美国文学question & answer
殖民启蒙时期feedback
Question 1:
What are the basic beliefs and values of American Puritans?
For this question, my intention is for you to understand the importance of Puritanism in American literature, especially in the colonial period. If there is only one key word for colonial literature, then it would be "Puritanism".
To answer this question, you can think from two different aspects. One is their religious belief and the other is life attitude or life values. Thus you can combine some of your classmates’ a nswers:
1. They believed Calvinism: original sin, total depravity, unconditional selection, limited atonement and so on.
Puritans believed they were God's chosen people and were guided to the promised land-- America.
2. On the one hand, Puritanism is a highly strict religious doctrine. On the other hand, Puritans were very practical, hardworking, frugal, and strict in life.
How did American Puritanism influence colonial literature?
The influence of Puritanism on colonial literature can be summarized into the following three categories:
1. American literature, in a sense, is a literary expression of the pious idealism of the Puritan request. The Puritans dreamed of living under a perfect order and worked with hope and courage toward building a new Eden. Therefore, they tended to look everything optimistically.
2. The Puritans’ metaphorical mode of perception brought American literary symbolism into being. To the pious Puritans, the world was one of multiple meanings.
3. The Puritan style of writing was fresh, simple and direct, the rhetoric was plain and honest, and the words were simple and not fancy. The use of metaphors was only to explain their opinions rather than to decorate. They wrote non-fictional prose instead of novels. They were good at writing history, too, and biography was once a popular form of literature.
Question 2
How was the theme "American Dream" reflected in both colonial and revolutionary literature? Give some examples.
American Dream is an enduring theme in the whole history of American literature. The idea of American Dream is older than the United States, dating back to the 1600s, when people began to come up with all kinds of hopes and aspirations志向for the new and
largely unexplored continent.
Essentially本质上, the American Dream is an idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, so all people have the potential to live happy and successful lives.
In both colonial and revolutionary period，w riter expressed the theme of “American Dream” with optimistic attitude.
For example, John Smith boasted the immigrants’ life in America in his A Map of Virginia, attracting more people to the new world to realize their American dreams.
浪漫主义feedback
Q1: compare American Romanticism & Transcendentalism.
A1: American romanticism is a literary movement in the US between 1800 and 1865. It stressed individual and creative function of imagination. It placed individual at the very center of all life and all experience and at the center of art.
Transcendentalism is a spiritual, philosophical and literary movement flourished during the mid-19th Century. Major concepts are: 1) Stress the power of intuition; 2)Spirit transcend matter; 3)Nature as symbolic of spirit or God; 4) Emphasize self-reliant individual; 5) Religion is an emotional communication between an individual soul and the universal oversoul; 6) Commerce was degrading.
Comparison: Transcendentalism is romanticism in essence. It shares the basic characteristics with romanticism, including the emphasis on individual, nature, emotions, feelings, and creative imagination. It is special in its emphasis on the goodness of human nature, the idea of self-reliance, and action.
Q2: How do you understand or interpret Washington Irving's negative attitude towards change at his time?
For the second question, in fact it is a question asked by two of your classmates after class. My intention is for you to have a discussion, why was Irving negative about the changes and development of the new country and why would his negative attitude be accepted by optimistic American readers at his time?
I think the answer given by the group of Class 2 is to the point and you can refer to their answer.
A2: Not only Rip Van Winkle or the author Irving himself felt confused about the rapid changes taken place in their new country, but also the general public in America had the feeling that the changes are too great and rapid for them to adapt to. Thus the negative attitude towards changes by the author reflected the common confusion of American people at that time.
Q3. What are the innovations创新in poetry in the high romantic period? Compare Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as poets in poetry creation.
The third question is about the poets in high romantic period. Most of you answered about the development of poetry in the whole romantic period. With Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as representative poets in the high romantic period, your answer to this question should focus on their innovations in their poems.
