. 3 Realism: ―nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material.‖ the Civil war a. verisimilitude of details derived from observation b. representative in plot, setting and character c. an objective rather than an idealized view of human experience or（American Realism: In American literature, the Civil War brought the Romantic Period to an end. The Age of Realism came into existence. It came as a reaction against the lie of romanticism and sentimentalism. Realism turned from an emphasis on the strange toward a faithful rendering of the ordinary, a slice of life as it is really lived. It expresses the concern for commonplace and the low, and it offers an objective rather than an idealistic view of human nature and human experience.） 4. Modernism like modernism in general is a trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve, and reshape their environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, and is thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic. The general term covers many political, cultural and artistic movements rooted in the changes in Western society at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. American modernism is an artistic and cultural movement in the United States starting at the turn of the 20th century with its core period between World War I and World War II and continuing into the 21st century. 5、American Puritanism: Puritanism is the practices and beliefs of the Puritans. The Puritans were originally members of a division of the Protestant Church. The first settlers who became the founding fathers of the American nation were quite a few of them. They were a group of serious, religious people, advocating highly religious and moral principles. As the word itself hints, Puritans wanted to purity their religious beliefs and practices. They accepted the doctrine of 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. American Puritanism also had a enduring influence on American literature. 6、Transcendentalism: In New England, an intellectual movement known as transcendentalism developed as an American version of Romanticism. The movement began among an influential set of authors based in Concord, Massachusetts and was led by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Like Romanticism, transcendentalism rejected both 18th century rationalism and established religion, which for the transcendentalists meant the Puritan tradition in particular. The transcendentalists celebrated the power of the human imagination to commune with the universe and transcend the limitations of the material world. They found their chief source of inspiration in nature. Emerson’s essay Nature was the major document of the transcendental school and stated the ideas that were to remain central to it. 7、Free verse: free verse is the rhymed or unrhymed poetry composed without attention to conventio nal rules of meter. Free verse was first written and labeled by a group of French poets of the late 19th century. Their purpose was to deliver poetry from the restrictions of formal metrical patterns and to recreate the free rhythms of natural speech. Walt Whitman was the precursor who wrote lines of varying length and cadence, usually not rhymed. The emotional content or meaning of the work was expressed through its rhythm. Free verse has been characteristic of the work of many modern American poets, including Ezra Pound and Carl Sandburg. 8、Naturalism: A more deliberate kind of realism in novels, stories and plays, usually involving a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment. Naturalism was a new and harsher realism. It
美国文学史总结
ⅠColonial America(17th century)殖民主义时期文学 1.In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered America and he mistook the native people on the new continent for Indians. Character of colonial literature: a.content: religious, political b.form: diary, journal, letters, travel books, sermons, history (personal literature) c.Style: simple. direct, concise d.out of humble origins Early in the 17th century, the English settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts began the main stream of what we recognize as the American national history. The earliest settlers in America included Dutch, Swedes, Germans, French, Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese. The first permanent English settlement in North America was established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607(北美弗吉尼亚詹姆斯顿) 2.Captain Town Smith, the first American writer 3.Puritan Thoughts: hard work, thrift(节俭), piety(虔诚), sobriety(节制), 这些也成了早期 美国作品主导思想. 