吴定柏《美国文学大纲》笔记和典型题(含考研真题)详解(超验主义)【圣才出品】

第3章超验主义

3.1 复习笔记

Ⅰ. Overview

1. Growth and Development

2. Major Concepts

3. Significance

4. Weaknesses

Ⅱ. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

1. Life

2. Literary Achievements

3. “The American Scholar”

Ⅲ. Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

1. Life

2. Relations with Emerson

3. Walden

4. General comment

Ⅰ. Overview

1. Growth and Development

①New England Transcendentalism was in essence, romantic idealism on Puritan soil.

②The Transcendental Club, was formed in 1836 and published their journal The Dial.

Ⅰ. 概述

1. 产生和发展

①新英格兰超验主义从本质上说是清教徒基础上的浪漫唯心主义。

②超验主义俱乐部成立于1836年，并发表了他们的期刊《日晷》。

2. Major Concepts

①It stressed the power of intuition. As romantic idealism, it placed spirit first and matter second.

②It took nature as symbolic of spirit or God. It emphasized the significance of the individual.

2. 主要概念

①它强调直觉的力量。作为浪漫唯心主义，它认为精神第一，物质第二。

②它把自然当作精神或上帝的象征，强调个人的重要性。

3. Significance

①Transcendentalism was an ethical guide to life for a young nation of America.

②A new group of writers under the influence of Emerson and Thoreau began to apply transcendental ideas in their works.

3. 重要性

①超验主义是新生美国的道德指导。

②在爱默生和梭罗的影响下，一些作家开始在作品中运用超验主义的思想。

4. Weaknesses

It resulted far more often in rampant individualism than in a democracy of mutual helpfulness and equal opportunity.

4. 不足

超验主义更多地导致了个人主义的猖狂，而不是体现了互帮互助和平等的民主。

Ⅱ. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

1. Life

He was born in Boston. He believed that the transcendental law was the moral law through which people discovered the nature of God as a living spirit.

2. Literary Achievements

Emerson’s writing falls into two types: essays and poetry. Among his best are Nature (1836), Representative Men (1850), The Conduct of Life (1860), and Society and Solitude(1870). Nature has been called “the manifesto of American transcendentalism.

3. “The American Scholar”

His famous essay “The American Scholar” has been called “America’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence”.

Ⅱ. 拉尔夫?瓦尔多?爱默生(1803-1882)

1. 生平

他出生于波士顿。爱默生认为超验主义规则是道德规则，通过超验主义，人们可以发现上帝是活着的精神象征。

2. 文学成就

爱默生的作品可以分为两类：短文和诗歌。其中，最优秀的作品是《自然》（1836）、《代表》（1850）、《人生的行为》（1860）、《社会与隐居》（1870）。《自然》被称为“美国超验主义的宣言”。

3. 《美国学者》

他的著名文章《美国学者》被称为“美国思想界的独立宣言”。

Ⅲ. Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

1. Life

Thoreau was born in Massachusetts. With Emerson’s permission, he lived alone in Walden Pond from July 1845 to September 1847.

Ⅲ. 亨利?大卫?梭罗(1817–1862)

1. 生平

梭罗出生于马萨诸塞州。得到爱默生的允许之后，梭罗于1845年7月到1847年9月居住在瓦尔登湖。

2. Relations with Emerson

Emerson had a great influence on Thoreau. Emerson was Thoreau’s teacher,

encouraging him to keep a journal.

2. 与爱默生的关系

爱默生对梭罗的影响非常大。爱默生是梭罗的老师，并鼓励他创办杂志。

3. Walden

(1) General comment: Walden is deceptively casual and reads like a diary of a nature lover. Walden is a spiritual book.

(2) Subjects: Thoreau used his life at Walden as a symbol, a symbol of what could happen to every person.

(3) Style: There are seven strong points in his style.①Prophetic voice; ②Direct

forceful sentence;③Conversational in tone; ④Humor;⑤Proverbial expressions;

⑥Brief tales and allegories;⑦Metaphors.

3. 《瓦尔登湖》

(1) 评价：《瓦尔登湖》看似很随性，读起来像本自然爱人的日记。《瓦尔登湖》是一本精神类的书籍。

(2) 主题：梭罗把他在瓦尔登湖的生活当做一种象征，一种可以发生在任何人身上的象征。

(3) 风格：梭罗的写作风格有7点。①预言性的表达；②直接说服力的句子；③对话的语调；

④幽默；⑤谚语的表达；⑥间接的故事和寓言；⑦隐喻。

4. General comment

①Thoreau was a prose stylist, a lover of nature, a New England mystic, a social philosopher and a thorough transcendentalist.

②However, Thoreau spoke ahead of his time and suffered misunderstanding and even mockery. He had few contemporary readers.

4. 评价

①梭罗是一位散文家，自然爱好者，新英格兰神秘主义者，社会哲学家和彻底的超验主义者。

②然而，梭罗的思想先于他的时代，因此遭到了不理解，甚至是嘲笑。他的同时代读者很少。

3.2 考研真题与典型题详解

Ⅰ. Fill in the blanks.

1. Ralph W. Emerson believes in the concept of the _____. It is the _____ within which every man’s particular being is contained and made one with all other.（国际关系学院2009研）

【答案】Transcendentalism;Oversoul

【解析】爱默生信奉超验主义，在他看来，超灵为人所共有，每个人的思想存在于超灵之中，人能以直觉官能与之交融。

2. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote _____, which has been called “the Manifesto of American Transcendentalism,” and _____, which has been regarded as America’s “Declaration of Intellectual Independence.”（南开大学2007研）

【答案】Nature;“The American Scholar”

【解析】爱默生的《论自然》被称为“美国超验主义的宣言”，其《美国学者》则被誉为美国知识分子的独立宣言。