A3: Influenced by transcendental ideas, Whitman wrote about America in an American way. He developed free verse style, applied colloquial and slang words, and expressed his political opinions on democracy and individual. Dickinson created a very personal and original kind of poetry. The poems were irregular in rhythm and rhyme. Her facility才能with ballad情歌and hymn meter, her extensive use of dashes破折号and unconventional capitalization in her manuscripts, and her characteristic vocabulary and imagery combine to create a unique lyric style.
I have mentioned the comparison between the two poets in my lecture and most of your answers are right. The summary made by the group of Class 2 is very good by not simply copying my presentation. I also made some revisions to their answer.
A3: Similarities: They were both romantic poets. Both liked writing about nature, life and death. Both were influenced by transcendentalism. （Whitman’s detailed and vivid description allowed readers to form a clear picture of the scene in his head. Likewise, Dickinson’s use of personification causes the poem to come alive in the reader's mind.）What’s more, both of them broke away from the traditions: Whitman used free verse, while Dickinson used irregular rhyme.
Differences: In length of the poems, while Whitman's are quite lengthy, giving detailed descriptions, Dickinson's are much more concise and to the point. In rhyme scheme and meter, Whitman's poems are written in free verse, containing no obvious meter or rhyme. Dickinson uses irregular rhyme scheme and obvious meter. In their attitude, Whitman is optimistic, and Dickinson is pessimistic. In their subject of poems, Whitman preferred the big world, while Dickinson was interested in her inner world.
Q4: In what way did Poe, Hawthorne and Melville reject the ideas of transcendentalism?
A4: They are regarded as the representative writers of dark romanticism. Different from the transcendentalists who believed in the goodness of human nature, they thought evil is an inseparable part of human nature. Therefore they were much more pessimistic than transcendentalists. They also criticized about self-reliant individuals advocated by tr anscendentalists, believing the over emphasis on individuals “limitless”无限的potential would lead to rampant猖獗的individualism. Their anti-transcendentalist ideas were reflected in some major themes in their works, such as darkness and death in Poe’s gothic s tories, guilt and sin of human beings in Hawthorne’s novels and the conflict between good and evil, nature and human in Melville’s Moby Dick.
现实主义和自然主义feedback
1. Define and compare realism and naturalism.
The reference answer I offered here largely follows my lecture in class. You can also refer to my PPT.
Realism is simply fidelity and actuality in its presentation in literature. Naturalism used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity遗传, and environment had inescapable不可避免的force in shaping human character.
Comparison:
Naturalism is a branch of realism, so they share the basic realist characteristic: truthful representation of real life and reality.
However, naturalist works do not look at the average, but at the unpleasant and ugly aspect of life.
They think the true reality is not found in the happy aspects of middle-class life, but is found when the forces of Nature are most dominant in stopping human desires, in keeping humans from realizing their dreams.
2. Both realism and romanticism seem to stress on the individual and write about the common, what's the difference between realism and romanticism in these two points?
Both realism and romanticism stress on the individual and write about the common people, but with different beliefs, purposes and characteristics. Transcendentalism believes human beings are born good and have limitless potential. Their ideal Individuals are self-reliant. Romanticism stresses on individual’s subjectivity, feelings, emotions and spiritual connection with Nature and God. Romanticist works fill appropriate individuals into the imagined plot.
Realism believes the original sin of human. Individuals have no free will and limited ability so that they all struggle to survive in the indifferent Nature. Realist writers focus on the ordinary life of ordinary people, and keep objectivity as objective observers. Characterization is primary in realist works.
现代主义和女性文学feedback
1. What are the common theme(s) expressed by modern poetry? Explain with examples.
Modernist poems all reflected the common themes of people’s isolation, loss, and despair in the modern world and how to make meaning from dislocation and fragmentation.
Robert Frost wrote pastoral poetry as a way to understand modern life. His themes include landscape and people in New England, loneliness and poverty of isolated farmers, beauty, terror and tragedy in nature.
2. Define the Lost Generation.
Summarize Ernest Hemingway's writing features.
3) Colloquial style: sentence short, uncomplicated, but active; words simple but filled with emotion; few modifiers, and great control of pause with action of the story continuing during the silences. The use of short, simple and conventional words and sentences has an effect of clearness, terseness and great care. Influenced by Mark Twain, Hemingway brought the colloquial style to near-perfection.