典型的清教徒：John Cotton & Roger William, John Cotton was called “the Patriarch of New England(新英格兰教父)” 清教徒采用的文学体裁：narratives(日记) and journals(游记) 清教徒在美国的写作内容： 1）Their voyage to the new land 2）Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops 3）About dealing with Indians 4）Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit 4.Private literature: theological, moral, historical, political 5.The work of two writers, Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor, rose to the level of real poetry. Anne Bradstreet is one of the most interesting of the early poets, 英国最早移民到美国的诗人. The best of the Puritan poets was Edward Taylor. ⅡReason and Revolution(18th century)理性和革命时期文学 1.The War for Independence (1776-1783) ended in the formation of a Federative bourgeois democratic republic - the United States of America. 2.Bourgeois Enlightenment 3.Benjamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanac(穷人理查德的年鉴), an annual collection of proverbs. The Autobiography, 18世纪美国唯一流传至今的自传 ?The Autobiography is, first of all, a Puritan document. It is Puritan because it is a record of self-examination and self-improvement. The Puritans, as a type, were very much given to self-analysis. ?The Autobiography shows Franklin was spokesman for the new order of 18th-century Enlightenment, and that he represented in America all its ideas, that man is basically good and free, by nature endowed by God with certain inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
美国文学史常耀信版
美国文学史常耀信版 很有用的哦！ 2008-08-10 22:02 阅读206 评论0 字号：大中小 美国文学史常耀信版 美国文学 Part 1. Colonial America浪漫主义American Romanticism(1815-1865) 早期浪漫主义early romanticism——Irving欧文, Cooper库柏, Bryant布莱恩特 先验主义transcendentalism and symbolic representation——Emerson 爱默森，Margaret Fuller玛格丽特福勒，Thoreau 梭罗 三位重要的小说家——Hawthorne 霍桑，Melville 梅尔维尔，Poe 坡 二位重要的诗人——Whitman 惠特曼，Dickinson 狄更生 现实主义American Realism（1865-1914） 带有地方色彩的写作local color writing——Mark Twain马克吐温 现实主义literary realism——James 詹姆士，Howells 豪斯尔斯 自然主义literary naturalism——Garland 加兰特，Grane 格雷恩，Frank Norris 弗兰克诺里斯，Jack London 杰克伦敦，Theodore Dreiser 西奥多德莱塞 现代主义American Modernism(1914-1945) 现代主义在欧洲American modernism in Europe——Gerturde Stein 格特鲁德斯坦因，Ezra Pound 艾兹拉庞德，Amy Lowell 艾米洛威尔，H.D.(Hilda Doolittle) 杜丽埃尔 战时的现代派小说modern fiction between the wars——William Faulkner 威廉福克纳，Hemingway 海明威，Fitzgerald 费兹杰罗，Passos 帕索斯，Steinbeck 斯坦贝克 现代派诗歌modern American poetry——T.S. Eliot 艾略特，Wallace Stevens 史蒂文斯，William Carols Williams 威廉姆斯，卡明斯 Thomas Paine托马斯?潘恩1737-1809 The Case of the Officers of Excise税务员问题；Common Sense常识；American Crisis美国危机；Rights of Man人的权利：Downfall of Despotism专制体制的崩溃；The Age of Reason理性时代 Philip Freneau菲利普?弗伦诺1752-1832 The Rising Glory of America蒸蒸日上的美洲；The British Prison Ship英国囚船；To the Memory of the Brave Americans 纪念美国勇士-----同类诗中最佳；The Wild Honeysuckle野生的金银花；The Indian Burying Ground印第安人殡葬地 Jonathan Edwards The Freedom of the Will The Great Doctrine of Original Sin defended The Nature of True Virtue Benjamin Franklin本杰明?富兰克林1706-1790 A Modest Inquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Moneyoor Richard’s Almanack穷查理历书；The Way to Wealth致富之道；The Autobiography自传 Part 2. American Romanticism Washington Irving华盛顿?欧文1783-1859 A History of New York纽约的历史-----美国人写的第一部诙谐文学杰作；The Sketch Book见闻札记The Legend of Sleepy Hollow睡谷的传说-----使之成为美国第一个获得国际声誉的作家；
美国文学史名词解释
1、the Lost Generation In general, the post-World War I generation, but specifically a group of U.S. writers who came of age during the war and established their literary reputations in the 1920s. The term stems from a remark made by Gertrude Stein to Ernest Hemingway, “You are all a lost generation.” Hemingway used it as an epigraph to The Sun Also Rises (1926). The generation was “lost” in the sense that its inherited values were no longer relevant in the postwar world and because of its spiritual alienation from a U.S. that, b asking under President Harding's “back to normalcy” policy, seemed to its members to be hopelessly provincial, materialistic, and emotionally barren. The term embraces Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, e.e. cummings and many other writers who made Paris the centre of their literary activities in the '20s. They were never