后现实和后现代主义feedback
2. Compare postmodernism with modernism.
Similarities:
1) Both modern and postmodern literature represent a break from 19th century realism.
2) In character development, both modern and postmodern literature explore subjectivism, turning from external reality to examine inner states of consciousness.
3) In addition, both modern and postmodern literature explore fragmentariness in narrative- and character-construction.
Differences:
1) Modernist literature sees fragmentation and extreme subjectivity as an existential crisis, or Freudian internal conflict, a problem that must be solved, and the artist is often cited as the one to solve it. Postmodernists, however, often demonstrate that this chaos is insurmountable; the artist is impotent, and the only recourse against "ruin" is to play within the chaos. With postmodernism playfulness becomes central and the actual achievement of order and meaning becomes unlikely.
2) Modernists tried to control the fragmented society through the agency of art and give it an art form, but postmodern writers were too nihilistic to trust their own ability to give shape or significance to the absurd world. Modernism developed a number of responses that created a sense of underlying coherence and order, but postmodernism found itself unable to structure any ordering ideas of reality and so conceived of reality as itself unreal.
湖北师范大学 美国文选论文 从18世纪的美国文学看“美国梦”的特点
从18世纪的美国文学看“美国梦”的特点“美国梦”从广义上讲，指作为”民主，平等，自由”国家的理想;从狭义上讲，指个人通过自我奋斗获得成功的梦想。”美国梦是一个被众多美国人普遍信仰的信念。 美国梦作为美国特有的精神追求，作为美国人民特殊的精神力量，有着丰富的内涵，它涵盖了美国文化、历史、社会、宗教、文学艺术等领域，是贯穿美国文学始终的重要的主题。 300年前，当英格兰移民乘坐着”五月花”号横穿大西洋来到马里兰，寻找一块清教徒能居住的“净土”时，“美国梦”已开始悄然萌芽——美国给了全世界每一个人均等的机会，只要努力奋斗，都可以实现自己的梦想。 一般而言，“美国梦”包含几个要素：美国提供了人人都能成功的机会；成功取决于自己的才能和努力，而不是家世和背景；人人都拥有平等的权利；人人都有信仰的自由。这些要素是与历史密不可分的，也必须和时代背景结合起来看。 18~19世纪的欧洲，贵族尚未退出历史舞台、社会等级森严、财富分配不公、宗教歧视严重……孟德斯鸠、笛卡尔等启蒙运动的先驱，开始对美国这块神奇的土地赞颂不已，这也燃起了弱势群体的“美国梦”。 18世纪来到美国的移民都是欧洲的弱势者，当他们来到还是殖民地的美国时，政治平等的要求就格外强烈，也自发地落实了民主。于是，“平等权利”成了“美国梦”的一个内涵。 南北战争前后，美国开始了工业化。欧洲来的移民更多地进入纽约、芝加哥、底特律等新兴的工业城市。从此，“美国梦”有了新的内涵。这一时期，出现了许多奋斗起家的工商业巨子。比如依靠个人发明而创立通用电气公司的爱迪生，采石油的洛克菲勒，搞银行的摩根，发明汽车生产线的福特。他们的共同特点是：起家寒微，但通过勤奋终于创立了自己庞大的事业，成为传奇人物。 到了21世纪的信息时代，微软的比尔·盖茨、雅虎的杨致远以及GOOGLE的三个创立者变成了“美国梦”的新偶像。他们凭借自己的智慧，年纪轻轻就积累了数百亿美元的庞大资产。他们活生生的故事似乎表明，只要有智慧，有天才，在美国就可以成功。 乐观主义与《本杰明·富兰克林自传》 "乐观主义" 选取本杰明·富兰克林的《本杰明·富兰克林自传》为代表. 富兰克林(1706-1790)，美国最伟大的先驱者和美国民主的缔造者之一，著名的科学家、出版家、外交家、政治家、哲学家和实业家，美国独立运动的领导人，曾参与起草并签署了《独立宣言》和《美国宪法》。 富兰克林1706年出生于北美新英格兰的波士顿，他在家中的17个孩子中排行15，父亲是从事蜡烛和肥皂制造的小商人。富兰克林少年时进过两年学校，后因家境困顿，被迫辍学，12岁时，父亲让他到哥哥的印刷铺里当学徒。学徒的日子是艰难的，然而，他却利用学徒的闲暇时间刻苦自学，阅读了大量的书籍，在政治、科学、历史、文学等方面打下了扎实的基础，他还通过自学能熟练地运用法语、意大利语、西班牙语、拉丁语。 1726年，富兰克林开始在费城独立经营印刷工厂。从此，富兰克林的事业生涯开始蒸蒸日上，开始创造一个美国梦的传奇故事：他印刷并发行影响巨大的《宾夕法尼亚报》；他发明了避雷针、两用眼镜、新式火炉和新型路灯；他率先提出了北美殖民地“不联合就死亡”的口号，并与杰斐逊起草《独立宣言》；而当美国制宪会议因为联邦体制问题争论不休时，富兰克林又欣然前往，进行调解。1771年，他出版了改变无数年轻人命运的《富兰克林自传》。这本书生动地记叙了富兰克林的成长历程，告诫年轻人积极向上，在世界上影响深远。一个人在如此众多的领域成就斐然，美国历史上几乎无人能及。 富兰克林既相信社会秩序又信奉人有自然赋予的权利, 既渴望社会安定又向往为革命
二十世纪美国成长小说_传承与变革_李琳
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 化”：个人在经历了一系列的波折后，与社会“妥协”，融入社会，完成自我的“社会化”历程，成长为一个对社会有用的人。二十世纪美国成长小说的主题特点则不尽然，“美国崇尚个人奋斗，‘个人英雄主义’至上，人们按照自己的自然天性行事，竭力表现出个人与众不同，因此，美国成长小说中的主体无法将融入社会作为成熟的最终奖赏”（孙胜忠，２００５：３２２），也不崇尚“妥协”和“社会化”。青少年成长中的困惑是二十世纪美国成长小说反映的主题之一，而这种困惑与社会的发展密不可分，因而二十世纪美国成长小说反映出从世纪初的“迷惘”到战后的“垮掉”到八十年代的多元文化主义的兴起。舍伍德?安德森的代表作《小城畸人》（１９１９），通过乔治的成长反映出美国旧式文化的逐步瓦解，包括清教思想在现代的扭曲和传统男女关系的破裂。费茨杰拉德的《人间天堂》中年青主人公阿莫瑞（Ａｍｏｒｙ）的成长困惑代表了二十世纪二十年代整个一代人的“迷惘”。美国经典成长小说《麦田守望者》则反映出战后“垮掉的一代”的成长困惑。在多元文化主义兴起的背景下，少数族裔文学中的成长小说，在主题上侧重于主人公身份的寻求与确定，探讨“我是谁？我从哪里来？我要到哪里去？”的问题，例如：非裔文学中的《看不见的人》、华裔文学中的《女勇士》等。二十世纪的美国女性成长小说力图呈现女性在现代社会遭受的多型态的压迫，以及女性在现代社会追寻解放与自我定位的主题，例如：《棕色姑娘、棕色砖房》、《我知道笼中鸟为何歌唱》、《秀拉》等。 在小说结局的处理上，二十世纪美国成长小说也有了很大的突破。在传统的欧洲成长小说中，主人公在经历了生活的磨难之后，获得了对社会、对人生的、对自我的认识，在小说结尾处，主人公成长为主流社会的模范或代表，小说一般以主人公与家人团聚、与恋人喜结连理等幸福圆满的结局收尾。但是从对大量的二十世纪美国成长小说文本的分析来看，美国成长小说越来越呈现出一种开放式的结局：主人公对社会、对人生的、对自我的这种认识也可能是不符合社会所约定俗成的那种所谓正确的理念，或者主人公最终并没有获得所谓的成长，他或她仍站在人生的十字路口在彷徨、犹豫，或是拒绝成长，走向“反成长”，甚至死亡的道路。《麦田守望者》中的霍尔顿最后躺在精神病院里，对未来毫无打算，至于未来要做些什么，他认为这是个可笑的问题。 四 二十世纪的美国社会是一个多元化的社会，这种多元化也反映在二十世纪美国成长小说的发展中：作为一种文学类别，成长小说不再拘泥于一种传统的模式，或者我们将这种变革称为“文类逾越”（Ｇｅｎ－ｅｒｉｃｔｒａｎｓｇｒｅｓｓｉｏｎ）。正如冯品佳（ＦｅｎｇＰｉｎ－ｃｈｉａ）所说：“这种对传统文类的演绎、变奏并不宣示着文类的灭绝；相反地，这种‘文类逾越’又再赋予旧有文类新的契机”（１９９８：１９）。 参考文献： [1]弗朗西斯?约斯特．比较文学导论[M]．廖鸿钧，等，译．长沙：湖南文艺出版社，1988：165-195． [2]孙胜忠．德国经典成长小说与美国成长小说之比较[J]．安徽师范大学学报(人文社会科学版)，2005．5． [3]托妮?莫瑞森．最蓝的眼睛[M]．陈苏东，胡允桓译．海口：南海出版公司，2005． [4]Coyle，William，ed．The young men in the American Litera-ture：The Initiation Theme．New York：The Odyssey Press，1969． [5]Feng Pin-chia．The Female Bildungsroman by Toni Morrison and Maxine Hong Kingston：A postmodern Reading[M]．New York：Peter Lang Publishing，Inc．，1998． [6]Hardin，James，ed．Reflection and Action：Essaysonthe Bil-dungsroman．Columbia：University of South Carolina Press，1991． [7]Howe，Susanne．Wilhelm Meister and His English Kinsmen [M]．New York：AMS Press，1996． [8]Mullane，Janet，et al．，ed．Nineteenth-Century Literature 李琳，（１９７８—），女，河南安阳市人，英语语言文 学硕士，郑州航空工业管理学院外语系讲师，主要研 究英美文学。 作者简介： 家园，作为风雨、寒冷、恐惧和寂寞的庇护所与食物、关心、友好和爱情的保存地，自人类诞生起一直以来是历代人们的奋斗梦想。随着人类社会的发展，这一梦想激励着一代又一代的男人和女人战胜各种苦难和克服无数挫折。文学来源于生活并反映生活，所以追求理想家园这一主题也是各个时代的文人墨客热衷于探讨和求索的话题。 英国女性小说产生于十七世纪末期，十八世纪末十九世纪初开始繁荣起来。十九世纪是英国小说发展的黄金时代，当时的女性作家尤其比以前任何时候都要活跃，涌现出不少杰出的女性作家，这一时期的女性小说也因此出现了史无前例的蓬勃发展。女人的自然天性使其对家园和爱情的感触总是要比男人厚重得多，十九世纪的英国女性作家及其小说中的女主人公更是如此，寻求理想家园成为她们彼此之间的共享话题。不少英国女性作家以女性独有的敏感和细腻，从女性的视角出发，以婚姻问题为基点，再次对寻求理想家园这一普遍、永恒的主题进行了探讨，为广大读者创造出了一系列鲜活的艺术形象，比如简?奥斯汀《傲慢与偏见》中的伊丽莎白?本内特、夏洛蒂?勃朗特《简?爱》中的简?爱、艾米莉?勃朗特《呼啸山庄》中的凯瑟琳?恩肖和盖斯凯尔夫人《玛丽?巴顿》中的玛丽?巴顿。 一、西方文学中家园情结的由来与发展 据《圣经?创世记》记载，上帝创造的人类始祖亚当和夏娃曾经纯真快乐地生活在天堂的伊甸园中，对世事一无所知。后来，夏娃禁不住化身为蛇的魔鬼撒旦的诱惑而偷尝了智慧树上的禁果，还给亚当也吃了一个，他们就此变得心明眼亮，能辨善恶美丑。于是，亚当和夏娃违背了上帝的旨意，犯下了原罪而被愤怒的上帝逐出天堂。从此，亚当和夏娃以及他们的后代就永远失去了水草丰沃的美好乐园，不得不在茫茫大地上为自身的家园而奋斗。 数千年以来，无论是在耶稣诞生之前的未开化时期还是在耶稣诞生之后的文明教化时代，西方人对理想家园的向往和追求从来就没有间断过，而这一切必然会反映在作为生活写照而存在的文学之中。由此，寻找家园成为西方文学中的一个典型主题，许多作家以不同的文学形式不遗余力地讨论和研究它。例如：《旧约?出埃及 十九世纪英国女性小说中的家园情结分析 万永坤 Detroit:Gale Research Inc.,1989. 154 154