a literary school. In the 1930s, as these writers turned in different directions, their works lost the distinctive stamp of the postwar period. The last representative works of the era were Fitzgerald's Tender Lost generation The lost generation is a term first used by Stein to describe the post-war I generation of American writers: men and women haunted by a sense of betrayal and emptiness brought about by the destructiveness of the war.2>full of youthful idealism, these individuals sought the meaning of life, drank excessively, had love affairs and created some of the finest American literature to date.3>the three best-known representatives of lost generation are F.Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway and John dos Passos. Lost generation The Lost Generation is a group of expatriate American writers residing primarily in Paris during the 1920s and 1930s. The group was given its name by the American writer Gertrude Stein, who used “a lost generation” to refer to expatriate Americans bitter about their World War I experiences and disillusioned with American society. Hemingway later used the phrase as an epigraph for his novel The Sun Also Rises. It consisted of many influential American writers, including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Carlos Williams and Archibald MacLeish. 2、Iceberg Theory It is a term used to describe the writing style of American writer Ernest Hemingway. The meaning of a piece is not immediately evident, because the crux of the story lies below the surface, just as most of the mass of a real iceberg similarly lies beneath the surface. Iceberg Theory Ernest Hemingway’s “iceberg theory” sugge sts that the writer include in the text only a small portion of what he knows, leaving about ninety percent of the content a mystery that grows beneath the surface of the writing. If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of
美国文学史总结
Part I The Literature of Co Ion ial Amer ica （殖民地时期的文学） Chap ter 1 John Smith约翰.史密斯 1. A True Relatio n of Such Occurre nces and Accide nts of Note as Hath Happe ned in Virgi nia Si nee the First Pla nting of That Colo ny 《自殖民地第一次在弗吉尼亚垦荒以来发生的各种事件的真实介绍》（1608） 2. A Map of Virgi nia with a Description of the Cou ntry 《弗吉尼亚地图，附：一个乡 村的描述》（1612） 3. The Gen eral History of Virgi nia. New En gla nd, and the Summer Isles 《弗吉尼亚 通史》（1624） Chapter 2 William Bradford （威廉.布拉德福德） Of Plymouth Pla ntatio n 《普利茅斯开发史》（1826） Joh n Win throp （约翰.温思罗普） The History of New En gla nd from 1630 to 1649 《新英格兰史》（1856）Chapter 3 Joh n Cotton （约翰.科登） Roger Williams （罗杰.威廉姆斯） A Key into the Language of America 《开启美国语言的钥匙》/《美国新英格兰地 区土着居民语言指南》 Chapter 4 Anne Bradstreet （安妮.布雷兹特里特）（女性作家） The Te nth Muse Lately Spru ng Up in America 《在美洲诞生的第十位缪斯》Edward Taylor （爱德华.泰勒）（女性作家） Psalms《诗篇》 Part II The Literature of Reason and Revolution （理性和革命时期文学） Chapter 5 Benjamin Franklin （本杰明.富兰克林） 1. Poor Richard ' s Almanac 《穷理查德年鉴》（1732-1758，1729年正式出版） 2. The Declarati on of In depe ndence 《独立宣言》（Fran klin & Jeffers on 杰弗逊） 3. The Autobiography 《自传》 4. Collect Works 《作品选集》 Chapter 6 Thomas Paine （托马斯.佩因） 1. The Caseof the Officers of the Excise 《收税官的案子》（1772）（his first pamphlet） 2. Com mon Se nse《常识》（1776） 3. The America Crisis 《美国危机》（1776-1883）（a series of sixteen pamphlets）（signed “ Com mon Sens” ） 4. Rights of Man 《人权》（I 1791 年，II 1792 年） 5. The Age of Reas on 《理性时代》 6. Agrarian Justice 《土地公平》（his last important treatise 他最后一部重要着作）Chapter 7
美国文学史期末参考复习资料
仅作参考，最主要还是要自己消化，整理 Chapter 1 Colonial Period 1. Puritanism: American puritans accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God. 2. Influence (1) A group of good qualities – hard work, thrift, piety, sobriety (serious and thoughtful) influenced American literature. (2) It led to the everlasting myth. All literature is based on a myth – garden of Eden. (3) Symbolism: the American puritan’s metaphorical mode of perception was chi efly instrumental in calling into being a literary symbolism which is distinctly American. (4) With regard to their writing, the style is fresh, simple and direct; the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible. II. Overview of the literature 1. types of writing diaries, histories, journals, letters, travel books, autobiographies/biographies, sermons 2. writers of colonial period (1) Anne Bradstreet (2) Edward Taylor III. Benjamin Franklin 1. life 2. works (1) Poor Richard’s Almanac (2) Autobiography 3. contribution (1) He helped found the Pennsylvania Hospital and the American Philosophical Society. (2) He was called “the new Prometheus who had stolen fire (electricity in this case) from heaven”. (3) Everything seems to meet in this one man –“Jack of all trades”. Herman Melville thus described him “master of each and mastered by none”. Chapter 2 American Romanticism Section 1 Early Romantic Period I. American Romanticism 1. Background (1) Political background and economic development (2) Romantic movement in European countries Derivative – foreign influence 2. features (1) American romanticism was in essence the expression of “a real new experience and contained “an alien quality” for the simple reason that “the spirit of the place” was radically new and alien. (2) There is American Puritanism as a cultural heritage to consider. American romantic authors tended more to moralize. Many American romantic writings intended to edify more than they entertained. (3) The “newness” of Americans as a nation is in connection with Am erican Romanticism. (4) As a logical result of the foreign and native factors at work, American romanticism was both imitative and independent. II. Washington Irving: Father of American Literature 1. several names attached to Irving (1) first American writer (2) the messenger sent from the new world to the old world (3) father of American literature 2. life 3. works (1) A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty (2) The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (He won a measure of international recognition with the publication of this.) (3) The History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (4) A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada (5) The Alhambra 4. Literary career: two parts (1) 1809~1832
美国文学史复习资料
美国文学史复习（colonialism) 第一部分殖民主义时期的文学 一、时期综述 1、清教徒采用的文学体裁：a、narratives 日记b、journals 游记 2、清教徒在美国的写作内容： 1）their voyage to the new land 2) Adapting themselves to unfamiliar climates and crops 3) About dealing with Indians 4) Guide to the new land, endless bounty, invitation to bold spirit 3、清教徒的思想： 1）puritan want to make up pure their religious beliefs and practices 净化信仰和行为方式 2) Wish to restore simplicity to church and the authority of the Bible to the theology. 重建教堂，提供简单服务，建立神圣地位 3）look upon themselves as chosen people, and it follow logically that anyone who challenged their way of life is opposing God's will and is not to be accepted. 认为自己是上帝选民，对他们的生活有异议就是反对上帝 4）puritan opposition to pleasure and the arts sometimes has been exaggerated. 反对对快乐和艺术的追求到了十分荒唐的地步5）religious teaching tended to emphasize the image of a wrathful God.强调上帝严厉的一面，忽视上帝仁慈的一面。 4、典型的清教徒：John Cotton & Roger William 他们的不同：John Cotton was much more concerned with authority than with democracy; William begins the history of religious toleration in America. 5、William的宗教观点：Toleration did not stem from a lack of religious convictions. Instead, it sprang from the idea that simply to be virtuous in conduct and devout in belief did not give anyone the right to force belief on others. He also felt that no political order or church system could identify itself directly with God. 行为上的德，信仰上的诚，并没有给任何人强迫别人该如何行事的权利。没有任何政治秩序和教会体制能够直接体现神本身的意旨。 6、英国最早移民到美国的诗人：Anne Bradstreet 7、在殖民时期最好的清教徒诗人：the best of Puritan poets is Edward Tayor. 学习指南： 1、Could you give a description of American Puritans? 关于美国清教徒的描绘 Like their brothers back in England, were idealists, believing that the church should be restored to the "purity" of the first-century church as established by Jesus Christ himself. To them religion was a matter of primary importance. They made it their chief business to see that man lived and thought and acted in a way which tended to the glory of God. They accepted the doctrine of predestination, original sin and total depravity, and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God, all that John Calvin, the great French theologian who lived in Geneva had preached. It was this kind of religious belief that they brought with them into the wildness. There they meaant to prove that were God's chosen people enjoying his blessings on this earth as in Heaven. 2、Hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety were the Puritan values that dominated much of the earliest American writing. 3、The work of two writers, Anne Bradstreet & Edward Taylor, rose to the level of real poetry.