《美国文学》期末考试试卷(A卷)答案
湖州师范学院外国语学院2008— 2009学年第二学期 《美国文学》期末考试试卷（A卷）答案暨评分标准 I. Write the names of the authors. (10%) ①Walt Whitman ②Edgar Allen Poe ③Wallace Stevens ④Franklin Norris ⑤Stephen Crane ⑥William Faulkner ⑦Sinclair Lewis ⑧John Steinbeck ⑨Langston Hughes ⑩Tennessee Williams II. Fill in the following blanks with appropriate information.（10%） ①New England ②Regionalism or Local color writing ③semi-autobiographical ④anti-realism ⑤Imagist ⑥Santiago ⑦multiple narrations or points of view ⑧1930 ⑨Harlem Renaissance ⑩Eugene O’Neill III. Choose only one answer form the four choices as the most appropriate answer. （20%） 1－5. A D C B B 6－10. D B E B A IV. Identify the author and the title of the work from which each of the following excerpts is taken. And then answer the question after each excerpt. (20%) Passage 1 the author: Walt Whitman (1%) the title of the work : Songs of Myself (1%) Question: What is the poet celebrating? (2%) The poet is celebrating individualism and nationalism, singing of all those people who form the American nationality.
美国文学复习大纲
美国文学部分(American Literature) 一．殖民时期文学（The Literature of the Colonial Period） 1．本章考核知识点和考核要求： 1) 早期殖民地时期的文学的特点 2) 十八世纪美国文学的特点（重点是独立革命前后时期文学） 3) 主要的作家、其概况及其代表作品 4) 术语：the colonial period, American Puritanism, Puritans, Enlightenment in American, the Great A wakening 2．主要作家作品 John Smith第一个美国作家 A True Relation of Virginia and General History of Virginia. Anne Bradstreet 殖民地时期女诗人 The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America (1650) Jonathan Edwards十八世纪上半叶大觉醒时代的代表人物 “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Benjamin Franklin 本杰明·富兰克林，散文家、科学家、社会活动家，曾参与起草《独立宣言》。十八世纪美国启蒙思想代言人。 《穷查理历书》Poor Richard’s Almanac（收录格言警句） 《致富之道》The Way to Wealth 《自传》The Autobiography （富兰克林原意为写给儿子的家书） Thomas Paine 托马斯·潘恩，散文家、政治家、报刊撰稿人。 《常识》Common Sense ( Paine 最知名的政论文：It was inspired by the first battle of the Revolutionary War—the Battle of Lexington in Concord.) 《美国危机》American Crisis 《人的权利》Rights of Man 《专制体制的崩溃》Downfall of Despotism 《理性时代》The Age of Reason Philip Freneau 菲利普·弗伦诺，著名的“革命诗人”。 《蒸蒸日上的美洲》“The Rising Glo ry of America” 《英国囚船》“The British Prison Ship”（诗人自己被俘，关押于英国囚船的经历）
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
美国文学的“美国梦”情结
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美国文学史及选读复习重点
Captain John Smith (first American writer). Anne Bradstreet；The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America （colonists living） Edward Taylor(the best puritan poet) John Cotton ”the Patriarch of New England” teacher spiritual leader Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography Poor Richard’s Almanack Thomas Jefferson： Political Career Thoughts The Declaration of Independence we hold truth to be self-evidence Philip Freneau“Father of American Poetry” The Wild Honey Suckle American Romanticism optimism and hope Nationalism Washington Irving“Father of American Literature short story”The first “Pure Writer” A History of New York The Sketch Book marked the beginning of American Romanticism! “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”Rip Van Winkle James Fenimore Cooper Father of American sea and frontier novels Leather stocking Tales The Last of the Mohicans The Pioneers The Prairie The Pathfinder The Deerslayer Edgar Allan Poe father of detective story and horror fiction Tales of the Grotesque and the Arabesque “MS. Found in a Bottle” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” “The Fall of the House of Usher”“The Masque of the Red Death”“The
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美国文学选读期末考试重点
1、The Colonial Period（1607-1765） American Puritanism ( in the early 17th century through the end of the 18th) 北美第一位女诗人Anne Bradstreet(宗教气息，夫妻恩爱) Edward Taylor 都受英国玄学派影响（metaphysical） 2、The Enlightenment and Revolution Period Benjamin Franklin:Poor Richard's Almanac The Autobiography---“美国梦”的根源 3、American Romanticism（end of 18th to the civil war） American writers emphasis upon the imaginative and emotional qualities of literature. 早期浪漫主义Washington Irving father of American Literature
美国文学与美国梦
徐佩岚2012213068 Since I took the English literature course last semester, I realize that to have a deep understanding of a work, one should know about the writer; and to understand the writer, one should look to a larger background--the history. Therefore, literature is to some extent connected with the history. In other words, literature reflects and sometimes reviews history. America is a country established after struggling for independence. At that time, they value private judgement on religious and political issues, and self-knowledge and self-expression. They want to get rid of Britain's governance, and they began to propaganda the value of freedom and individuality. In this way, an essential part of American Dream--individualism has been deeply rooted in their mind when the county was born. In American literature, one can always catch a swift of American dream, sometimes a bunch of. As American Dream changes from time to time, it has been reflected on American literary works. And of course, different writers have different understandings and attitudes towards American Dream. Here, I will primarily focus on three writters—Washington Irving, Walt Whitman, and Francis Scott Fitzgerald. In Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle, one can feel the embryo of American Dream and how it changed Americans. From the contrast of the village before and after the Independent War, the power of struggling for freedom and individuality is evident. "Instead of the great trees that used to shelter the quiet little Dutch inn of yore, there now was a naked pole, with something on the top that looked like a red night-cap, and from it was fluttering a flag, on which was a singular assemblage of stars and stripes- all this was strange and incomprehensible.”“‘What brought him to the election with a gun on his shoulder, and a mob at his heels, and whether he meant to breed a riot in the village?’- ‘Alas! Gentlemen,’ cried Rip,somewhat dismayed, ‘I am a poor quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the king, God blesses him!’ Here a general shout burst from the bystanders- ‘A tory! A tory! A spy! A refugee! Hustle him! Away with him!’" what’s more, they regard General Washington as a kind of hero (this might be the starting point of their heroism). From those descriptions of the changed appearance of the hotel, the people in front of the hotel inspecting and talking austerely to Rip Van Winkle, and the beautiful picturesque village and tranquil life before the War, I feel that aspiration for freedom and individuality drove the establishment of America, and consequently, the establishment of America convinced them that their pursuit of freedom and individuality is the right path to go. American poet Walt Whitman is apparently a supporter of the American Dream. In the poem “I Hear America Singing”, he described the harmonious atmosphere in America—the carpenter singing, the mason singing… The theme of the poem is a eulogy to the thriving American nation, to the proud and strong love for country contribution, the laboring people and the poet’s optimistic attitude towards the world and life. In another poem “There Was a Child Singing”, the “child” in the title represents a young and growing America. “And the ?rst object he look’d upon, that object he became, And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day, Or for many years or stretching cycles of years.” In my opinion, this means that America is aa young and progressive country that actively learn things from the outside world. His admiration for American is most distinct in the poem “Song of Myself”. “I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”This is a strong declaration of the value of individualism and democracy. He went through the Civil War, and experienced the nation hero Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. With the unity of the north and the south, and the liberation of the black convinced him “An individuality is as superb